Evaluation methodology for energy efficiency measures in industry and service sector

Directive 2012/27/EU, transposed in Italy with Decree of 4 July 2014 No102, a common framework of measures for the promotion of energy efficiency in European Union, is an innovative tool for improvement of energy efficiency and also necessary to undertake main objective of European Union (save 20% of primary energy consumption by 2020). Large enterprises and energy-intensive firms, except those having an energy management system (EnMS) according to ISO 50001 or compliant with EMAS Eco-Management and Audit Scheme or ISO 14001 fall under obligations and must be carry out energy audits every 4 years starting by December 2015 having "SMART" requirements: be Specific, Measurable, Accessible, Realistic, Time related. The analysis on a sample of Italian companies, mainly of small and medium enterprises (SME) in industry and the service sector, was conducted. Energy audit was carried out to identify Energy Company Profile, rationalize energy consumption to increase energy efficiency, assessing potential for energy savings and reducing of environmental impact. For any business context a series of energy efficiency measures has been proposed, selecting high profitability energy saving options by applying a priority criterion. Technical and economic indicators were reported on best practices focusing on tertiary sector and also industry. The study, starting from the feasibility assessments, aims to establish a possible correlation between energy performance indicators (EnPIs) and a limited number of parameters of the energy systems, in terms of production, operation and power consumption. Comparative assessment of energy-saving measures provides an useful method for assessing applicability of standard energy-saving measures in similar contexts and cost effectiveness of solutions, as a function of a limited number of parameters. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.