‘Good Practices’ to Improve Energy Efficiency in the Industrial Sector

Abstract

Since the introduction of the International Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) directive and of the Best Available Techniques Reference (BREF) documents, the best available techniques (BATs) have become a reference both for policies and for companies to compare performance and to identify investment opportunities. Due to the environmental core of the IPPC and the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), energy efficiency (EE) BATs are not always detailed and often lack energy-performance indicators. The H2020 EU-MERCI project is aimed at fostering and facilitating the implementation of EE projects in the manufacturing industry sectors by selecting and disseminating technological and policy best practices. A set of EE ‘Good Practices’ (GPs) was developed considering both BREF indications and literature analysis, and as innovative approach the outcomes of EE obligation and support measures aimed at the industrial sector. This was implemented through an in-depth analysis of the existing schemes in four countries (Austria, Italy, Poland and UK) and a thorough activity to normalise and compare the data made available by the different schemes. The outcome is available through the European Industrial Energy Efficiency good Practices platform implemented by EU-MERCI Partners. On the platform, a database of EE projects implemented in industry under the existing schemes is available. The database is searchable by country, sector, supporting scheme, implementation year and company size. The complete list is also downloadable as Excel file. Besides, a library divided by sectors is available, in which it is possible to look for the available GPs (both BATs and projects implemented under the national schemes) for each phase of the manufacturing processes. Sectoral and national analyses are finally available. This article will illustrate the methodology used for the project and the main outcomes.