The industry sector has a significant responsibility for the depletion of fossil fuels and emission of carbon dioxide. Thus, several initiatives have been implemented by the industry sector to mitigate those issues. One initiative corresponds to the implementation of energy efficiency strategies. In particular, the food industry is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, and the food demand is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Therefore, developing energy efficiency strategies for this particular industrial sector is crucial. This paper investigates the different opportunities for energy efficiency in the food industry. It first provides a brief overview of the various food industries and related energy consumption. Then, the different options for energy efficiency in the thermal and electric sector are discussed. New trends and opportunities, arising from industry 4.0 and demand response, are also presented.INDEX TERMS Energy efficiency, food industry, industry 4.0, renewable energy, waste-to-energy.

No abstract

This paper evaluates the energy efficiency in the bakery industry toward competitiveness and sustainability through energy audits that were carried out on six bakeries located in Quito, Ecuador. Firstly, an initial meeting was held. After this, an energy survey was carried out in all areas of the bakeries. The information of the energy consumption of the facilities was collected. This was based on electricity bills, power data, equipment usage time, habits, and monthly consumption. With the energy balances, the critical points were identified, resulting in the baking process and the production activity, as those with the highest energy consumption within each establishment. Subsequently, with the indicator of electrical energy consumed per unit produced, the energy consumption by production processes and the bakery’s total energy consumption were determined. Several improvement proposals were generated for the bakery industry based on the results. Finally, it is concluded that the consumption of electrical energy in the bakery industry in Quito is efficient when compared to other bakeries, since they use less energy per unit of mass processed to produce products.