Walter Bruno Grattieri*, Gianluca Lapini*, Roberto Vanzan PRES´07, 10th Conference on Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction, Ischia (NA), 24-27 Giugno 2007 * CESI RICERCA In the last years, the fast growth of the air conditioning demand in Italy is causing a significant increase in electricity consumption with a dramatic impact on the summer peak load. The consequence is a sharp reduction of the reserve margin during the summer heat waves, that involves repeated calls for interruptible loads and stresses the prices on the energy markets. In perspective the situation may worsen even in winter, as an additional electricity demand for heating can be expected, due to the diffusion of heat pumps which can operate year round. Fortunately the problem can be mitigated thank to technology solutions that minimize the electricity consumption and the system load impact of air conditioning and heating. For this reason a monitoring and verification program has been launched to the aim to assess the actual on-field efficiency and consumption of said systems, that rely either on heat pumps supplied with thermal sources different from the outdoor air, or with gas fired absorption chillers. The presentation highlights the first results of the auditing campaign, where primary consumption, load impact, and operating problems are shown for a sample of plants. The analysis allows to ascertain the energy pros and cons of the technologies examined and provides useful information to engineers and plant managers for a correct design and operation of the equipments.