A successful pilot project for energy management in the textile industry in Pakistan shows that manufacturers can significantly cut their operating costs and boost their earnings by switching to a sustainable production mode and cleaner technologies. The Energy Management System (EnMS) project, which was launched by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association with the financial and technical assistance of the German International Co-operation (GIZ) in 2008, has helped 25 large factories reduce their electricity consumption by over 10 megawatts. It translates into a reduction of Rs400 million in the annual electricity bills on an investment of just Rs50 million by the participating companies. “The success of the pilot project has encouraged the industry to extend the programme to other factories willing to implement it on a commercial basis,” said Abbas Mahmood, Energy Efficiency Component Manager at GIZ. At least 15 manufacturers have already joined the project since, increasing the total electricity savings for all the 40 participating factories (including the ones that were part of the pilot project) to more than 12 megawatts. During the pilot programme, all consultancy costs were borne by GIZ while the participating mills paid for only equipment that needed to be replaced or added. Now the willing factories will have to bear the entire cost of implementing the project on the basis of a performance guarantee approach. “It means if a consultant fails to help a mill bring down its energy costs, he will not get paid,” said Mahmood. Anisul Haq, secretary of the Aptma-Punjab. Energy accounted for around 35 per cent of the operating costs in the textile industry. He said the adoption of energy management and monitoring systems could help a factory decrease its energy consumption up to 20 per cent.