An analysis of the structure of costs for the production of electricity shows that at the current stage of development of industrial production, the trend of a decrease in energy intensity prevails over the trend of an increase in energy availability. Climatic conditions, which can be characterized by such an indicator as the number of degree-days (GSOS), have a significant impact on the energy intensity. This indicator is defined as the product of the duration of the heating season by the average temperature difference.
Without taking this circumstance into account, an analysis of the costs of manufacturing products in the electric power industry, based on a comparison of energy intensity in different countries, may turn out to be incorrect. The analysis of the volume of production confirms that the equality of these indicators in some two countries does not necessarily reflect the level of development of the economies of these countries. For example, in Latin America countries have low energy intensity, but also low per capita GDP. This can be explained by the mild climate of this region, which excludes the use of large amounts of energy for heating. At the same time, an analysis of the costs of production of electric power products and cross-country comparisons suggest that an increase in the economic level of countries is accompanied by a decrease in energy intensity. We can say that improving the energy efficiency of the economy is objectively necessary.
The reference to less favorable climatic conditions should not have a calming effect on the work on improving the country's energy efficiency. If the analysis of production costs shows that, for example, the energy saving potential in the country is 30% of the amount of energy consumed. This means that the current energy intensity can be reduced by at least 30%, which will bring the value of this indicator closer to its level in advanced countries. The reserves of energy efficiency are also in the fact that industry can have a specific structure. If the industry has a machine-building orientation, then its structure should objectively reorient to high-tech non-energy-intensive industries. An analysis of production costs clearly makes it possible to assert that GDP growth mainly occurs on the basis of the development of such enterprises and the service sector, and this further contributes to a decrease in the energy intensity of GDP.
It should be noted that the value of the energy intensity indicator is not fully a characteristic of the level of energy efficiency, i.e. it cannot be stated whether the value corresponds to its high or low level of energy efficiency. It can be used to characterize the dynamics of energy efficiency over a number of years, to compare energy efficiency for a number of similar enterprises. It can be used for comparison and not for the same purpose enterprises, if the volume of production is measured in monetary units. In this case, more energy-intensive enterprises will have higher values of the indicator, although much depends on the size of the monetary unit of production.
If we consider absolutely similar enterprises, then the values of the energy intensity indicator can differ significantly depending on the extent to which energy-saving measures are implemented at them. However, not all energy-saving measures should be taken into account when assessing energy-saving potential. First of all, measures of an organizational and economic nature that do not require costs and measures of a low-cost nature, for example, such as the use of secondary energy resources, should be implemented. But there are activities related to the replacement of existing energy-saving technology. The use of energy-saving technologies can often require a major reconstruction of the enterprise and economically this may not always be justified, since the achieved effect may turn out to be completely insufficient for the return on investment costs. In such cases, improving energy efficiency may not be economically feasible. However, the new enterprise, which has modern energy-saving equipment, will have a higher level of energy efficiency.