To achieve these objectives, the project is structured into several complementary lines of action.

Strategic studies aimed at identifying efficiency scenarios in line with European guidelines

RSE carries out strategic studies for the entire industrial sector, including the development of an observatory on the efficiency technologies adopted by national companies, in order to reduce the time needed to identify and prioritize, according to the principles of technological and economic sustainability, the main energy efficiency measures that can be adopted by Italian industry, which, for reasons of time and the complexity of the subject, have not yet been analyzed. The activity also aims at collecting and analyzing the overall energy savings potential of energy efficiency measures that can be implemented in the domestic industrial sector and the associated costs. The study is preparatory to the assessment of the energy consumption reduction potential that the industrial sector is potentially capable of achieving in the light of the energy efficiency targets set by European and national legislation. This activity also aims at assisting the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA – formerly AEEGSI) in the collection of information for the definition of the preventive value of the unit tariff contribution to be recognized to obligated parties under the white certificates mechanism. Specifically, the studies include: a technology and energy assessment of Italian industry (in-depth overall analysis and sectoral focus on ceramics and chemicals); analysis of the economic viability of EE interventions and incentive systems (identification of correlation indices); analysis of the impact of EE interventions on the competitiveness of companies; analysis and comparison of control mechanisms in the European context for energy efficiency in industry.

Research on improving efficiency through specific technologies in particularly strategic or energy-intensive sectors.

The studies propose the experimental verification of selected technological solutions, analyzed in close collaboration with the relevant industrial realities, selected on the basis of prior analyses that clearly demonstrate their usefulness, application potential and future market penetration, with a particular focus on the energy efficiency of production processes, with particular reference to widely used or energy-intensive products or services. In particular, research has intensified in the following areas: efficient technologies for industrial gas production, power generation from organic material for service efficiency, material selection and technologies for high-temperature heat recovery from industrial processes.