The project is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co-financed by the ERDF

LiCEA FINAL REPORT Applicability and evaluation of LiCEA tool.

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The work done in the project LiCEA and the establishment and maintenance of this study receive funding from the European Union’s Central Europe Programme financed by the European Regional Development Fund from 2007 to 2013. www.central2013.eu The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the author. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the Member States of the Central Europe, is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Authors: Provincia di Mantova, AGIRE Energy Management Agency, AIEC Agency for Innovation and European cooperation Slovakia, EAR Energy Agency of the Regions, NAPE National Energy Conservation Agency, PBN Pannon Business Network Association, Daniele Forni, Leo Breedveld Contacts: - AGIRE Piazza Sordello 43, 46100 Mantua (MN), Italy Tel.: +39 0376 229694 Fax: +39 0376 1999791

E-mail: musci@agirenet.it - PBN Seat: 4 Gesztenyefa St., H-9027 Győr (HU) Tel.: +36 94 505 0034 Fax: +36 94 505 004

E-mail: info@pbn.hu LiCEA FINAL REPORT is contributing to LiCEA WP6, Action 6.2.2 Work Package Responsible WP6 PBN Pannon Business Association Lead Partner Province of Mantua

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Summary

1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 5

2. LiCEA project ......................................................................................... 7

3. LiCEA tools ........................................................................................... 13

4. LiCEA tool application ......................................................................... 16

4.1. Austria (EAR) ................................................................................. 16

4.2. Hungary (PBN) .............................................................................. 19

4.3. Italy (AGIRE).................................................................................. 25

4.4. Poland (NAPE) .............................................................................. 32

4.5. Slovakia (AIEC) ............................................................................. 39

5. Technical experts evaluation .............................................................. 42

5.1. LCA approach ................................................................................ 42

5.2. Energy auditing approach .............................................................. 45

6. SMEs evaluation ................................................................................... 49

6.1. Centro Tecnologico Arti e Mestieri ................................................. 49

6.2. Centro Servizi Calza ...................................................................... 52

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1. Introduction Project idea and application, partnership creation, aims and targets.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have a fundamental role in the

European economy. They are widespread throughout Europe and they are

often organized in industrial cluster at national, regional or local level,

characterized by similar kind of production. Considering the total number of

these companies, the impact in terms of employment, business, turnover, etc.

in Europe is strong, but the power of a single enterprise in the new global

market is low. New rules, new markets, competition, security, quality, cost

reduction, energy efficiency are new challenges that a single SME faces with

few resources, about money, time and know-how. As analyzed in depth in the

Work Package 3 (WP3), The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED –

2012/27/EU), adopted on 25 October 2012, obliges large companies to make

audits of their energy consumption to help them to identify ways to reduce it,

while suggests national incentives for SMEs to undergo energy audits. That is

because energy saving is important and strategic also in the SMEs, but

usually they are not able to sustain an energy audit that cannot be realized by

the company staff (for lack of time and knowledge) and could be too

expensive if asked by external experts, in time of economic crisis. On the

other hand, energy cost reduction, is not only an environmental need, but

also a crucial step to increase the European competitiveness and the

economic growth. Energy is not only the cost of the bill that the company pay

for power and fuel, but is also the cost of transport, and the cost of the energy

that was used by the companies’ suppliers, that is inside the supplied

components and their costs.

The LiCEA project started from these considerations: the idea to realize a

simplified tool for the energy audit of the SMEs, considering the energy

cumulated in the entire life cycle of the company’s production, analyzing

SMEs organized in industrial districts to find similar raw materials,

components and processes to simplify as much as possible the development

of the tool and its archives. The LiCEA audit must give fast information about

the company consumption, identifying the critical step in the whole production

chain and suggesting the main actions that can reduce the energy and

environmental impact.

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The partnership was organized by the Province of Mantua, public body that

wants to create opportunities of development for the local districts of SMEs

that are the industrial power of the area. Province of Mantua created a strong

partnership involving energy agencies as well as development agencies and

district services centers in the Central Europe Region, because they are able

to develop and implement the tool, to involve SMEs amd local stakeholders,

to apply the tool to the companies and to train the SMEs’ staff, service

centers’ experts, other energy agencies and external experts about the use of

the new tool. The partners involved are the energy Agency AGIRE from Italy

(Mantua); the Energy Agency of the Regions EAR from Austria (Waidhofen

an der Thaya); the National Energy Agency of Poland NAPE (Warsaw); the

Agency for Innovation and European Cooperation AIEC from Slovak Republic

(Bratislava); the Pannon Business Network Association (PBN) from Hungary

(Györ).

Picture 1 LiCEA map

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2. LiCEA project Development of the project step by step. WPs implementation, problems

solution, delays, specific results, involved stakeholders. Tool development

and results: excel choice; simplification; compatibility problems; open office

version; handbook and data collection forms.

The project work plan was organized in six work packages (WPs). The first

was the project management and coordination. It was managed by the

partner leader in order to report the whole project, maintain the contact and

the coordination of the work with all the partners, controlling the progress and

the respect of the time table and the budget. Transnational Partners Meetings

(TPM) have been

organized in

Weidhofen, with the

study visit to a local

cheese factory; in

Sarvàr, with study visit

to a local spa; in

Warsaw, in Mantua, in

Bratislava and again in

Mantua at the final

conference, organized

on 16th December 2014

at the University of

Mantua, that involved

about 70 energy

experts and students.

Picture 3 The LiCEA logo

Picture 2 The LiCEA final conference in Mantua

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WP2 was about the project communication and dissemination: AIEC

managed that supplying all the communication materials (folders, logo,

brochures, business cards, fonts, letterheads, maps, posters, Powerpoint

templates; templates for

documents and pen),

supporting the

organization and

promotion of project

meetings, conferences

and seminars, developing

the LiCEA website and

newsletter and involving

and coordinating the

partners to edit local news

and information about the

tool development and

application and the

project progress.

Picture 5 LiCEA pen

Picture 4 The LiCEA website www.licea.eu

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Picture 6 LiCEA poster

The WP 3, 4, 5 and 6 were about the technical project development.

WP3, coordinated by Agire, created the bases to develop the tool and its

application: it included the study of the European status quo about industrial

energy and LCA audit, considering the legislation in EU and in each partner

Country, and the technical standards. Also the local status quo were

analyzed, focusing on the regional industrial districts, starting the involvement

of SMEs and stakeholders, including also public bodies and local authorities.

