ATENEA4SME: A Tool for Self-Evaluation of Energy Efficiency and Audit Support In Industrial SME

The limited diffusion and the lack of effective tools for carrying out energy audits in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are significant barriers to promote energy efficiency in the Italian production sector, which includes industry, tertiary sector and transportation. ATENEA4SME (Advanced Tool for Energy Audit for SMEs) is designed to assist SMEs in the self-evaluation of energy consumption, to support energy audit in SME and to identify and foster energy-efficiency investments. The tool is characterized by automatic procedures differentiated by NACE nomenclature and elaborates suggestions for energy efficiency investments by means of a mathematical model in which multi-criteria analysis and a questionnaire are considered. This article will provide a detailed description of the tool, highlighting and describing the Sections and the steps to obtain the final overview of the energy consumption of the enterprise under investigation and the opportunities of energy saving. The tool contributes to remove barriers to the development of energy-efficiency measures, both from a technical and economic point of view. In the paper, some application cases, focused on a comprehensive analysis of energy efficiency investments, have been included.