The Institute of Supply Management reported today that activity in 16 of 18 industry sectors increased last month, for the 10th consecutive month of manufacturing growth. The only industry groups that contracted were petroleum and coal.
Order backlogs increased for the 5th month, with both supplier and customer inventories continuing to contract, suggesting that we should see continued growth in manufacturing output. In particular, customer inventories are reported by the survey as "too low."
In addition, this month's report saw an increase in hiring in manufacturing with employment increasing 1.3%, indicating a renewed confidence among manufacturers that the recovery is likely to be sustained.
For industrial energy efficiency programs, this suggests that customers are likely to begin planning capacity investment (if they are not already making these investments), so the time is ripe to reach out to manufacturing plants to ensure that these investments are made to maximize energy efficiency. ACEEE hears from its industry colleagues that access to capital remains a challenge, so programs that can either directly help with financing or facilitate other financing resources such as economic development bonds will be well received.
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Energy efficient buildings, industrial processes and transportation could reduce the world's energy needs in 2050 by one third, and help controlling global emissions of greenhouse gases, according to the International Energy Agency.
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