1. A method for reducing energy consumption in manufacturing processes executable on an electronic computer according to a program stored in a non-transitory medium comprising the steps of: (a) generating a computer simulation of the manufacturing process defining material input and output streams and energy input and output flows; (b) providing computer readable rules associated with the computer simulation defining constraints on changes in at least one of the material input and output streams and energy input and output flows; (c) applying a series of scripts to data of the material input and output streams to identify at least one predefined pattern of energy savings applicable to the manufacturing process; and (d) based on the identified predefined pattern of energy savings, providing variations to at least one of the input and output streams and energy input and output flows, constrained within the computer readable rules, to the computer simulation to provide a simulation output quantifying a change in energy usage.