A survey was submitted to the companies to understand if they already knew

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their energy consumptions and bill and if they did energy audit or LCA

analysis, and in this case which was their level of satisfaction. It was not easy

to collect complete answers to the survey but generally the results told that

only few SMEs already performed audits or improvement actions to reduce

their environmental impact. The most important WP3’s output was the

strategic LiCEA guidance document. It describes the fundamental approach

and steps for the development of the tool: the LiCEA scheme, that consider

three main phases for the LCA analysis: upstream (company’s supplies), core

(direct consumptions), downstream (delivery and end of life of final products);

the simplification criteria, in order to

reduce the time and the efforts to

collect the data, calculate the results

and perform the whole energy audit

with LCA perspective; the suggestion

for the software development, in

particular highlighting the opportunity

to start working with excel, allowing

the energy experts and all the

partners to work directly on the

software implementations. A training

seminar was organized in Sarvàr by

PBM during the Hungarian partner

meeting to exchange information

with external energy audit experts:

information sharing with the

developers of projects about SMEs

energy audit as Erasme and

Innospirit was very important for the

next steps of the LiCEA

development.

WP4 started in autumn 2013, it was managed by NAPE that coordinated the

technical staff for the first development of the tool. The working group

included Agire and EAR with the LiCEA expert Leo Breedveld selected by

Agire and the energy expert Daniele Forni selected by the partner leader. The

LiCEA requirements document is a detail description of the data collection

and the features of the tool. The mechanical SME Cisaplast in Suzzara was

Picture 7 Sarvàr training seminar on information

exchange

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the first audited company: it was used as example for the first development of

the tool. With the data collected the LCA and the energy parts were

developed, checked and improved. They were finally unified obtaining the first

draft of the LiCEA tool. The conversion factor sheet has been filled with

different data obtaining six different versions of the tool, one for each involved

district: food (bakery and meat), hosiery, mechanical, plastic, tourism and

wood. Each industrial district has typical raw materials, semi-finished

products, processes and waste. According with the simplified approach, each

tool includes only its relevant data and the related conversion factors for the

LCA calculation of Global Warming Potential (GWP), Cumulated Energy

Demand (CED) and Blue Virtual Water. During the spring 2014 the tool was

applied to the first five companies in the province of Mantua. During the first

TPM in Mantua a training course for partners has been organized, to show

the first draft of the tool and to explain how it works. After that all the partners

were able to organize their local training seminar to show the first draft of the

tool to energy agencies, energy experts, SMEs and service centers of the

districts.

WP5 was about the LiCEA tool’s optimization. It was coordinated by EAR.

During summer 2014, five SMEs for each selected district have been audited

as tools’ test, finding and solving a lot of errors and problems of the first draft

of the tool and adding specific materials in each version improving the

conversion factors sheet for each district. The final versions of the tools are

1.2.12 and they were strongly updated for 23 times. Finally the excel tools

have also been converted in Liber Office versions, to ensure long life to the

tools, solving problems of compatibility with the future version of Microsoft

Office.

WP6, managed by PBN, was about the large scale application of the tool with

new 170 audited SMEs, for a total final number of 200 analyzed companies in

six districts as in the summary table:

Hosiery Mechanical Plastics Food Wood Tourism SUM

AGIRE 20 25 45

AIEC 25 25

EAR 20 34 54

NAPE 1 39 2 4 46

PBN 8 4 18 30

SUM 20 33 26 59 40 22 200

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The LiCEA tool has been

completed with an updated

version of the handbook, the

data collection forms and the test

data format. Seven more training

seminars for energy agencies,

experts and SMEs have been

organized: one local for each

partner region and two

international, in Bruxelles during

the Sustainable Energy Week

2014 and in Rimini during

Ecomondo international fair. The

LiCEA partners organized locally

policy round tables involving local bodies and authorities at

municipal/provincial/regional/national level with the aim to disseminate the

LiCEA project and the use of the audit as action of the public energy plans

and Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP). The results of this campaign

are described in the Policy recommendations document. The last output of

the WP6 and of the whole project is this LiCEA Final report.

Picture 8 The first international training seminar in

Bruxelles at Fedarene Office

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Picture 9 The second international training seminar in Rimini - Ecomondo fair

3. LiCEA tools Final tools description.

The LiCEA tools are six excel files developed to perform energy audit on

SMEs of specific industrial districts: food, hosiery, mechanical, plastic,

tourism and wood. Each tool provides as output a report about the

environmental impact of the company production in terms of Global Warming

Potential (GWP, measured in tons of CO2), Cumulated Energy Demand

(CED, measured in GJ and MWh), and Blue Virtual Water (measured in m3).

The values of these outputs are provided for each phase of the company’s

production: in the upstream phase the impact of the supply of raw materials,

the semi-finished products, outsource manufacturing and packaging,

including their transports; in the core phase the impact of water, electricity

and fuel consumptions, the company’s waste and the internal transports; in

the downstream phase the impact of products’ distribution and end of life

disposal. All these outputs are calculated and available not only for the

current situation of the company (baseline scenario), but also considering

several different improvement actions. The tools can describe for each

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company three possibilities of improvements in the upstream and

downstream phases: for example reduction of distances, change of transport

system, weight reduction of supplied materials, use of recycled materials,

etc.). The tool can evaluate ten different improvement actions in the core

phase, to reduce the cost of the company: lighting, electric motors, heating,

forklift, air compressors, piping insulation, heat recovery, electric refrigeration

by heat pump, combined heat and power (CHP), custom measure (free field),

are the standard improvement actions of the LiCEA tool at the company level.

The tool gives provides as output also the payback time of the investment

and rate of reduction of the company’s production costs.

Also the results of the combination of all the selected measures are reported.

The tools need as input data: quantity of purchased materials, kind of

transport and distance; electricity and fuel bill (cost and quantity), water

consumption, corporate fleet and distances (or fuel consumption); internal

waste; kind of transport for distribution and distances; description of each king

of auxiliary plants inside the factory (lighting, air compressors, etc.).

For a complete description of the use of LiCEA tool the handbook, the energy

data collection form and the visit data collection form are available on the

LiCEA website www.licea.eu.

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Picture 10 LiCEA baseline scenario report

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4. LiCEA tool application Regional application: analyzed districts; SMEs involvement; global results per

region and district (GWP, CED and Blue water saving potential, most

applicable actions; general evaluation), particular results; tool applicability;

SMEs behavior.

4.1. Austria (EAR)

Overview

Originally 40 company audits were planned for the LiCEA project. Because

some partners could not reach their target in audits, the “Energieagentur der

Regionen” increased their number. A total of 34 SMEs in the sectors wood,

carpenters and sawmills were audited. In the sector food 20 SMEs, all of

them bakeries were audited too. All 54 companies are situated in Lower

Austria.

Not only but also because of the actual discussions on the federal energy

efficiency law in Austria, there is a high interest in the application of the

LiCEA tool. The tool itself is (at the moment) not able to give a full energy

audit but some improvement actions. Life cycle assessment (LCA) measures

are something new for the companies, but increase their curiosity and the

usefulness of the audit. As there is a lack of knowledge, what an LCA can do

for a business, awareness building was one of the preparing tasks before and

during the audits.

