7,55 million tonnes of oil saved per year equal to over 2 billion euros of savings on the Italian bill; 22 billion of investments in energy requalification of homes thanks to tax deductions (ecobonus) from 2007 to 2013; an associated industry of 40 employed on average per year.
These are the cornerstones of the 4th ENEA "Energy Efficiency Report"., presented this morning at the Ministry of Economic Development in Via Veneto in Rome, a document that highlights how Italy has achieved 21% of the efficiency target set for 2020 by the European Union, thanks above all to the contribution of the residential and of the industry.
However, despite the good results achieved over the years, ENEA Commissioner Federico Testa highlights the need for funding and the need to implement mechanisms that facilitate access to ordinary credit. "Public funding is not enough" - said Testa - "we have to find a system to involve private resources."
Energy efficiency in fact, it represents one of the main ways not only "to reduce the bills of businesses and households", but also "a driving force for economic growth, employment and the growth of a competitive national supply chain". To get the whole sector off the ground, an active involvement of the companies is needed banks. Although 86% of institutions have already developed products dedicated to efficiency, guarantees and regulations are needed that can really unlock funding.
The mechanism of white certificates and the establishment of the Energy Guarantee Fund represent a first step, but as the President of the Consortium underlines ABI Lab, Pierfrancesco Gaggi, "there are some critical issues to overcome": the difficulty of a reliable quantification of a return on investment, the lack of solidity of the applicants, the lack of guarantees for the banks.
Energy efficiency could be a tool to create development and economic growth in the future. Italy seems to have taken the right path, but at this point it is necessary to implement concrete measures that allow our country to finance projects qualified to achieve the objectives it has set itself over the last few years.
