Enhancing the impact of energy audits and energy management in the EU

A review of Article 8 of the Energy Efficiency Directive
This report, elaborated by Fraunhofer ISI for the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (eceee) presents a review of EU’s mandatory energy audit schemes, pointing at improvements that would help make EU industry more competitive. The report shows how a focus on company energy demand rather than company size, as well as a more uniform implementation of the audit requirements, could create a more level playing field while improving overall competitiveness.
Within this paper, policy recommendations for a further development of Article 8 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) are derived,  based on the current situation. In a first step, an analysis of the energy use and enterprise structures in the relevant sectors is presented. Complementary, the aspect of competitiveness and multiple benefits is briefly highlighted.
Subsequently, the requirements of Article 8 are described, followed by a short analysis of the Directive’s transposition in the Member States. Based on the actual implementation, potentials for improvement are identified. From this analysis, the policy recommendations are derived in the summarising section.