Results

LCA measures, which show the impact of improvements on the environment,

show often a stronger influence than pure energy improvement actions.

New key figures were created: In bakeries we found about 150 kg CO2-

Equivalent of Greenhouse gasses (GHG) and about 900 kWh cumulated

Energy demand (CED) per kg bread produced.

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As foreseen, EAR analyzed in a comprehensive way, that means the

upstream (raw materials with their transport), the core (energy demand in the

company) and the downstream (distribution of products and waste

manipulation) and found out, that the distribution for both sectors (bakery and

carpentry) causes the largest part (~90%) of GHG, CED and virtual water

demand, in sawmills the core is most important.

The companies normally want an expert like EAR, to use the tool in

cooperation with them, because they are in lack of time and do not want to go

into detail in questions so far. The results of the LiCEA tool will be of special

interest of different administrations for regional or national planning in the

fields of environment and energy.

Wood companies know very well, where there is potential for energy

efficiency (but often need help and arguments from outside their company).

In bakeries the firms in many cases thought that they are very progressive

concerning energy efficiency. Therefore, it is common thinking, that there are

no economic improvement actions possible. In reality, of course there exist

always some possibilities to raise energy efficiency. Concerning the quantities

of energy needed companies are often not very aware of, but the energy cost

is known of the companies book-keeping. Energy costs are not so high, that

they are seen as important or interesting than personnel cost.

Almost all the companies did not know the quantity of their water demand.

The top energy improvement actions in bakeries are:

- Cooling optimization and heat recovery from the chiller

- Heat recovery from baking oven from exhaust and fume

- Optimization of the baking oven and its use

- Pipe insulation (heat and cooling)

- improvements in lighting

The top energy improvement actions for carpenters are:

- Dust suction with variable speed drive motor and dust sensor

- Air pressure optimisation

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- Heat recovery from paint spray-line or optimisation

- Pipe insulation (heat)

The top energy improvement actions for sawmills are:

- Combined Heat Power plant (CHP)

- Idle running time reduction of machines

- Lighting of the outdoor area

Life cycle improvement actions we simulated are:

- The use of electro-mobility in delivering products (it is the most effective

improvement for the downstream, as the downstream is the main part in

environmental effects, this improvement has the largest impact.

- Use of green electricity (from renewable energy sources; it is the top

improvement for the core)

- Other orientation in future company activities (resembling semi-finished

kitchens at the customer instead of producing own furniture)

- Use of bio-products instead of conventional ones for production

- Use of other raw materials (e.g. no aluminium, no plastic bags)

- Different origin of the raw materials or semi-finished products, which have

less GHG cause of shorter delivering distances

- Other transport vehicle for delivery of raw materials (train instead of

trucks)

- Using waste for new products and therefore reducing the waste volume

(bakeries)

- Perhaps it would be interesting to simulate some “bad examples”, too.

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4.2. Hungary (PBN)

Overview

A total of 30 SME´s in the wood, mechanical & tourism industry were audited

with another 10 contacted, so out of the 40 contacted, 30 SMEs of the

mentioned sectors were audited.

The division of the audits’ number was the following per sector:

- Mechanical: 8

- Tourism: 18

- Wood: 4

SME size by employers ranged from 2 – 206. Numerous team-members were

utilised for the workflow, a distance of 4000km was travelled throughout

Hungary.

During the scheduling and audit processes, it was found that all SMEs were

cooperative and keen to accommodate the auditors/consultants.

We also observed a high level of interest, although the clients’ energy-

consumption habits were largely unknown and thus the information/data

collected was very general yet concrete.

Problems encountered included erroneous tools, difficulties interpreting items

on energy-bills, and data validation.

The general results show a high savings potential throughout all SMEs

audited. Some particular results (i.e. case studies) will be presented below.

Methodology

Pannon Business Network Association addressed the potential partners

through its business relations and network. First the client was contacted by

phone and the audit data collection form was sent in order to prepare our

personal visit.

The tool for mechatronics could be applied optimally insofar, that we were

able to handle the difficult circumstance that products are delivered using

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several means of transport to get to the end user (e.g. car, freight train or

transshipment).

In the wood tool, the engine operating times were not significant because of

higher labor rates.

The most difficult task in the tourism tool was the definition of the end-product

(guest satisfaction). We were only able to provide estimates for the materials

and services used by visitors to determine the extent of consumption.

Results

3 case studies about the most significant SME from every sectors: wood,

mechanical, tourism.

Case Study I:

Üveges Faipari Kft. – Üveges Zoltán E.V., furniture production (wood sector) 2 employees, 33.000 € turnover/year

Mr. Zoltán Üveges – managing director and owner – accompanied us

during the audit in the timber company. Some details necessary for the

audit could only be estimated, because the entrepreneur himself was not

familiar with these figures.

Although it is a microenterprise, a high level of energy-consciousness can

be observed, because the generated waste is used for heating in a

biomass boiler. As the heating of the building is provided with wood waste

and firewood, the cost-effective improvement of energy efficiency is not

possible.

The woodworking machines and the lighting are the main energy

consumers. We proposed changing of the lamps to energy-saving bulbs

(e.g. LED lamps).

Interventions resulting from the audit:

- The client will treat the energy consumption with great care.

- Preparation of calculation concerning the exchange of the lamps.

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- The client will use the results of our energy audit during the exchange

of the lamps.

Specific results/figures:

- Originally consumed 2.320 m3 of natural gas per year, 7 t of CO2

produced.

- The wood-fired boilers have a CO2 GWP of zero, the CED is 92.

- 6 t of firewood used per year, half of which is covered by

manufacturing waste.

Picture 11 Üveges Faipari Kft. – Üveges Zoltán E.V., furniture production (wood sector)

Case Study II:

Trend Form Szerszámkészítő Kft., machine production (mechanical sector) 37 employees, 1.8 million € turnover/year

Trend-Form Ltd. offers classic industry services according to the principle

„everything from one hand” that enables composition of complete projects.

They undertake designing and producing plastic injection molds, die

casting tools, vacuum form, rubber vulcanization, press tools.

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Mr. Lóránt Horváth – managing director – assisted us during the energetic

audit.

The hall and office building was built in the 1960s and the building and

engineering equipment was renovated in 2006. The substantial part of

energy consumption results from the year-round constantly operating

machines. The air of the pneumatic equipment is provided by two screw

compressors. The one with higher performance was equipped with a heat

recovery unit in 2014. Based on preliminary calculations it can result

17600 kWh reduction of heating energy consumption a year by the

alternative production of hot water.

With the results of the audit we confirmed the decision of the management

that the exchange of energy-saving compact lamps would not pay off in

the foreseeable future. According to our suggestion it would make sense

to consider the exchange of traditional gas boilers to energy efficient gas

boilers or boilers using renewable energy sources.

As this company does not employ energy technician, our audit was very

useful for the managing director, because we highlighted some fields of

energy consumption and the opportunities of energy efficient operation.

