Since ancient times, people have tried to improve their tools and the things they made to make life simpler and easier. Over time, humankind shifted from making items for the immediate household to the village and on to today’s highly specialized global manufacturing environment. Today’s world allows for the concentration of power and decision-making in many aspects of our lives, including where we manufacture the many items we use in modern society.
The concentration of decision-making results in significant responsibility for those making the decisions, since their choices have a cascading impact on those who work in a manufacturing plant, those who supply its inputs, those who buy its outputs, those living nearby, and its investors. Among the significant decisions needed on an ongoing basis are those concerning the energy manufacturing plants consume.
Since manufacturing consumes energy at high levels, decisions that reduce energy consumption by percentage points can have significant impacts.
Global, national, state, and local policies should encourage decision-makers to choose paths that provide both short—and long-term benefits. This may require additional tax and other policies to promote renewable energy production and consumption while also rewarding energy conservation. Even seemingly minor decisions regarding the brand of carbon raschig ring used in a plant can affect a company’s energy consumption and that of its suppliers.
