Who is Energy Consulting Allgäu?
Our focus is to consult manufacturing and trade companies in matters of energy, material, and resource efficiency. We support customers in the introduction of various management systems. All our discussions are conducted without any ideology and with the main purpose to increase cost efficiency in the company.
You often emphasize in your presentations that energy efficiency and material efficiency cannot be viewed separately. What experiences in industry brought you to this conclusion?
When we are looking for the main energy consumers, we have increasingly included the material flow in our calculations due to a lack of data. We realized very early that energy optimization can also be achieved by an increase in material efficiency. We have recognized and used this information long before the introduction of management systems such as ISO 50001 which require kWh per unit as a key indicator.
What are the biggest challenges that you and the Energy Consulting Allgäu team encounter in operational practice?
The effectiveness of our work is critically dependent on the data available. Important parameters are often not systematically collected by companies or scattered in various departments. To systematically collect, organize, and evaluate this data, is one of our core competencies. From this data, we can have a detailed look into the manufacturing processes. The software for material flow analysis called Umberto provides valuable assistance in the optimization of production processes through systematization of process flows and cost calculation at each individual process step.
How does the transition from energy management to material efficiency work specifically? Can you maybe explain this on the basis of a real project?
Let’s take the optimization of an industrial cooker as an example, which we carried out as part of an energy consulting project for a pasta manufacturer. We had to consistently include the material flows of raw materials and supplies into the energy calculations, in order to be able to allocate the energy flows within the facility. This immediately sparked ideas for increasing energy and material efficiency, which we then implemented in a separate project, resulting in significant cost savings.
What are the biggest and most surprising savings that you have ever found?
One of the most interesting projects was the energy and material flow analysis of a loop process in a chemical company. We determined that the process was so costly that a mid six figures Euro savings could be achieved by shutting down the process and sourcing the raw material directly on the market. Since this was a very energy-intensive process, the entire company’s energy-economic strategy will be inspected in the future.
Are there funding opportunities as well?
I know that at least in Europe there are many country-specific funding opportunities for energy and material efficiency projects. The choice of funding is highly dependent upon the individual circumstances of the company. General statements on this subject are not possible. If funding is of interest for a company, then we are researching these opportunities for the specific project. Mostly the identified potentials and optimization measures pay off even without government funding.
Thanks Matthias!
- Products & Solutions (99)
- Trends & Technology (99)
- News & Updates (68)
- Challenges (67)
- Sustainability (48)
- life cycle assessment (44)
- Compliance (29)
- Energy efficiency (29)
- carbon footprint (23)
- circular economy (23)
- echa (21)
- Resource efficiency (19)
- SCIP (19)
- LCA (18)
- material efficiency (18)
- Umberto (17)
- Climate Change (16)