Interventions resulting from the audit:

- Examination of the exchange of traditional gas boilers on the basis of

the audit’s results.

- Call for proposal for energy efficient boilers or boilers using

renewable energy sources.

- Profitability calculations with the aim of financial calculations.

- Examination of financing opportunities.

Specific results/figures:

- Using the tool we were able to count 1865 m3 of gas savings/17.5%

reduction in gas consumption/5.4 t CO2 GWP saving, 88.2 GJ CED.

- The KAESER 21T bolt-compressor heat recovery modules were

installed last year.

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Picture 12 Trend Form Szerszámkészítő Kft., machine production (mechanical sector)

Case Study III:

Gránit Gògyfürdő Zrt., health-spa (tourism sector) 204 employees, 3.7 million € turnover/year

Mr. János Tóth – technical Manager – and Mr. Tibor Dombi – Operational

Manager – assisted us during the energetic audit. The colleagues of the

technical department collected the technical data by the administration of

the spa in advance, after that we examined and interpreted the figures

together. During the site visit we inspected the technical device and

equipment with the help of the operational manager. We got information

concerning the technical parameters and the details of operation as well.

Some equipment of the spa have been already modernized, but most of

them are several decades-old. With a successful EU-grant they could

install solar panels on the roof of the spa. They worked out an

advantageous service contract for the procurement of energy (gas).

The spa has a carefully worked-out development strategy. During our visit

they could compare their concept with the results of our audit (they equal

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in broad terms), so they got precise data about the expected results of the

development.

During the audit we found the main energy consumers, the pumps of the

bath and wellness (29 pieces) to be improved. Because of hygienic

requirements these pumps operate continuously, 24 hours a day and they

are stopped only in case of maintenance. We proposed to build frequency

changer in the pumps or to change some engines to modern ones.

The representatives of the thermal bath considered the energetic audit as

a confirmation, because it approves their concept concerning the future

developments and with the help of this professional, sophisticated study

they can support and strengthen the management decisions.

Interventions resulting from the audit:

- Incorporation of the audit results into the technical development

strategy.

- Preparation of financial calculations in connection with certain

strategies.

- Profitability calculations with the aim of financial calculations.

- Examination of financing opportunities.

Specific results/figures:

- 137 MWh annual electrical energy reduction can be achieved by

modernizing the pumps electric-powered motor (replacement of class

IE3 motors to EE class engines).

- We reduced energy demand by 1518 GJ, which corresponds to the

potential of 276 m3 Blue Water (BWS).

- The modernization of the existing thermal fountain pump saved 19.710

KWh of energy during 1 year.

- The 50 kW solar power plant reached 48.5 MWh of electricity

reduction, which is 48.5 t CO2 and 530 GJ mean CED (Cumulative

Renewable Energy Demand) savings.

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Picture 13 Gránit Gògyfürdő Zrt., health-spa (tourism sector)

4.3. Italy (AGIRE)

Overview

Starting from the results of the documents produced in the WP3, particularly

from the "Inventory of the state of the art", we observed how the Province of

Mantua is organized in industrial clusters: chemical, mechanical, wood and

hosiery. This clusters includes more than 400 SMEs.

From the analysis carried out on each district, has been highlighted how the

most relevant for the territory and the project LiCEA were the mechanical and

the hosiery clusters.

In the mechanical cluster was identified the first company case study for the

development of the tool. This company, specialized in the production of

glassdoors for refrigerated cabinets, purchases different materials, like glass,

metals and plastic components, and it was interested in the LCA aspect, so it

was involved in the development and test of the new tool.

Once that the tool was finished, a total of 40 SMEs were audited:

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- 20 in the mechanical district (including the case study)

- 20 in the hosiery district

Analysis methodology

AGIRE contacted the potentially participating companies with the support of

the local Service Centers, the CSC for the hosiery district and the CTAM for

the mechanical district. Firstly meetings were organized with the companies

in their respective services centers, then the companies were contacted by

phone and mail have been sent them with the audit data collection form

attached in order to prepare the visit. During the visit we checked and

completed the form and collected the data about the auxiliary plants of the

factories.

The industrial clusters

The mechanical district is located in Suzzara, in the lower part of the province

of Mantua.

The district includes companies that directly produce final products from raw

materials, companies assembling semi-products and companies that perform

work under contract.

The SMEs’ size ranges are from 7 to 160 employees. During the planning

and audit stages, it was found that most of the contacted companies were

interested to the audit. A small part of them has anyway agreed to perform

the audit despite they had short time to dedicate and they had not fully

understood the opportunity..

The most common raw materials and semi-products found in the district are:

- plastic granulate

- plastic semi-products

- metal bars and semi-products

- electric cable

- electronic board

- glass

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The results from the audits show that, in a LCA analysis, the environmental

impact of products is 90% concentrated in the upstream phase, where the

processing of raw materials (in particular metals) requires a lot of energy. The

core and downstream phases are less impacting in this cluster because most

of the companies produces semi-products or just do single works.

The hosiery district is located in Castel Goffredo, in the north west part of the

province of Mantua, at the border with provinces of Brescia and Cremona.

The district includes SMEs that perform one or more phases of the production

processes: weaving, sewing, dyeing, ironing, packaging.

The production of the nylon yarn (or the natural fibers) has not been analyzed

as carried out by larger companies that are not classified as SMEs.

The SMEs size ranges from 4 to 248 employees. During the planning and

audit stages, it was found that the companies of this district were more

interested in the audit than the mechanical sector. Some companies have

done their improvement actions during the application phase of the project.

Only a couple of companies, that has anyway agreed to perform the audit,

didn’t find opportunities in the project, because they had already done

improvement actions.

The raw materials and semi-products found in the district are:

- nylon yarn

- natural fibers

- raw socks and tights

In this cluster, the results of the audits show that, in the LCA analysis, the

environmental impact of products is almost 60% concentrated in the

upstream phase, while the 40% is in the core phase and in little part in the

downstream phase. This more balanced subdivision between the upstream

and core phases compared to the environmental impact of the mechanical

district is due to the lower impact of the nylon yarn and also becauset the

companies often work 24 hours per day, like in the weaving areas, or use a

large amount of heat to procure steam and hot water for dyeing.

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Main improvement actions

In the mechanical district the main improvement actions identified inside the

companies are:

- substitution of the old lamps with new lamps at LED technology in the

areas working for at least ten hours per day;

- substitution of the old chargers of the electric forklifts with new models at

high frequency ad efficiency;

- replacement of the air compressors with new variable speed drive (VSD)

models;

- replacement of electric motors of suction system with new models with

inverter and higher efficiency.

