A global approach to the process of efficiency in production systems cannot fail to take into account the impacts that the various technologies used have on the environment. In particular, with regard to atmospheric emissions, both diffuse and conveyed, it is easy to see how less attention to reducing them only apparently increases the immediate profitability of the plant, given that it imposes greater costs related to the negative effects of the pollution itself on public health and the environment, which are borne by the community.

Moreover, regulatory interventions, if not adequately monitored at a national level, can significantly alter the development of entire energy chains; consider, for example, the impact of the regulation on formaldehyde emissions, which in recent years has reduced the permitted levels for this compound, with such a rapid progression in time that it has effectively put many plants linked to the production of wood laminates out of business. There is also the very strong and persisting example of the link between energy and the environment provided by the case of the former Ilva steelworks in Taranto.

The weight of the regulatory process on decarbonization is also unquestionably very significant and, if not adequately monitored, can lead to significant alterations in the costs associated with the management of plants and, therefore, to their efficiency and sustainability.

We therefore propose supporting the process of making energy production systems more efficient, through the preparation of new technical regulations in this field, by carrying out some practical experiments that can allow their application at a national level.

The other crucial aspect, which is usually overlooked, is that sometimes, within the rules designed to ‘protect the state of public health’ (think for example of the various rules on the determination and limitation of polluting emissions emitted by industrial plants), there are rules of a purely protectionist nature and it is therefore essential and strategic to monitor the regulatory and legislative panels in order to guarantee the circulation of critical information in time and the harmonization of national needs with the various transnational partners.

Pre-normative activities therefore have a strategic nature at a national level because they allow us to:

• get to know the European and non-European guidelines in the field of regulation of atmospheric emissions;
• represent national interests in the ISO and CEN panels to ensure a non-punitive harmonization of the national system;
• introduce in Italy in good time the topics considered strategic in the international field, before they become binding, and thus avoid having to suffer them, with potentially major damages to the economy and industry;
• report at European and international level national needs in the field of standardization of high industrial and economic impact;
• validate and give greater scope to the decarbonization and energy efficiency process.

In recent years, the regulatory process, within CEN, ISO or UNI, is very significant. About fifty standards have been approved that have direct effects on energy production systems and air quality. These include the methods on the use and release of mercury, polycyclic hydrocarbons and formaldehyde, which have profoundly changed the development scenario of the energy supply chain, introducing profound changes in the use of most fuels, both fossil and biogenic.

In the context of pre-normative activities and their possible concrete consequences on the ‘real’ life of the plants, the activities carried out in 2019 included:

• active participation as National Experts and/or coordinators in the Working Groups and Technical Committees of the sector, including UNI GL4 ‘Emissions and air quality’, CEN TC 264 ‘Air Quality’ and ISO TC 146 ‘Air Quality’ and the development activities relating to the measurement method of non-regulated pollutants (odors and formaldehyde, in this case);
• in particular, the activities were followed of the CEN TC 264 WG 45 working group ‘Proficiency testing schemes for emission measurements’, for which RSE has the coordination;
• the drafting of new guidelines for the management of SMEs, which were stuck in the 2013 version;
• start of activities for the creation of an open source system for the acquisition of environmental data according to the new EN 17255 standard project through the construction of a prototype device, called ‘AEDOS 2.0’.

This work reports the main results obtained in this work.