- Material flow cost accounting (15)
- material flow analysis (12)
- Renewable energy (11)
- Process Optimization (10)
- environmental product declaration (9)
- Ecodesign (8)
- Efficiency (8)
- Transparency (8)
- Trends (8)
- life cycle inventory (8)
- Customer driven-sustainability (7)
- Eco label (7)
- Ecological footprint (7)
- Ipoint suite (7)
- Lca databases (7)
- Supply chain (7)
- Survey (7)
- Sustainable development (7)
- automotive (7)
- blockchain (7)
- Reach (6)
- Renewable heat (6)
- research (6)
- China (5)
- Corporate carbon footprint (5)
- Digitalization (5)
- Industrial ecology (5)
- Materialflusskostenrechnung (5)
- carbon footprinting (5)
- carbon neutrality (5)
- digital product passport (5)
- waste management (5)
- Climate protection (4)
- Cobalt reporting (4)
- Dematerialization (4)
- EPD (4)
- GHG reduction (4)
- Green construction (4)
- OECD (4)
- Okobilanzierung (4)
- Social metabolism (4)
- Sustainable transport (4)
- carbon neutral (4)
- construction industry (4)
- germany (4)
- Big Data (3)
- Brexit (3)
- Chemical industry (3)
- Conflict minerals (3)
- Corporate Social Responsibility (3)
- Database (3)
- Due diligence (3)
- E-mobility (3)
- Environmental product declarations (3)
- Eutrophication (3)
- IFEU (3)
- ISO 50001 (3)
- Industrial sector (3)
- Innovation (3)
- Leed (3)
- Life cycle management (3)
- Medical device (3)
- Photovoltaics (3)
- Ressourceneffizienz (3)
- Social media (3)
- building sector (3)
- greenhouse gas inventory (3)
- svhc (3)
- transport sector (3)
- water footprint (3)
- 20-20-20 Objectives (2)
- 3D printing (2)
- BASF (2)
- Christian-Doppler-Laboratory (2)
- Competence center (2)
- Conflict minerals reporting (2)
- Cycling (2)
- E-car (2)
- Electric car (2)
- Emerging economies (2)
- Environmental impact (2)
- Environmental management (2)
- Environmental performance (2)
- Environmental sustainability index (2)
- European commission (2)
- Fish (2)
- Gate to gate (2)
- Global warming (2)
- Governance (2)
- Green business 2 (2)
- Green investment (2)
- Human rights (2)
- ISO-14051 (2)
- Inatba (2)
- Integrated reporting (2)
- Integrative approach (2)
- Knowledge economy (2)
- LCA data from suppliers (2)
- Life cycle thinking (2)
- MFA (2)
- Manufacturing industry (2)
- Okobilanz (2)
- Renewable Resources (2)
- Sdgs (2)
- Software (2)
- Steady state economy (2)
- Sustainable business (2)
- Sustainable lifestyle (2)
- UK REACH (2)
- Umberto for carbon footprint (2)
- Umweltbundesamt (2)
- Wastewater treatment (2)
- Water management (2)
- agriculture (2)
- best practice (2)
- biodiversity (2)
- biomass (2)
- building standards (2)
- carbon emissions (2)
- carbon intensity (2)
- carbon relocation (2)
- collaborative consumption (2)
- consistency (2)
- corporate material flow modeling (2)
- cost savings (2)
- developing world (2)
- eLCAr (2)
- energiewende (2)
- energy (2)
- esankey (2)
- food industry (2)
- green jobs (2)
- holistic approach (2)
- milk (2)
- modern slavery (2)
- okobilanzdaten (2)
- productivity (2)
- resilience (2)
- sankey diagram (2)
- seafood (2)
- transport (2)
- 2012 (1)
- 3 scopes (1)
- ACHEMA (1)
- AI (1)
- Abfallwirtschaft (1)
- Ankara (1)
- B2B (1)
- BMBF (1)
- BREEAM (1)
- Bachelor program (1)
- Bauwesen (1)
- Brazil (1)
- CFC (1)
- CO2-Fußabdruck (1)
- Carbon Accounting (1)
- Central america (1)
- Circular Economy Action Plan (1)
- Club of Rome (1)
- Co2 Pricing (1)
- Commercial Sector (1)
- Comparative life cycle assessment (1)
- Compliance agent (1)
- Composite indicator (1)
- Construction (1)
- Consumer goods (1)
- Consumption (1)
- Country Attractiveness (1)
- Creative sustainability (1)
- Critique of the green economy (1)
- Csr report (1)
- Dairy (1)
