Is your company inefficient? An energy audit can help
Published on 6 January 2022 by Catarina Costa
- Energy Efficiency
- Business & ESG
Managing energy well is now critical for cost control, competitiveness and environmental commitment.
An energy audit identifies waste, quantifies opportunities and defines an action plan to reduce consumption and emissions with economic return.
Who is required to carry out audits?
In line with the European Energy Efficiency Directive, Decree-Law no. 68-A/2015 requires non-SME companies to carry out energy audits every four years.
Even when it is not mandatory, auditing pays off: it reduces costs, improves processes and prepares certifications such as ISO 50001.
What is an energy audit?
It is a technical study, conducted according to good practices, that:
- Characterises consumption by process and equipment;
- Identifies inefficiencies;
- Proposes improvement measures with estimated savings, investment and payback;
- Defines an implementation and monitoring plan.
Practical benefits
- Lower immediate costs;
- Greater availability and productivity;
- Better control of energy costs by product or process;
- Lower emissions and better ESG performance;
- Technical basis for funding and incentive applications.
What we need to start
- Description of the activity and economic activity code;
- Energy bills and contracts from the last 12 to 24 months;
- Equipment inventory and process diagrams;
- Identification of major consumers;
- Internal energy contact person;
- Previous audit reports, if available;
- Definition of the areas to be audited.
How the audit is carried out
- Kick-off and data collection;
- Measurement campaigns;
- Technical visit and mapping;
- Analysis and benchmarking;
- Measures plan;
- Report and roadmap.
Examples of typical measures
- Peak and tariff management;
- High-efficiency motors and drives;
- LED lighting and control;
- Optimised HVAC;
- Compressed-air leak detection;
- Photovoltaic self-consumption.
What happens after the audit?
An audit only creates value when the actions are implemented.
Enbiente supports technical execution, team training, monitoring with EnbiTrack and continuous optimisation, ensuring estimated savings become real and sustainable savings.
