Need for Energy Management Software Investment Verified
Successful Companies Utilize Up-to-Date Industrial Energy Management Software
NEW YORK — Firms with energy costs greater than 10 percent of total operating costs should invest in a new wave of industrial energy management software to achieve best-in-class operational excellence. This is the key finding in a new report from independent analyst firm Verdantix based on interviews with 127 energy directors in industrial firms and an assessment of energy software applications from 16 suppliers such as ABB, EFT Energy, IBM, Oracle, Schneider Electric, and Siemens.
Software helps firms minimize the impact of increasing energy costs. A Verdantix global survey found that 65 percent of industrial firms will spend more on gas and electricity in 2015 than in 2014. This reflects increasing energy prices. Since 2005, industrial electricity prices have increased by 4 percent annually in the U.S., 8 percent in Canada and the U.K., and by 14 percent in France. Over the same time period, natural gas prices for industrial firms have gone up every year by 15 percent in Japan, 10 percent in France and Italy, and 7 percent in Germany. Only in the U.S. and Canada have natural gas prices declined over this time period.