- Dashboard of sustainability (1)
- Data (1)
- Data collection (1)
- Davos (1)
- Decarbonization (1)
- Denmark (1)
- Design (1)
- Deutschland (1)
- Developing countries (1)
- Dienstleistungen (1)
- Digital twin (1)
- Distributed manufacturing (1)
- Divestment (1)
- Domestic fuel consumption (1)
- Domestic sector (1)
- Duty of care (1)
- Earth Sciences (1)
- Earth summit (1)
- Ecolabelling (1)
- Ecologic footprint (1)
- Ecological resilience (1)
- Education (1)
- Efficiency measures (1)
- Effizienzfabrik (1)
- Ehs (1)
- Emission relocation (1)
- Ems (1)
- Energieeffizienz (1)
- Energy Intensity by Sector (1)
- Energy contracting (1)
- Energy efficiency directive (1)
- Energy transition (1)
- Engineering excellence (1)
- Enhipro (1)
- Environment (1)
- Environmental Contracting (1)
- Environmental Engineering (1)
- Environmental balance (1)
- Environmental capital (1)
- Environmental labeling (1)
- Environmental management accounting (1)
- Environmental profit and loss statement (1)
- Environmental standard (1)
- Environmentally Weighed Material Consumption (1)
- European Comission (1)
- European Green Cars Initiative (1)
- Evaleau (1)
- Events (1)
- External effects (1)
- Fifa (1)
- Fishery (1)
- Fmd (1)
- Food footprint (1)
- Food production (1)
- Ford (1)
- Forest ecosystems (1)
- France (1)
- Free trade (1)
- Freighter travel (1)
- Full cost accounting (1)
- GHG mitigation (1)
- Ghg reduction goals (1)
- Global compact (1)
- Global justice (1)
- Global warming potential (1)
- Green building (1)
- Green business models (1)
- Green consumers (1)
- Green deal (1)
- Green new deal (1)
- Greenwash (1)
- HVAC (1)
- Happy life years (1)
- Harmonization (1)
- Harze (1)
- Hdpe (1)
- Human development index (1)
- Human trafficking (1)
- ILCD Handbook (1)
- IPCA (1)
- IPCC (1)
- ISO 14015 (1)
- ISO 14031 (1)
- ISO 14064 (1)
- ISO 14067 (1)
- ISO-14000 (1)
- ISO-14008 (1)
- ISO-14025 (1)
- ISO-14046 (1)
- Impact category (1)
- Incentive (1)
- Incentive based pay (1)
- Incineration (1)
- India (1)
- Industry-4-0 (1)
- Information design (1)
- Input output (1)
- Input output databases (1)
- Input output economics (1)
- Inreff (1)
- Intellectual property (1)
- Internalization of externalities (1)
- International standards (1)
- Interplant collaboration (1)
- Iso 14001 (1)
- Jevons paradox (1)
- Klimawandel (1)
- Konsumguter (1)
- Kuznets curve (1)
- LIFE AskREACH (1)
- Lieferkettengesetz (1)
- Life cycle analysis (1)
- Life cycle perspective (1)
- Life style (1)
- Linkedin (1)
- Living planet report (1)
- Long-Term Pay (1)
- Material consumption (1)
- Material flow modeling (1)
- Material flowcosts (1)
- Material footprint (1)
- Medical device regulation (1)
- Metal industry (1)
- Mexico (1)
- Monetize external costs (1)
- Montreal Protocol (1)
- Municipal solid waste (1)
- Natural Cost Accounting (1)
- Nature conservation (1)
- Nitrate pollution (1)
- Nutrients balance (1)
- Nutrients cycle (1)
- OECD Environment Policy Committee (1)
- Okobilanzdatenbanken (1)
- Okolabelling (1)
- Okologischer fusabdruck (1)
- Online Resource Efficiency Platform OREP (1)
- Operational efficiency (1)
- Outsourcing (1)
- PET (1)
- Pas (1)
- Pcf (1)
- Philippines (1)
- Pilot program (1)
- Plastic industry (1)
- Polio (1)
- Pollution haven hypothesis (1)
- Process engineering (1)
- Process improvement (1)
- Process system engineering (1)
- Product management (1)
- Product stewardship (1)
- Product sustainability (1)
- Production based CO2 Productivity (1)
- Production planning (1)
- Produktlebensdauer (1)
- Prop 65 (1)
- Protection proprietary data (1)
- Qatar (1)
- Quality (1)
- Quality journalism (1)
- Rapid prototyping (1)
- Refuse derived fuel plant (1)
