From Energy Audit to Energy Performance Indicators (EnPI): A Methodology to Characterize Productive Sectors. The Italian Cement Industry Case Study

Abstract

In this work, a novel methodology to assess energy performance indicators of productive and economic sectors trough the analysis of the Italian mandatory energy audits database is presented. The updating of sectoral reference energy performance indicators is fundamental for both companies and policy makers—for the formers to evaluate and compare their energy performance with competitors in order to achieve improvements and for the latter to effectively monitor the impact of energy policies. This methodology could be potentially applied to all production sectors, providing key information needed to characterize various production processes from an energy point of view. Awareness of energy efficiency and sectorial benchmarking represent the first necessary steps for companies moving towards energy transition. This paper provides details of the statistical method developed and its application to the NACE 23 division “Manufacturing of other non-metallic mineral products”, with a focus on the cement industry. For this sector, results are presented in terms of specific indicators based on energy source. General results, methodological insights, and validation of the proposed case study are discussed.

Energy Performance of Italian Oil Refineries Based on Mandatory Energy Audits

“…Fourthly, this work is completely new for the Italian refining sector (the second country in the EU). Lastly, this study extends to refineries the general methodology developed to characterize different productive sectors from energy audits previously validated within the cement industry [25].…”

“…Therefore, the use of the information from energy audits is ideal to define the sectoral specific energy consumption (SEC) [34]. The use of linear regression models is widely used for benchmarking analysis and energy efficiency measures [75][76][77][78][79] and a methodology for the characterization of productive sectors from energy audits has been developed and tested in a previous work (for a different industrial sector) [25]. Hence, the first step of the present work is to analyse the primary energy consumption (in tonnes of equivalent oil, normalized according to official conversion factors [80]) and the final electrical (in GWh) and thermal (in TJ) yearly consumptions as a function of the annual refined crude oil (in tonnes).…”

Private Hospital Energy Performance Benchmarking Using Energy Audit Data: An Italian Case Study

“…This study aimed to define energy benchmark indicators for the Italian private health sector using a simple approach based on the calculations EnPIs following a methodology proposed by the ENEA, which has been used successfully in other contexts [25].…”

“…Directive 2012/27/EU [25] establishes that "Member States shall ensure that enterprises that are not SMEs are subject to an energy audit carried out in an independent and cost-effective manner by qualified and/or accredited experts or implemented and supervised by independent authorities under national legislation by 5 December 2015 and at least every four years from the date of the previous energy audit." For Italy, the energy audits are collected every four years by ENEA.…”

Special Issue “Industry and Tertiary Sectors towards Clean Energy Transition”

“…The increased attention on energy efficiency, both at the national and international levels, has fostered the diffusion and development of specific energy consumption benchmarks for most relevant economic sectors. In this Special Issue, several articles examine energy consumption and the energy efficiency potential at sectoral level [1][2][3][4]. Energy audits (EAs) provide comprehensive information about the energy usage in a specific facility, identifying and quantifying cost-effective energy performance improvement actions (EPIAs).…”