Energy Savings in Industrial Processes: The Influence of Electricity Emission Factor and Financial Parameters on the Evaluation of Long-Term Economics and Carbon Savings
Source abstract
Abstract
The assessment of energy savings is not a trivial matter, as we have direct meters for consumption, but not for the absence of consumption. Calculating a simple difference between consumption before and after the implementation of an energy saving measure is also an incomplete assessment. The only way to determine energy savings is to compare the consumption that would have occurred in the absence of the saving measure with the actual consumption, with reference to the same external conditions and the same period. This is what the international IPMVP® protocol establishes. This study, based on two case studies of industrial energy saving measures, explores the aspects of the calculation related to decarbonization and economic evaluation. In particular, sensitivity analyses of energy and economic indicators are carried out based on factors that evolve over time, such as the rate of inflation and discounting of investments and the variation in the carbon dioxide emission factor for electricity production. The main results highlight that the assumption of a constant electricity emission factor leads to an overestimation of the total CO2 savings from energy efficiency interventions that can be more than 40%. The uniqueness of this paper is the application of a standardized savings evaluation procedure (IPMVP®) in order to analyze the sensitivity of economic savings towards some key financial parameters, and the specific fitting of an electricity emission model to the Italian power sector in order to correct the carbon savings evaluation to the projected emission factor evolution.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Energy Efficiency and Management · Environmental Impact and Sustainability · Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Engineering and Economics, Universitas Mercatorum, Piazza Mattei 10, 00186 Rome, Italy
Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova, Str.lla S. Nicola 3, 36100 Vicenza, Italy
References (31)
Show source-provided references
1. European Commission (2018). Directive
2. (EU) 2018/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 Amending Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy Efficiency, European Commission.
3. European Commission (2023). Directive (EU) 2023/1791 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 on Energy Efficiency and Amending REGULATION (EU) 2023/955 (Recast), European Commission.
4. European Commission (2021). Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/1749 of 28 September 2021 on Energy Efficiency First: From Principles to Practice—Guidelines and Examples for Its Implementation in Decision-Making in the Energy Sector and Beyond, European Commission.
5. Empirical study on the economic effect of energy conservation and emission reduction in different industrial stages
6. Energetic and economic assessment of cogeneration plants: A comparative design and experimental condition study10.1016/j.energy.2014.04.063 ↗
7. Bazzocchi, F., Borgarello, M., Gobbi, M.E., Businge, C.N., Realini, A., Zagano, C., and Maggiore, S. (2025, August 04). L’Efficienza Energetica Nell’Industria: Potenzialità di Risparmio Energetico e Impatto Sulle Performance e Sulla Competitività Delle Imprese (In Italian: Energy Efficiency in Industry: Potential for Energy Savings and Its Impact on Business Performance and Competitiveness). RSE Report. Available online: https://fire-italia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/doc_doc_18001189-318177.pdf.
8. Decoupling analysis of economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the industrial sector of Guangdong Province10.1093/ijlct/ctad040 ↗
9. The impact of eco-environmental regulation on green energy efficiency in China—Based on spatial economic analysis10.1177/0958305X211072435 ↗
10. Evaluating Energy Efficiency Potential in Residential Buildings in China’s Hot Summer and Cold Winter Zones10.18280/ijht.410609 ↗
11. Life cycle assessment and life cycle cost of buildings’ insulation materials in Italy10.1093/ijlct/3.1.44 ↗
12. Energy Efficiency Analysis and Energy-Saving Measures for the Steam System in a Cigarette Factory in Zhangjiakou10.18280/ijht.420407 ↗
13. High efficiency hybrid radiant and heat pump heating plants for industrial buildings: An energy analysis10.18280/ijht.400401 ↗
14. High temperature heat pump with combined cooling, heat and power plant in industrial buildings: An energy analysis10.18280/ijht.410302 ↗
15. Predictive modeling of building energy consumption and thermal comfort for decarbonization in construction and retrofitting10.1016/j.rineng.2025.105475 ↗
16. Toward net zero: Assessing the decarbonization impact of global commercial building electrification10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125287 ↗
17. Considerations for estimating operational greenhouse gas emissions in whole building life-cycle assessments10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111383 ↗
18. Jin, Y., Xu, S., Guo, Q., and Xiong, N. (2024, January 20–22). Analysis of the Impact of Electricity Emission Factor Selection on High Energy-Consuming Industries under the National Carbon Market Expansion. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Energy Power and Electrical Engineering Epee 2024, Wuhan, China.10.1109/EPEE63731.2024.10875432 ↗
19. EVO (2025, August 04). IPMVP 2016 Basic Concepts. Available online: https://evo-world.org/en/ipmvp-current/ipmvpcore-concepts/1754-2016-ipmvp-core-concepts-in-italian/file.
20. (2014). Energy Management Systems—Measurement and Verification of Energy Performance of Organizations—General Principles and Guidance (Standard No. ISO 50015:2014).
21. Bruni, G., De Santis, A., Herce, C., Leto, L., Luciani, S., Martini, C., Martini, F., Tocchetti, F.A., Toro, C., and Salvio, M. (2021). L’Obbligo Di Diagnosi Energetica AI Sensi Dell’Art. 8 Comma 1 E 3 Del d.lgs. 102/2014: Le Risultanze Dell’Adempimento Normativo Alla Scadenza Del Dicembre 2020 (In Italian, “The Energy Audit Requirement Pursuant to Article 8, Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Legislative Decree 102/2014: The Results of Regulatory Compliance by the December 2020 Deadline.”), ENEA.
22. ENEA (2025, August 04). ISPRA. Available online: https://emissioni.sina.isprambiente.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Le-emissioni-di-CO2-nel-settore-elettrico_r413-2025_def.pdf.
23. Accounting carbon emissions from electricity generation: A review and comparison of emission factor-based methods10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125992 ↗
24. Multi-objective electricity cost and indirect CO2 emissions minimization in commercial and industrial buildings utilizing stand-alone battery energy storage systems10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.137987 ↗
25. Strategic bidding model for multi-energy industrial parks considering spatio-temporal carbon emission factors in carbon and electricity markets10.1016/j.rser.2025.115764 ↗
26. Geis, J., Brown, T., and Hartel, P. (2025, January 27–29). Price Formation in a Sector-Coupled Climate-Neutral Energy System. Proceedings of the International Conference on the European Energy Market EEM, Lisbon, Portugal.10.1109/EEM64765.2025.11050184 ↗
27. (2025, October 27). Myopic Transition Path. Available online: https://pypsa-eur-sec.readthedocs.io/en/latest/myopic.html.
28. Early decarbonisation of the European energy system pays off10.1038/s41467-020-20015-4 ↗
29. Speed of technological transformations required in Europe to achieve different climate goals10.1016/j.joule.2022.04.016 ↗
30. Energy-system characteristic shifts and their quantitative impacts on China’s CO2 trajectory: Evidence from a high-resolution energy allocation analysis–LMDI sectoral decomposition10.1016/j.energy.2025.137905 ↗
31. Busato, F. (2014). Analisi Economica: Fondamenti e Applicazioni al Sistema Edificio-Impianto (In Italian, “Economic Analysis: Foundations and Applications to the Building-Plant System”), Editoriale Delfino.