Energy efficiency development in Lithuanian furniture industry
The paper analyses the energy efficiency development challenges and possibilities in Lithuanian furniture industry. Due to the conditions of modern business, ambitious targets of the EU energy policies, changing environmental priorities, dependence on energy import and rising energy price, furniture manufacturing enterprises have to search for more efficient ways to reduce the amounts of energy consumption. There are various possible energy efficiency improvements including the changes in production process, investment in R&D, implementation of energy saving technologies or energy management systems. This paper not only provides the theoretical analysis of the energy efficiency development in Lithuanian furniture industry, but also presents the findings of in depth analysis of the statistical data and interviews with the managers and specialists of furniture manufacturing enterprises. The results of the study reveal the importance of managerial initiative to implement energy saving technologies, environmental management strategies as well as energy efficiency policies while developing energy efficiency within furniture industry in Lithuania.