EU coordinated methods and procedures based on real cases for the effective implementation of policies and measures supporting energy efficiency in the industry (EU-MERCI)

Description

The final energy consumption of industry in Europe accounts for 25% of the total, with a GHG emission of 20% of the total (Eurostat), but 60% of the potential for energy efficiency (EE) improvement is still unexploited (IEA). This is particularly true for SMEs, which are the backbone of the EU economy and account for 30% of the energy savings potential. In this context, the reduction of energy consumption in industrial processes plays a crucial role in EE programs and policies, as it is stated in the EU 2012/27 Directive and in the Strategic Energy Technology Plan.

In spite of this, a comprehensive sharing of harmonized policies and implementation guidelines cannot be found at the EU level.

EU-MERCI aimed at filling this gap, by proposing and making available online a series of efficiency “Good practices”, validated in-field, and assisting industries to effectively put into practice and monitor sustainable EE improvements in their processes, in application of the obligation schemes and/or alternative measures adopted in the respective MS.

EU-MERCI also had the goal to support the action of the decision makers aimed at creating new effective energy efficiency supporting schemes and to improve existing ones, in order to make them more effective, transparent and responsive to the real needs of the industrial end-users.

Results

After two years of activities, the EU-MERCI project established itself as a real guide to energy efficiency investments for the industrial sector. Companies wishing to implement energy efficiency measures can rely on the wide set of products implemented by the project: factsheets for the main industrial sectors, reports on the potential in different EU countries and per industrial sector, opportunities linked to the policy measure available at EU level and, above all, the European Industrial Energy Efficiency good Practices (EIEEP) platform. After collecting around 2,900 projects in several EU countries (mainly Austria, Italy, Poland and United Kingdom), the project partners have created the EIEEP platform to provide companies, associations and practitioners with hints and information on the “Good Practices” for energy efficiency in the industrial sector.

The platform is divided into three main sections:

• “Database”: contains data on the available energy efficiency measures, as identified and validated in EU-MERCI;
• “Library”: highlights, for different sectors and manufacturing processes, the “Best Practices” from literature and the “Good Practices” identified in the EU-MERCI project; it also makes factsheets and country and sectoral reports available;
• “Surveys”: presents the findings of the surveys carried out on various stakeholders (companies, ESCOs, sector associations).

The “Good Practices” have been validated by various industrial actors, in order to assess their applicability and sustainability. Besides, they have been assessed according to the different EU policies, to understand which incentive mechanisms are available to promote their application.

EU-MERCI results were presented at the final conference of the project held in London on January 23th, whose proceeding are available on www.eumerci.eu. The event was an opportunity to show the implemented activities and the available products and to discuss the project’s outcomes.

Furthermore, EU-MERCI has established a close collaboration with EEFIG (Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group), which has developed the DEEP platform (https://deep.eefig.eu). DEEP is an open source database that is a support for monitoring the performance of energy efficiency investments, making comparisons and finding out how much it can be profitable to invest in energy efficiency projects.

With its 2,900 projects collected and made available to external users at the moment, the Database developed in EEEIP contains the largest public collection of energy efficiency projects in Europe. Industry plays a key role in achieving EU 2020 and 2030 targets, but it is necessary to focus on most effective   solutions, enabling high savings to be achieved, and ensuring an adequate and satisfying economic return on investment.