In order to achieve the common goal of increasing energy efficiency to 20% and improving it above and beyond this percentage, the European Union adopted the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU at the end of 2012.

 

The policy objective was and is to encourage businesses to act in a sustainable way and save resources. This means that not only do they contribute to environmental and climate protection, but at the same time they benefit from the savings themselves (e.g. energy costs). At the same time, they make use of any available official funding provided by national or European programmes. One of the most important elements of this European Energy Efficiency Directive is that businesses:

• are obliged to undergo energy audits,
• have to introduce energy management systems, or
• undertake to validate their environmental actions against the requirements of the EMAS Regulation.

Each EU Member State is responsible for the effective implementation of the Directive, in particular by incorporating it into its national legislation

The new law that will incorporate the requirements of the European Directive into our National Legislative System will provide for mandatory and regular energy audits for all enterprises that are not considered small or medium-sized within the meaning of EU Recommendation 2003/361/EU.

More specifically, all enterprises will have to undergo an energy performance audit:

• large enterprises with more than 250 employees and an annual turnover of more than €50,000,000, or
• with a total annual turnover of more than €43,000,000.

This obligation also applies to smaller enterprises that are part of a large enterprise that meet the above criteria. The rules apply to businesses in all sectors, from manufacturing and production to commercial enterprises, financial sector enterprises and health care providers.

This service is linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The ISO 50001 standard for Energy Management is a key management tool and its implementation aims to establish the required processes that will lead to optimal energy performance.

The standard is based on Deming's "Plan - Execute - Control - Improve" methodology and, in addition to the systemic requirements (documentation control, staff training, monitoring of corrective and preventive actions, inspection and review), it requires mainly the following:

• the establishment of an appropriate energy policy
• identification of energy aspects/needs and identification of energy improvement opportunities
• identifying legal and other requirements regarding the energy aspects of the organisation
• the definition of specific objectives and targets regarding the efficient use of energy, the implementation of which shall be completed by the implementation of systematic energy management programmes
• the establishment of an organisational structure for an effective implementation of an Energy Management System.

The standard is addressed to all types and sizes of organisations and companies and, due to the similarity of its structure to that of ISO 14001, it facilitates its integration into systems already in place and certified by the organisation. TÜV NORD Greece through the accreditation of its parent organization TÜV NORD S.A. offers Certification services for the above energy standards using the same inspectors with many years of experience in Environmental Management Systems Certifications (ISO 14001 & EMAS) and in the design, supervision and evaluation of acceptance tests of large energy installations.