What savings for industrial/commercial and institutional energy users are there (at low cost or no cost) to be captured using energy management "tools"?

Hi Rafael, We developed energy optimization algorithms and tools and in my experience i've seen improvements (talkin about operative margins here) between 2% and 20% depending on the assets mix, the size of the application and the flexibility allowed to run everything (sometimes security contracts or other policies requires machines to be always ON reducing the flexiblity margin)

Some companies tend to run with a business as usual approach because they don't have the bandwidth to really analyze and apply models to improve efficiency. When they do they usually have higher returns as there are many aspects that you can look at to optimize the system. 

Larger companies, with more resources working on different aspects, have already optimized some aspects leaving less room for improvement. Consider though that a 2% savings in fuel costs for a large utility managing a power plant it's probably worth more than a 10% improvements in smaller plants so it's kind always worth looking at solution to optimize the system. 

I hope this gives you some perspective. 

To be completely objective, the question is -  “no cost/low cost” compared to what?

Should you replace a 1.4 kW per ton cooling system for one that is 0.33 kW per ton; or replace a 70% efficient steam heating system with a new hydronic condensing boiler system that is 95% efficient? Much of the time the question is how much will it cost you if you don't?

In these eco-political times, it is often a question of how much money can you get from the federal government, or you can get from the state in tax benefits, or cash, to retrofit or replace your energy systems. In addition, what cash rebates can you get from the local utility through the local programs for a particular retrofit?

Not to be forgotten, what subsidies can be tapped (EPAct, TCJA, IRA) for energy retrofits, also renewable energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal heat pump systems? Solar panels will continue their growth and evolution into the energy economy, and heat pumps will replace many of the fossil fuel heating systems where they are practicable. Heat pumps will hasten the electrification of heating systems (which should be of interest to electric power producers) shifting away from fossil fuels in anticipation of new sources of electrical energy, besides renewables - such as nuclear fusion. - to supply the grid and facilitate electrification and support charging of EVs, etc.

 So – what can you afford NOT to do?

Question is very broad, not sure of the definition of energy management "tools"? If the organization has done no previous energy management work, saving should be >10%.