Soft optimization - How to increase the overall energy efficiency by optimizing processes and material flows

Steadily increasing energy costs driven by the scarcity of raw materials and a growing political awareness of the environment have lead to a rethinking of the production of economic goods. The main priority now is energy efficiency. In heat treatment especially, one of the industries with the highest energy consumption, this will cause drastic and therefore comparably expensive measures. How can we then cut down on energy? It is obvious that more intelligent burner systems, insulation, and approaches for energy recovery can reduce the gross energy consumption dramatically; however, all of these "hard" measures require huge investments.