In the hosiery district the main improvement actions identified inside the

companies are:

- substitution of the old lamps with new lamps at LED technology in the

weaving areas working for 24 hours per day;

- substitution of the electric motors of the suction system with new models

with inverter and higher efficiency;

Picture 14 Suction system with electric motor

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- substitution of the air compressor with a new variable speed drive (VSD)

models;

- substitution of the heat generators with new condensing models or CHP.

In the upstream and downstream phases, where the companies can’t do

improvement easily, the auditor tried to hypothesize, like examples, some

actions to reduce the environmental impact of materials and products used by

the companies:

use of recycled materials instead of virgin materials (mechanical district);

reduction of the distances of the supplies;

change of the transport.

Case studies

Audit examples for each district: mechanical and hosiery.

Case study I:

Cisaplast s.p.a., glass doors and accessories for commercial refrigeration

(mechanical district)

91 employees, 20.000.000 € turnover/year

Picture 15 Cisaplast factory with tubolar fluorescent lamps

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The company takes care about the energy and environmental

performance of its products and continually tries to reduce its LCA impact.

Thanks to the project LiCEA some options for the reduction of the

environmental impact of the products have been analyzed.

Inside the factories the main energy consumptions are generated by the

lighting, the electric motors of the suction system and the air compressors.

The heat generators fed by natural gas are used only during winter to heat

the offices and the production areas.

Internal improvement actions suggested based on the results of the audit:

- substitution of the old lamps with new LED technology

- substitution of the electric motor

- substitution of the air compressor with variable speed model, reduction

of the delivery pressure and heat recovery of the cooling

LCA improvement actions suggested:

- substitution of the 20% of the aluminium components with PVC

- use of recycled aluminium at 32%

- use of recycled PVC at 10%

Case study II:

Calze BC s.r.l., tights and socks (hosiery district)

85 employees, 7.000.000 € turnover/year

Every phase of the production is done inside the factory, starting from

research and development of new trends and ending with dyeing and

packaging of the products.

The main energy consumptions of the company are generated the lighting

in the weaving section, that works 24 hours per day, and by the heating

system in the dyeing section, working 16 hours per day, that needs steam

and hot water for the dye process. The company also uses a lot of

compressed air.

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Picture 16 BC factory with tubolar fluorescent lamps

Internal improvement actions suggested based on the results of the audit:

- substitution of the old lamps with new LED technology;

- possible installation of a combined heat and power system (CHP) that

should substitute the current heat generators;

- substitution of the oldest air compressor with a variable speed drive

(VSD) model.

Picture 17 BC heat generator

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4.4. Poland (NAPE)

Analyzed districts

The total number of SMEs being subject of energy auditing with LiCEA tool in

Poland has reached 46 in the following 4 sectors:

Plastics Food Wood Tourism SUM

NAPE 1 39 2 4 46

Among the SMEs from food sector there were 2 bakeries, 1 candy producer

and 36 small meat processing and other services SMEs. The wood sector

was represented by 2 companies with cutting, drying and assembling of

wooden products in form of wooden buildings and small garden facilities.

Concerning touristic sector there have been selected 4 small hotels equipped

with spa. From plastic sector 1 SME took part, which produces 3 types of

packages. The companies are located in all the region e.g. Poland.

SMEs involvement

The companies have been approached via different communication channels,

which includes, on the electronic way: the chambers of enterprises, voluntary

associations of entrepreneurs, than by publications in the sector relevant

media, press conferences and participation of project team members in

different events. As the SMEs in Poland are not mandatory associated in

chambers, the most effective way to promote the energy efficiency issue is

the direct approaching of SMEs, by using the address data bases.

In Poland there are still quite low incentives for SME`s concerning increase of

energy efficiency. During the EU financing perspective 2007-2013 there were

no direct activities related to this topic. Therefore, the acceptance of the

energy auditors activity is in practice not very high. The mean of the word

“audit” is associated with the fiscal or sanitary controls, which are not liked by

owners of SMEs. The perception of energy auditing procedure may become

more positive with introduction of the EU programs co-financed under the

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financial perspective 2014-2020. The question of increase of energy

efficiency in all size of enterprises is tackled mandatory on the central level

and on the regional levels in operational programs. In some of them, the

dedicated activities for support of preparation of energy audit connected with

implementation of investments are foreseen, already. The LCA is

recommended to be subject of energy audit however still not mandatory.

Nevertheless, after clear clarifying of the aim of the energy audit, the selected

SMEs accepted the walk-through part of the audit, took part in it and have

been surprised with obvious for auditors potentials of energy savings. Once

the collection of data finished the entrepreneurs started to be curious about

the results of the energy use part of the audit

In Poland an awareness on energy savings across SME increases from year

to year, because of increase of energy prices. In most cases the

entrepreneurs were really interested in reports on energy and cost savings

generated from the LiCEA tool. An opposite situations is in interest of

entrepreneurs about the part of tool concerning LCA analyses. These aspects

of manufacturing process are still not very popular. On the other hand it was

often a problem to collect all data essential for LCA. SME usually consider

these data as sensitive and confidential and are reluctant to make them

available for external auditor/company.

Global results

COMPANY BASELINE SCENARIO SAVINGS INSIDE COMPANY

electricity natural gas other sources electricity natural gas other sources

kWh Sm3 MWh kWh Sm3 MWh

20 880 091 842 282 111 348

3 504 898 107 203 5 036

16,8% 12,7% 4,5%

The SMEs taking part in the auditing with LiCEA tool, are differentiated in

terms of energy resources used for processes. Each of them is supplied with

electricity, which is consumed by all in amount of almost 21 000 MWh (2013).

The second energy source used by SMEs is the natural gas, which

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consumption equals to around 8 000 MWh. The remaining energy sources,

like oil, district heating, biomass, solar heating reflects 111 000 MWh of

energy consumption.

The identified energy conservation measures brought most significant

savings in electricity consumption: 16,8%. The natural gas consumption

decreased by 12,7% and the energy use from other sources will be reduced

by 4,5%.

GWP, CED and Blue water saving potential

GWP and CED are mainly connected with energy savings measures, as

SMEs was not very interested in LCA audits (reasons are mentioned in

section before). Totally all analysed SMEs represent aprox. 30 000 tons of

equivalent CO2 annual emissions and 140 000 MWh accordingly.

Implementation of all identified measures (EA and LCA) would reduce GWP

for about 4.8% (1 400 tCO2/year) and CED for about 6.8% (9 600

MWh/year). Summation of GWP and CED saving potential is presented

below:

BASELINE SCENARIO GWP SAVINGS CED SAVINGS

GWP CED IA EA IA LCA IA EA

IA LCA

tCO2 eq MWh tCO2 eq tCO2

eq MWh MWh

Total 29 886 140 314

Savings

1 444 9 570

4,8% 6,8%

Unfortunately blue water savings were not identified due to type of industry

sectors and savings compensation by fuel replacement or changing of

organic waste development.

