Energy saving and efficiency tool: A sectorial decision support model for energy consumption reduction in manufacturing SMEs

The problem of Energy Efficiency in industry is a hot topic but companies are not still implementing, on a mass scale, energy efficiency actions. One of the most important barriers is that companies are scarcely aware of their consumptions and consider energy as a fixed cost and not as a resource to be managed. In this paper it is proposed a model, based on self-analysis of consumptions, for facing this barrier. On the base of this model, a software tool, Energy Saving and Efficiency Tool (ESET), was designed as a starting point of an energy diagnosis path for SMEs. ESET was developed for textile/clothing sector but the model is general and, starting from it, similar sectorial tools can be developed. The tool provides different kinds of outputs: best practices, for helping companies to improve its own energy performances; energy efficiency indices, compared with reference values; energy use behaviours. Particularly, best practices are selected using a large set of rules, distilled from the experience of professional energy auditors. The analysis of the accuracy and completeness of ESET results was performed on six companies selected among all those involved in ESET testing and application. The results of this evaluation are very encouraging.