Energy-Efficiency Measures at the Mexican Maquiladoras

The energy consumption worldwide by the industrial sector is expected to keep increasing during the coming years; generating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as unwanted byproducts. For that reason, industrial facilities must take concrete initiatives in order to decouple their production growth from their CO2 emission generation in order to decrease their contributions to global warming. Concerned that this is a world-wide problem, Mexican maquiladoras have started several energy-efficiency initiatives. The aim of this article is to present significant results of a descriptive and analytical study that has been conducted into three maquiladoras located at northwestern Mexico of the first two stages of the Cleaner Production - Energy Efficiency program proposed by the United Nations Environment Programme. Findings reveal that, although electrical devices seem work efficiently, it is still possible to address energy waste. Additionally, attaching the energy-efficiency approach to the cleaner production framework was found a complicated task because, unlike emissions and toxic residues, energy inefficiencies are not easily visible, verifiable, or measurable.