Industrial Energy Management and Sustainability

Growing environmental concerns caused by increasing consumption of natural

resources and pollution need to be addressed. Manufacturing dictates the efficiency

with which resource inputs are transformed into economically valuable

outputs in the form of products and services. Consequently, it is also responsible

for the resulting waste and pollution generated from this transformation process.

As a matter of fact, about one-third of the global total energy consumption is

associated withmanufacturing activities; thus, achieving higher energy efficiency

in this sector has been the focus of research as well as of policy and industrial

programmes in recent years. In particular, being able to effectively manage

energy and energy-related activities has proved to be a fundamental capability

for companies willing to improve their sustainability, as it constitutes the first,

critical step to understanding their processes and to identifying and correctly

evaluating improvement opportunities.

This Special Issue focuses on energy management and sustainability of both

manufacturing processes and systems, including methods, practices, tools, applications

and experiences.