Energy Management System Records Efficiency Measures

With the Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG), the German government is making energy saving mandatory across all sectors. In the future, public authorities, large companies and data centers will have to achieve defined energy efficiency targets. Professional data platforms for data collection and documentation are indispensable for this.

The EnEfG sets targets for reducing primary and final energy consumption in Germany by 2030 and beyond. The new law addresses three target groups, which are to increase their energy efficiency on a mandatory basis and thus contribute to achieving the EU climate targets. As a result, Germany's final energy consumption is to be reduced by at least 26.5% by 2030 compared with 2008.

First, the law obligates the federal and state governments to implement energy-saving measures starting in 2024. While the federal government must save 45 terrawatt hours of final energy annually by 2030, the states are obligated to save 3 terrawatt hours. The public sector is expected to lead by example in energy conservation and reduce total final energy consumption by 2% annually.

On the other hand, companies with a high total energy consumption are affected by the EnEfG. Companies that consume more than 7.5 GWh of energy on a three-year average must introduce an energy or environmental management system. Companies with a total final energy consumption of 2.5 GWh or more are to record and publish economic energy efficiency measures in implementation plans. The companies have a free hand in choosing the measures.

Thirdly, energy efficiency standards are expected to apply to data centers from 2025. In the future, operators of large data centers will have to use electricity from renewable sources and put their waste heat to use. In addition, data center operators will have to inform customers about their specific energy consumption.

Let's take a closer look at what the implementation of the EnEfG means for companies in practice. The energy management system to be implemented within defined deadlines for companies with annual energy consumption of more than 7.5 GWh must meet the requirements of the valid DIN EN ISO 50001. Specifically, §8 EnEfG requires:

1. The recording of the supply and discharge of energy, process temperatures, waste heat-carrying media with their temperatures and heat quantities and possible contents as well as of technically avoidable and technically unavoidable waste heat when recording the waste heat sources and the evaluation of the possibility to implement measures for waste heat recovery and utilization.
2. The identification and presentation of technically feasible final energy saving measures as well as measures for waste heat recovery and utilization.
3. An economic evaluation of the identified measures according to DIN EN 17463.

Companies with an annual average total final energy consumption of more than 2.5 gigawatt hours are required to prepare and publish concrete, feasible implementation plans within three years at the latest.

The completeness and accuracy of the implementation plans must be confirmed by a certifier, environmental verifier or energy auditor prior to publication.

The Compliance with all the obligations resulting from the EnEfG is monitored by the Federal Office for Energy Efficiency (BfEE), which is based at the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA). Lawyers familiar with the subject expect the BfEE to publish even more detailed specifications on the application of the EnFEG. Several of the new law's obligations are subject to fines. The players affected would therefore be well advised to prepare themselves in good time.

What does this mean in concrete terms? § Section 8 EnEfG indicates it: In order to prove that energy consumption has been minimized in compliance with the law, reliable figures must be available. This requires that energy consumption can be measured, documented and compared throughout the company. This requires a central data platform that supports restriction-free, comprehensive and, ideally, highly automated data management. green.screenthe sustainability management platform from Arvato Systems, meets these requirements. The solution is recognized by BAFA as eligible energy management software.

What does green.screen do? In a nutshell: everything that the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Act requires: With green.screen, companies - as well as public sector organizations and data centers, by the way - can make the consumption of energy and resources comprehensively transparent, i.e., across all locations, departments and energy sources, and in near real time. This database enables holistic balancing, makes consumption patterns transparent, makes consumption periods comparable and provides information about the effectiveness of energy-saving measures taken. In short, companies have a comprehensive overview of their energy situation and carbon footprint and can control and monitor optimization measures in a targeted manner.