A methodology for customized prediction of energy consumption in manufacturing industries

Regulative measures and rising energy cost foster the trend towards energy efficient manufacturing. However, companies are facing hurdles such as high effort and little expertise when implementing energy efficiency measures. Moreover, the embodied energy of products cannot be determined accurately in eco-assessments of factories. This paper presents a methodology for the reliable prediction of energy consumption of arbitrary manufacturing processes. It is based on minimal measurements and requires little effort and previous knowledge due to precise guidelines. Consumption models help to allocate energy cost to products, to calculate the product carbon footprint and to derive and validate measures to improve energy efficiency in production. The methodology has been applied in a medium size company with a large number of different products and machines.