1) Which are the trends of large national industrial consumers as far as energy efficiency is concerned?
From the perspective of the industrial energy consumers there should be no biding target for energy efficiency for sectors covered by the EU ETS. Setting absolute targets for energy consumption reduction is not a proper major for energy efficiency achievements and hinders economic growth. The economic and technological feasibility of potential improvements should be taken into account. The energy efficiency measures should allow for EU manufacturing industries to maintain their international competitiveness. The major trend in Bulgaria for 2016 and 2017 is the increased interest by industrial energy consumers from different sectors to integrate and implement an energy management system – ISO 50 001:2011. A year back only a few companies in Bulgaria had implemented ISO 50 001:2011.
2) How can EU-MERCI project help you to get better?
EU-MERCI project will have decisive contribution to the public debate on energy efficiency policies in SEE region and especially Bulgaria as a country participating in the project with representatives of different stakeholder groups. The selection of exemplary cases and best practices on EU level will help us to have full information and choose from a list of proven policies and best practices both in technical and economic aspects. EU-MERCI will contribute by giving to the industry the full set of methods for saving evaluation on sectoral level, algorithms and common procedures. The integrated bundle of working tools developed within the EU-MERCI Project will help industrial energy consumers from different sectors to benchmark and evaluate their individual performance. This will contribute to EU reindustrialisation target by making industry more competitive.