Efficient Systems / Energy Management / ESCO - EPC / Non categorizzato / PV technology / Relamping lighting systems / Revamping thermal plants
Energy transition and decarbonisation in the fashion industry. The Aeffe Group
According to the UN Environnement Programme, the textile sector has a significant impact on climate change, generating on average between 2 and 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year, or the equivalent of around 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
It is also responsible for 9% of microplastic pollution in the seas and for the consumption of huge amounts of water, with an annual demand exceeding 215 trillion litres.
An increasing number of companies are adopting policies and strategies aimed at implementing measures to curb the consumption of primary resources and produce energy from alternative, renewable sources. This trend has been picking up strongly in recent years as a result of a number of factors.
First and foremost, energy market trends, bringing attention, especially at a European level, to the issues of energy dependency and price volatility, with which so many realities have had to come to terms. This makes consumption containment no longer simply an ethical and moral commitment, but a real opportunity for economic growth, optimisation of production processes and energy upgrading of buildings.
A case in point is undoubtedly the Aeffe Group, a company operating for over 40 years both domestically and internationally in the fashion and luxury sector, producing and distributing a wide range of products.
Company management has always paid particular attention to environmental aspects, an approach that has led to the creation of numerous initiatives over the last fifteen years: from the construction of photovoltaic systems (for a total installed power of about 800 kW) to the gradual replacement of obsolete lamps with new LED sources, and in 2023 the appointment of an energy manager chosen from within the SGR Group. It is an ESCo that has been operating for years in the field of integrated energy services, energy efficiency and production from alternative sources.
As part of consultancy activity, an energy audit survey was carried out (pursuant to Legislative Decree 102/2014) at the four most energy-intensive sites, for which the table below shows the overall annual primary energy consumption (toe) and related annual climate-changing emissions (kgCO2), referring to 2022.
The procedure entailed an in-depth analysis of the company’s plants in terms of energy consumption, processes and the state of technological systems and buildings. This was used to draw up a plan of actions to improve energy efficiency and raise production using renewable sources, such as: installation of consumption monitoring and analysis systems, efficiency upgrading of thermal systems, relamping of lighting systems, expansion of existing photovoltaic systems, a compressed air leak detection campaign, to name just a few.
Below is a summary of the results obtained, in terms of expected and avoided CO2 emissions, simulating for each site the identified intervention scenarios.
The analyses conducted helped to outline an action plan for the coming years that could lead to an overall annual reduction in emissions, limited to the four sites examined, of 11% compared to the 2022 baseline, corresponding to over 220,000 kg/year of avoided CO2 emissions. The possible introduction of continuous monitoring systems could also pinpoint other critical areas in order to perform further corrective actions and courses of action.
