Energy plays a key role in the economic and financial development of any company. Small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are typically failing to keep pace with measures to increase energy efficiency due to the lack of information and adequate skills and resources. 

There are 5 main reasons why SMEs should focus on achieving energy efficiency:

• Saves costs by optimizing the use of  resources
• Elevates the company’s prestige, customer trust and loyalty
• Boosts profitability and market competitiveness 
• Strengthens the production processes
• Positive impact on the environment

According to specialists, putting in practice energy saving principles is easier for these companies than for larger companies. Given their smaller size, they have fewer layers of management and there is less bureaucracy for making changes and improvements.

Within the framework of the World Environment Day, the International Trade Center (ITC), the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) recently published a new guide to help SMEs understand how to streamline energy efficiency following international standards.   

This publication proves to be a practical guide structured as a checklist to create and apply an energy management system based on the ISO 50001 model that describes management systems and procedures to help companies increase their energy efficiency and reduce consumption. 

Greenpyme, an Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) initiative, describes a wide range of possible actions to improve energy efficiency spanning from installing high-yielding electrical pumps and motors, the use of efficient and low loss power transformers to changing to more efficient climate and lighting devices (CFL, LED), and turning off lights and equipment when not in use.