KNOwNEBs - Integration of non-energy benefits into energy audit practices to accelerate the uptake of recommended measures

Project description

Energy audits have a major impact on energy efficiency investments as they provide tailor-made recommendations and help the information gap regarding barriers to energy efficiency. However, the current energy audit approach usually only includes the analysis of direct energy cost savings, while non-energy benefits (NEBs) such as improved product quality, space comfort, increased productivity, reduced maintenance-related downtime and other significant benefits are not or hardly considered.

This means that in general energy audits underestimate the real value of energy efficiency measures, as well as by auditors, consulting companies but also by policy makers. The aspect of non-energy benefits and their perception by stakeholders (auditors, consulting companies, stakeholders, policy makers) is hardly considered in the current approach. In energy audits, therefore, the focus is often only on direct energy savings or then presented in the audits.

In the project KNOWnNEBs, the non-energy benefits of the energy audit are currently to be demonstrated. For this purpose, interviews and surveys are conducted with audited companies, but the approaches will be also discussed with stakeholders. This will result in the relevant additional indicators, which should be taken into account more in the future audits and thus lead to faster implementation of investment efficiency measures.

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