The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the in-house science arm of the European Commission, has announced winners of its GreenLight, GreenBuilding and Motor Challenge programmes.
Over 1000 participants across Europe had taken part in the award programs, and 25 winners were selected from 14 countries. The awards for these programmes are to be presented at the EU Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels.
The event comprises three award programs, which are part of an initiative to encourage private as well as public sector companies to reduce their consumption of energy, through utilization of innovative technologies. The GreenBuilding programme encourages companies to save energy by installing solar panels, smart control systems, thermal insulation and efficient cooling and heating devices. The GreenLight programme induces companies to implement energy-saving lighting systems and technologies, while the Motor Challenge programme, on the other hand, encourages saving of energy in electric motor systems. Currently, over 60% of the industrial electricity consumption is due to motor systems.
The Belgian Delhaize supermarket chain reduced its annual lighting energy consumption by 60% across its 130 supermarkets, saving 20,000 MWh and was declared as one of the winners for the GreenLight programme. The SATA Fiat group of Italy has achieved a savings of around 15,000 MWh of electricity in its plants. Alfred Arnold Verladesysteme of Germany has obtained an energy savings of over 78% by refurbishing its workshop and office buildings. The three JRC programmes have achieved an annual energy savings of over 837,000 MWh of electricity.
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc