Around 50 contacts, 400 subscriptions and 260 projects and initiatives presented by schools, businesses, institutions and associations: these are some of the results of Energy Efficiency Month, the awareness campaign on the more conscious and rational use of energy created by ENEA as part of the "Italy in Class A" initiative, promoted by the Ministry of Economic Development to create a widespread culture on energy efficiency and raise awareness of opportunities and incentive tools in this sector.
Among the companies, the contributions of Enel stand out, with local events and messages on bill efficiency, Italo-Ntv and Vodafone Italia, with voice announcements and ad hoc campaigns on social networks and the company magazine, while Schneider Electric, Energy Team and 3M Italy have focused on both internal and external communication campaigns. Initiatives aimed at students and citizens also from the Polytechnic of Turin and Milan, from the Universities of Camerino and Bari and from Kyoto Club, Federesco, Assoesco, FIRE, Rete Irene and Rotary Club.
Among the personnel training and information activities on the rational use of energy, those of the Gemelli Hospital, the Ministries of Defense and Cultural Heritage, ANCI and the WEDO Group stand out. Also FIRSTonline has joined the information campaign by publishing in-depth articles on the subject of tax deductions for families, opportunities for savings for SMEs, prospects for strong efficiency recoveries in the Public administration and with an interview with the former president of the Energy Authority Alexander Ortis who took stock of the successes achieved but also the goals still to be achieved in this sector in which Italy has many cards to play, also from the point of view of consultancy and industry. Precisely to push the Public Administration and local bodies to carry out the numerous fulfilments linked to energy efficiency the National Council of Engineers prepared a circular (n.837) with the "Guidelines for verifying the report on the containment of energy consumption", providing some clarifications regarding the documentation and contents that must be produced by the planners and requested by the municipal technicians. We reproduce the circular in the attachment.
On the schools front, top marks to the students of the Copernico Institute of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (Messina) for the project "Lighting technology in an eco-sustainable school" to reduce energy consumption by a third by replacing fluorescent light bulbs with LED ones . Full marks also to the Neapolitan Energy and Environment Agency (ANEA) which promoted the month of efficiency as part of the DOMINO Project which will see thousands of families in Naples, Berlin and Brussels compete "in energy saving" from January 10 to March 2017.
Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna stood out for a handbook and a newsletter for employees, while the Verona Chamber of Commerce was involved in organizing an event on energy efficiency and sustainability in the building industry.
"Considering that this is the first year of the initiative, it is a great success for us", comments Roberto Moneta, head of ENEA's Energy Efficiency Technical Unit "and it is an important and quality response from both public and private entities ”.
To this positive balance that comes just a few days after the approval of the European Commission's energy package which brings the 27 energy efficiency target from 30% to 2030% and makes it binding on the Member States, we must add the good results on the front " energy diagnosis”. In fact, with over 15 eco-diagnoses carried out by over 8 companies, Italy leads the EU ranking of the most virtuous countries in implementing the Directive on energy efficiency for check-ups in companies. “The management of the energy diagnoses of Italian companies has been a success, given that the total of those carried out in Italy exceeds the total number of those carried out in all other European countries”, adds Moneta.
A success of the "Italy model" made possible by the best practices put in place by ENEA and MISE to facilitate companies in fulfilling their legal obligations, so much so that Brussels seems willing to include them in the next revision of the Directive on efficiency. These practices include the preparation of technical documents and sector studies, the establishment of permanent technical tables, the creation of standardized reporting models, sector guidelines, but also seminars and workshops: the next one, organized by ENEA and Abi Lab, is dedicated to energy audits in the banking sector and will take place in Rome on 16 December.