Lessons learnt from the uptake of energy audits and energy management systems in Germany

Promoting energy audits and energy management systems is a core part of the European Union’s policy mix for industry. The EU’s energy efficiency directive requires mandatory energy audits for all large enterprises, and encourages the widespread use of energy audits among small and medium sized enterprises (SME). In addition, Germany has promoted the uptake of certified energy management systems by two energy tax relief schemes as well as a funding scheme. As a result, the majority of ISO 50001 certified companies worldwide are from Germany. The impact of those policies on the energy efficiency progress, as well as the uptake of energy efficient technologies, has not been analyzed in detail yet. Within our paper we will present the current state of diffusion of energy audits and management systems in Germany. Secondly, we will empirically analyze the impacts of the audits and energy management systems instruments on the company’s activities in the field of energy efficiency. We will show, that the update of energy efficiency measures is significantly increased by audits as well as energy management systems.