- Renewable energy in manufacturing (1)
- Renewable methane (1)
- Renewable process heat (1)
- Renewable raw material (1)
- Resource flows (1)
- Retailer (1)
- Rio20 summit (1)
- Rolf Dobelli (1)
- Sap (1)
- Sfdr (1)
- Shopping rage (1)
- Smart grid (1)
- Social ecological resilience (1)
- Solar thermal energy (1)
- Sorgfaltspflichtengesetz (1)
- South africa (1)
- Soy milk (1)
- Stakeholder management (1)
- Supermarket chain (1)
- Sustainability indicators (1)
- Sustainability performance (1)
- Sustainability strategy (1)
- Sustainable architecture (1)
- Sustainable construction (1)
- Sustainable living (1)
- Sustainable process index (1)
- Sustainable resins (1)
- Sustainable resource management (1)
- Sydney (1)
- System analysis (1)
- Telecommunications (1)
- Tobias viere (1)
- Total material consumption (1)
- Treibhauspotenzial (1)
- Turkey (1)
- UK CA (1)
- University (1)
- Upcycling (1)
- VDMA (1)
- Vertical cooperation (1)
- Waste prevention (1)
- Water abstraction rate (1)
- Water extraction (1)
- Wind power (1)
- World cup (1)
- World vegan day (1)
- Yet (1)
- Zero carbon city (1)
- Zero emission mobility (1)
- academia (1)
- acidification (1)
- air quality (1)
- aluminum (1)
- amazon (1)
- antarctic ozone hole (1)
- apocalypse (1)
- apple (1)
- assessment (1)
- atmospheric carbon measurement (1)
- background database (1)
- battery change station (1)
- bike sharing (1)
- bio capacity (1)
- bio-economy (1)
- biocapacity (1)
- biological gas treatment (1)
- blogs (1)
- books (1)
- business opportunity (1)
- car (1)
- carbon free city (1)
- carbon leakage (1)
- carbon management (1)
- carbon management 2 (1)
- carbon reduction (1)
- carbon tax (1)
- carbon-neutral travel (1)
- cargo shipping (1)
- carton (1)
- certification (1)
- change (1)
- climate impact (1)
- climate neutral (1)
- co2 fusabdruck (1)
- cogeneration (1)
- combined reporting (1)
- commons (1)
- cooperation along product (1)
- cradle to cradle (1)
- de-growth economy (1)
- digital battery passport (1)
- ecarus (1)
- eco design (1)
- ecoinvent (1)
- ecological tax reform (1)
- ecosystem disturbance (1)
- efficiency investment (1)
- efficient construction (1)
- energy efficiency in production (1)
- energy sources (1)
- environmental accounting (1)
- environmental impact data (1)
- environmental management system (1)
- environmental performance indicator (1)
- environmental technology verification (1)
- environmentally friendly raw materials (1)
- esg (1)
- fashion (1)
- food loss (1)
- food sector (1)
- geopolymer cement (1)
- green Christmas (1)
- green buildings (1)
- green paradox (1)
- green production (1)
- greenhouse (1)
- handprinting (1)
- holistic sustainability (1)
- lca recommendations (1)
- lca-software (1)
- lcia (1)
- lifecycle (1)
- logitech (1)
- management models (1)
- material flow balance (1)
- material losses (1)
- material-flow-accounts (1)
- media (1)
- modeling (1)
- nuclear phase out (1)
- policy instruments (1)
- politics (1)
- post oil age (1)
- product environmental footprint (1)
- production circle (1)
- ressource efficiency analysis (1)
- saving potentials (1)
- scope 3 (1)
- season's greetings (1)
- smart meter (1)
- social cost accounting (1)
- stranded assets (1)
- sustainability control (1)
- sustainability projects (1)
- sustainable products (1)
- tajikistan (1)
- textile industry (1)
- textile refinement (1)
- toyota (1)
- trade (1)
- transport emissions (1)
- uk-rohs (1)
- umweltbilanz (1)
- urban carbon emissions (1)
- velib (1)
- volvo (1)
- waste air treatment (1)
- waste hierarchy (1)
- wastewater (1)
- water stress (1)
- wind gas (1)
- world statistics day (1)
- zero growth (1)
- Ökologischer Fußabdruck (1)