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Most applicable actions

The measures identified in SMEs may be classified on different ways. The

most attractive for entrepreneurs are those, which the payback time is the

shortest one. This is typical for replacement of traditional lighting by the

modern LED lighting equipped with daylight and movement automatics. This

measure was proposed for almost all of SMEs audited with LiCEA tool.

Secondly, the automating of drying process of wood in wood manufacturing

SMEs and better controlling of heating&ventilation&cooling systems in

remaining companies brings quite short payback time. There were few

examples of significant limitation of heat losses in bakery and cool losses in

meat processing.

Particular results

In one of bakeries the following energy use structure has been identified:

Which was reflected in following energy use cost structure:

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The energy audit process identified very high heat losses of the baking oven,

constructed before many years and that the lighting is conventional. The cost

of additional insulation of baking oven was estimated to 4300€. The measure

has been implemented by the SME owner and should bring around 22800 m3

reduction of natural gas use (see illustration of the measure below). The

payback time of this measure should be around 1 year. The modernization of

lighting is in this case not very efficient since the payback time amounts to 8

years.

37

Picture 18 The baking oven prior to modernization (2013)

Picture 19 The baking oven after modernization (2014)

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The LCA analysis concerned in this case modernization of transport by using

the electrical vehicles for transportation of bakery products on short

distances, which may bring the following results:

The summary of above mentioned scenarios is presented below:

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Tool applicability

The last version of tool can cover a lot of energy aspects identified in

analyzed sectors of industry. The tool meet successfully requirements for

both accuracy of energy calculation and flexibility for a wide range of real

situations. It should be noted that there are a lot of individual differences

across companies so adding a part in tool named “custom measure” is

extremely useful to put any individual measures. Also a smart improvements

was an adding a part in outputs and reports which can combine selected

measures. An auditor can select an additive measures which can be

aggregated and better presented to SME. The LiCEA tool was subject of

training organized by NAPE for energy agencies and energy auditors. In total

40 energy auditors are now able to use the tool in Poland, and 20 of them

declared utilization of it in future.

General evaluation

The LiCEA project played in Poland important role in promotion of LCA

analysis accompanying the energy auditing process of enterprises. The role

of LiCEA tool will increase thanks the recommendation of use of LCA by

energy audits of enterprises looking for grants from EU funds.

4.5. Slovakia (AIEC)

Overview

Slovakia’s economy is small but very open and is affected by the economic

crisis mostly in terms of foreign trade and via the downturn in confidence

regarding the restoration of positive economic development. Although

Slovakia's GDP derives mainly from the services sector, the industrial sector

plays an important role within the Slovak economy. It comprises mainly heavy

industry and the automotive sector. Slovakia is ranked 4th among top global

machinery suppliers in the rubber industry.

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Slovakia’s economy is characterized by a relatively high share of energy-

intensive industries, making the transition to a greener economy very

challenging.

Among the most discussed environmental improvements related topics in

Slovakia are energy efficiency, the greater utilisation of renewable energy

sources, and various adaptation measures including flood protection.

Rubber industry in Slovakia was extensively developed particularly after

World War 2. Production of this industry is heavily dependent on imports of

raw materials such as oil, natural gas and various chemicals. Rubber industry

is localized in Púchov, Bratislava and Dolné Vestenice. Plastic and rubber

products are produced mainly for automotive industry and building industry.

Generally the SMEs from plastic and rubber districts have a need to decrease

energy consumption mainly due to the financial factors. More often those who

have implemented the Environmental management systems aim company

objectives at the energy consumption. Usually they firstly focus on the internal

company possibilities that can decrease the energy consumption. However

they understand that higher effect is in upgrading and exchanging

technologies, this is a problem as it concerns the financial expenditure. With

the need of the new technologies comes the need of knowledge and wider

information on offered technologies, mainly regarding the basic question:

How and when the company will profit from implementation of these

technologies

SMEs involvement

25 SMEs in Slovakia from plastic and rubber industry were audited

throughout the project LiCEA by application of and innovative LiCEA SMART

tool for simplified energy audits.

As SMEs were in this case considered companies with following specific

characteristic:

- 17 – 178 employees,

- annual turnover from 1 mil. to 10 mil. €,

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- production of the plastic products for automotive and food industries by

injection molding.

Core improvement actions were suggested in following possibilities:

1. Lighting 7. Heat recovery

2. Electric motors 8. Electric refrigeration/heat pump

3. Heating 9. Combined heat and power

4. Forklift 10. Custom measure

5. Air compressors 11. Combination of measures

6. Piping isulation

One of the most common identified production systems/equipment to be

replaced, were the old electric engines, compressors, boilers and lightning

systems with related sensors. All data were collected based on on-spot visit

in the premises of each SMS as well as identified the areas with potential

energy efficiency improvement. After collection of all data, auditors of AIEC

could insert and analyze gathered data with help of LiCEA tool.

Particular results; tool applicability; SMEs behavior; local description

Until recently SMEs across Slovakia had no awareness about available

simplified energy audits and there wasn´t any detailed focus on energy flows

from the side of owners/managing directors. The LiCEA project helped

significantly to change that.

The newest LiCEA SMART tool was used for simplified energy audits in

Slovakia and auditors have collected all necessary data, analyzed them and

proposed improvement actions to 25 SMEs with use of LiCEA tool. Each on-

site visit took about half a day while another half a day took a preparation and

further analysis of collected data.

All audited SMEs were cooperating smoothly and did their best to provide

completed and accurate data. Slovak manufacturing SMEs were interested in

energy efficiency and open to any investments leading to energy

consumption reduction. SME´s employees responsible for energy efficiency,

which are often overloaded with other (more important) activities and energy

efficiency is becoming lower priority, were willing to assist AIEC when

analyzing and collecting data from production systems.

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5. Technical experts evaluation LiCEA tool development; simplification criteria; LiCEA tool evaluation:

strengths and weaknesses, features and improvement possibility.

5.1. LCA approach

Tool development

The goal of the integration of the energy audit and LCA in the LiCEA tool,

evaluating the energy and environmental performance, is to provide a more

complete description of the companies environmental profile.

The LCA approach involves a holistic point of view that studies the whole

product life cycle from cradle to grave. In fact, differently from an energy

audit, LCA is not limited to the production phase but evaluates also upstream

and downstream processes and their impact on the whole product system.

Usually LCA is applied in order to assess the environmental impact of a

product or a service. In the LiCEA project, LCA evaluates the environmental

impact of an SME during one year of production. LCA gives a global overview

of the environmental performance of the company’s activities analysing the

upstream, core and downstream processes, allowing eco-design activities,

one of the goals of LiCEA.

For each of the six industrial sectors under study, materials and processes

were identified. Processes from the LCA database ecoinvent v2.21 were

chosen to model the materials, energy sources and production processes.

