A hot topic in the world is the demand for a sustainable and economically sensilble use of energy and raw materials. Many companies are keeping under control the energy cost as an important task in their business.
It was 2014 when Janusz Koalewski published on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/today/posts/janusz-kowalewski+0_24Du5xuXCnQZmt9sk5vMsK an essay on United States use of energy consumption for heat treatment was 17% of the whole industrial energy consumption and that its cost could be around 15% of the production cost. According to CECOF (the European Committee of Industrail Furnaces and Heating Associations) supporting the European Producer’s interests, 20% of the industrial production machines and processes are at least ten years old and they are using unnecessary energy. It is now urgent to take measures to reduce energy consumption. European commission published a global strategy on raw materials.
You can have a look at the document here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014SC0171&from=IT
