A methodology to characterize energy consumption in small and medium-sized enterprises at national level in European countries

The 25 million of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 99% of businesses and account for the two thirds of total employment and a half of Gross Domestic Product. Thus, SMEs are considered as the backbone of European' economy. The crucial importance of energy efficiency and its potential in SMEs is worldwide recognized. However, the energy use and consumption information of SMEs are very limited, and the disaggregated data between SMEs and large enterprises are often not available at national or European level. The aim of this work is to present a methodology for the energy consumption characterization of European SMEs at national level. The proposed methodology, based on the combination of official national energy statistics and energy consumption data according to the European Energy Efficiency Directive Article 8, has been developed and applied to Italy and Austria. Preliminary results show significant differences in the relative weight of SMEs' energy consumption between the two countries mainly due to their specific productive structures. The application of this methodology to the available data on further five European countries provides useful insights on the impact of different national approaches to comply with Art.8. This methodology shows that harmonizing the different strategies to monitor energy audits obligation would significantly help to characterize the energy consumption of SMEs in Europe. Additionally, the knowledge of the distribution of energy consumption between large enterprises and SMEs would help in assessing the impact of mandatory and voluntary energy audits on potential savings in industrial and tertiary sectors.Graphical abstractCharacterization of energy consumption in SMEs: Problem and data availability identification, development of analysis methodology, and application to seven European countries (focused on Italy and Austria)