The environmental impacts per unit were calculated using the LCA software

SimaPro 7.3.32. This procedure allowed the creation of a library containing

conversion factors stored in a dedicated Excel sheet of the LiCEA tool. The

conversion factors form the basis for calculating the environmental impacts of

materials and processes used by SMEs.

1 Ecoinvent Centre (2010). Database ecoinvent data v2.2. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Switzerland. (www.ecoinvent.ch).

2 PRé Consultants (2013). Software LCA SimaPro 8., Netherlands (www.pre.nl).

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In the tool the energy audit part calculates the demand of energy during the

production phase, corresponding to the core phase of the LCA system. The

LCA part calculates the complete life cycle impacts through the selection of

different input-materials, transport vehicles and distances in the upstream

phase, and different ways to deal with the waste in the downstream phase.

The creation of sector specific libraries of conversion factors is an iterative

process. In the first version of the tool the number of materials/processes

included in the library was limited. The implementation of the first LCA audits

allowed the identification of additional conversion factors needed for each

sector.

In the LiCEA tool, impacts are quantified in three environmental indicators:

Cumulated Energy Demand (CED), Global Warming Potential and Blue

Virtual Water. These indicators were chosen because of their meaningfulness

and representativeness for the industrial sectors. Both CED and Global

Warming Potential are environmental impact categories connected to the

energy and fossil consumption. Direct and indirect water consumption is

another important indicator to evaluate the impact of a company.

LCA simplification criteria

Since the purpose of the project is the creation and distribution of a free tool

to SMEs, it was necessary to do some simplifications concerning those

aspects that can be easily standardised or that are not significant.

The most relevant simplification is the use of standard processes to describe

raw materials, packaging components and semi-finished products, production

processes and vehicles, which cannot be easily customized by the user. The

selected processes can be considered representative of an average

European situation.

It was assumed not to consider production scraps and their disposal because

they do not give significant contributions to the core phase. Due to this

assumption the weight of waste in the downstream phase is the same as the

weight of the upstream materials.

In the waste scenario a default end of life scenario was created. The scenario

can be changed by the SME, if necessary.

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It is important to underline that the results of some sectors, e.g. tourism, can

be not fully representative of the case studies, because it was very difficult to

identify standard processes.

The processes included in the tool follow the allocation rules declared by

ecoinvent, all the references are available in the conversion factor sheet. No

allocation procedure is available in the tool.

About improvement scenario it is important to explain that no standard

options are submitted to the user, because in LCA approach it is not possible

to create improvement options that are valid for all the company of a district.

LiCEA tool evaluation

Although in LiCEA important simplifications are made, environmental hot

spots of the life cycle can be identified. The tool allows the evaluation of the

most significant phases in the life cycle of the annual production of an SME.

The LiCEA project has fulfilled its purpose to create a simplified tool where

LCA and Energy Audit are integrated. A future development could be a better

integration of the two methodologies in order to give more details on

upstream and downstream processes.

The tool will be distributed to SMEs. Even if the use of the LCA methodology

by non-expert limits the iterative approach typical to LCA, it allows SMEs to

have a LCA tool to evaluate their environmental performance in a easy way.

In the LCA approach, unlike in Energy Audit, it is not possible to set standard

improvement options. The option of having also LCA improvement options

available could be very interesting for further improvements of the tool, but

requires that LCA experts and SMEs work together in order to identify

improvement actions that are technically feasible and interesting to apply.

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5.2. Energy auditing approach

Tool development

The development of the energy audit part of the tool, evaluating the efficiency

measures for the core, the enterprise itself, were designed starting from the

typical procedure for an energy audit in industrial processes (manufacturing

enterprises). Looking back at the initial ideas and at the requirements they

were quite rigorous and demanding on the input side. The initial approach

was planned to give to the user the possibility to:

- compare the influence of different parameters (e.g. production, etc.) on

the energy consumption (through xy plot and regression),

- evaluate different performance indicators on monthly basis, useful for

monitoring and managing energy efficiency measures,

- create an energy model of the enterprise to subdivide the total energy

consumption into the main uses (e.g. light, motors, compressed air, etc.),

etc.

The first drafts concepts of the energy model were designed to make it

flexible and multipurpose. Each entry of the model had to be characterized by

user (e.g. office lighting, refrigeration, etc.), location (e.g. office corridor first

floor), use (e.g. lighting), meter (in case of sub metering). In this way it would

have been possible to automatically extract pivot tables containing data for

user (e.g. refrigeration), location (e.g. office), use (e.g. lighting), etc. thus

automatically listing all the energy using devices and evaluating the energy

consumption of each use, users, etc.

The improvement measures to be included in the tool were selected on the

basis of the most common efficiency measures on the sectors of interest and

after an in depth analysis of the main free software tools for the evaluation of

efficiency measures available in Europe and Northern America.

The idea was not to reinvent the wheel, but to offer something useful and

possibly with additional features compared to other free software, to make the

tool more appealing.

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For instance other free software usually lack or have a very simplified

approach to the evaluation of compressed air, thermal insulation of pipings,

heat recovery, forklift, etc.

Another point was to have an easy tool on one side, but a very flexible tool on

the other, so all the main parameters come prefilled with typical values, but

are also customizable by the user. This turned out to be a non-negligible

additional effort in the development of the software.

There were attempts to make the measure more specific for each sector, but

it was not practically feasible with the timing and the resources available due

to the different processes within the same district (e.g. mechanical district),

the differences among the same sector in different countries and the different

processes among micro and medium enterprises.

Simplification criteria

The tool is generally dedicated to SMEs, but from the data gathered during

the survey to fill the questionnaire, confirmed by the visits during the energy

audit, shows that the enterprises involved are mostly small, with limited

resources available to gather energy data, technical specification of installed

systems, etc. Thus it would have been too long to retrieve all the data to build

the energy model, etc. Moreover one main requirement of the tool was the

simplicity, and it is very important, since the tool doesn’t deal only with energy

issues and neither only inside the enterprise. The simplification had to be

quite drastic, otherwise, the efforts required to compile the tool (LCA plus

simplified energy audit) would have been too high, even if there are a number

of common inputs. This step required some time to find out which inputs, in

many cases common to both parts, could be reduced with minimum losses

for the tool.

The energy model was sacrificed and the efficiency part of the tool directly

starts with the improvement measures. Also the analysis of the influence of

different parameters on energy consumption was deleted. On one way the

energy evaluation become very simplified and can’t be considered compliant

to EN 16247, but now it is much more fast and flexible: the user can decide to

start with an efficiency measure of interest and then later on fill the required

47

data for another measure and so on. At the end it is possible to obtain a

starting evaluation, showing the possible improvement in core, upstream and

downstream and their order of magnitude, in a very fast and easy way. This is

(one of) the best feature of the tool.

The simplification was extended also to all of the efficiency measures,

reducing the number of fields/input cells to make the filling easier and quicker.

In a couple of cases there has been also an over simplification and following

the requests of the users some fields were added again.

The development of the tool has been oriented to simplification and flexibility,

so was added also the custom measure. In this way it is possible to introduce

in the tool the results of one or more additional measures.

The last part of the energy efficiency improvement actions, the combination of

measures, gives the possibility to combine from two up to all the efficiency

measures together, to make it, but it was also introduced to shows a compact

overview of the savings due to each measure.

LiCEA tool evaluation

LiCEA tool offers up to nine (depending on the version) efficiency measures,

typical cross cutting measures (e.g. lighting), very diffused measure in the

manufacturing sector (e.g. electric motors, compressed air) piping insulation),

plus measures diffused mostly in some sectors (e.g. refrigeration/heat pumps,

combined heat and power). As aforementioned compared to other free

software, some of the efficiency improvement measures are present or are

present with this level of detail only in the LiCEA tool.

It was not possible to simplify all the measures at the same level, but this

would be very difficult if not impossible due to the intrinsic higher complexity

of some measures (e.g. compressed air, combined heat and power). One

way could be to upload a large number of datasheets, for examples for air

compressors. This approach is very resource demanding and for the specific

example it is not easy to obtain from the manufacturers the working data of

the compressors at different pressures. Moreover the approach would require

frequent updates to take into account the new models arriving on the market

and would shorten the life of the tool, once is not updated anymore.

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The tool could be further simplified, but would probably become less flexible

or less useful.

There are anyway clear rooms for improvement, the first is a higher

integration with LCA, to consider also the LCA of the more efficient

components, at least in case the efficient components have higher or lower

impacts compared to the installed solution (e.g. Combined Heat and Power

versus boiler).

More efforts could be dedicated to study and add to the tool specific sector

measures. This would have required surveys in a meaningful number of

enterprises for each sector. It was not possible at the beginning of the project,

but after all the LiCEA audits carried out by the partners the ideas are clearer.

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6. SMEs evaluation The final opinion of the involved companies and their district service centers.

6.1. Centro Tecnologico Arti e Mestieri

Introduction of the service center “Centro Tecnologico Arti e Mestieri”

Centro Tecnologico Arti e Mestieri is a service center with 27 partners of

which the majority are private companies. One of the major partner is the

Province of Mantua.

Services provided:

- Corporate training

- Consulting (environmental, security, corporate organization)

- Grant awards

- Technical laboratories (metallography and metrology)

- Training and certification of the welding processes

The operating area is the Mechanical cluster of Suzzara, which involves 6

border Municipalities: Pegognaga, Motteggiana, Moglia, Gonzaga, San

Benedetto, Borgoforte.

In this district can be found companies operating mainly in the areas of:

- Metal carpentry

- Manufacture of agricultural machinery

- Automotive components

- Pressure washers

- Cooling machinery

- Forklift

The district involves about 300 companies and 3000 employees.

It’s important underline that many companies inside the district are the

suppliers of the district itself. This situation brings to the creation of a highly

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interconnected district where the choices of a company have a direct impact

of the others.

This interconnections create the optimal situation for the application of an

integrated system of cluster that includes LCA tool.

Realization of the project LiCEA

The Service Center has welcomed the proposal of the Province of Mantua to

collaborate at the project LiCEA, supporting the research of the companies

available for the energy audit.

Steps of the project:

- Contact with companies and meeting project presentation (winter 2013/

spring 2014)

- Performing of 20 energy audit in the companies (summer 2014)

- Conclusion of the project with companies’ training seminar and delivery of

the audit’s reports

The point of view of the companies

Needs arising:

- Reduce the energy costs, among the highest in Europe

- Actions to improve energy efficiency “pre-packaged”, because the

companies haven’t much time to evaluate the market offers.

Approach of companies to the project:

- Full availability to perform the audit but not much time to dedicate to

research the data and to the company visit

- Enthusiasm for the free service and complete trust in the Service Center

Results:

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- Increase of the knowledge about the energy consumptions inside the

production cycle

- Indications of improvement actions at zero cost to immediately reduce the

energy consumptions

- Possibility to use the LiCEA tool in an autonomous way

Main improvement actions:

The phase with the greatest environmental impact is the upstream, where

however the companies can’t do improvements easily. One of the possibility

in this phase to reduce the environmental impact is to use recycled materials,

but is hard to do because the buyers require very high quality standards.

Another possibility is to reduce the weight of the products.

In the core phase the main improvement action is the substitution of the old

lamps with new LED technology. This action, that must be discussed with the

companies, is economically feasible only if the payback time is less than four

years.

The substitution of the chargers of the electric forklifts with new model at high

efficiency is applicable in some cases.

In some cases, knowledge of energy costs per unit, has allowed companies

to plan a change of supplier.

Only for a few companies is possible replace the electric motors, the air

compressors and the heat generators.

In the downstream phase, to reduce the environmental impact, can be joined

several companies in a single shipment. This possibility is already used by

some companies.

Comparison with partners and evaluations

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- Some companies have shown an initial lack of interest in the project

- In all companies was detected a fluctuation in energy demand due to

changes in demand during the year

- Differences in the energy costs (very low in Poland)

Future prospects

- Increase the awareness of the district and the connections between the

companies, with the help of the Service Centre which would be the

coordinator between companies.

- New implementations of the LiCEA tool (now one of the most detailed free

LCA tool).

6.2. Centro Servizi Calza

Centro Servizi Calza is a service center for the hosiery district of Castel

Goffredo. In partnership with the Province of Mantua and AGIRE stated, in

May 2013, the activities of the project LiCEA.

In April 2014 organized with AGIRE the presentation meeting of the first draft

of the tool. At the meeting were invited about 100 companies of the hosiery

cluster which perform one or more phases of the production cycle of the

stockings.

All the participating companies liked the beta version of the tool and someone

was available to participate to the project.

The first five pilot audits were performed in July 2014. These first audits have

identified the auxiliary plants with the higher energy consumptions which are

the production of the air compressed and the suction systems.

Thanks to these information AGIRE has updated the tool increasing its

efficiency in the hosiery district.

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From October to December 2014 were performed the remaining 15 audits

inside the cluster.

The companies analyzed perform mainly the weaving stage, but were also

analyzed companies that do the ironing and the dyeing stages, ensuring an

analysis of the entire production chain.

In the initial phase of the application of the tool some companies were

skeptical to participate to the project but these companies were been the

ones that benefited most from the audit. In some cases it was possible

identified improvement actions that needed a low investment but that are very

efficient in the reduction of the energy consumption and production of green

house gasses.

On 16 December 2014 was held the final meeting project at the University of

Mantua. This meeting was an opportunity to compare the results obtained by

the partners on the other districts analyzed (tourism, food, mechanical,

plastic, wood).

In the last years has grown the attention of the companies to the environment

and the energy saving.

It’s therefore important to continue to update and develop the tools to make it

more and more specific to SMEs and the clusters analyzed.