EU project wants to raise energy saving potential in SMEs

In small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), there is energy-saving potential that goes hand in hand with more efficient energy use in processes and in building use. In order to identify this potential and use it as an example for the more than 25 million SMEs in Europe, the EU Commission has approved funding the GEAR@SME project, which started on September 1, 2020. The Berliner Energieagentur (BEA) is a partner in the project and is responsible for implementation in Germany.

GEAR@SME pursues the idea of ​​motivating SMEs to carry out energy audits and energy-saving measures. The audits and the resulting energy-saving measures are to be accompanied by the BEA and implemented by the SMEs. The BEA will focus its work on the implementation of the project in commercial areas in order to examine savings through joint projects between SMEs. A good basis for this was, among other things, a study on climate-neutral commercial areas that the BEA completed on behalf of the Senate Administration in 2019. GEAR@SME is a Europe-wide project that will initially run for 30 months. Ten project partners from the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Romania and Germany are involved.

“Small and medium-sized companies often do not have the time, expertise or capital to take care of targeted energy-saving measures. This is exactly where GEAR@SME comes in”, said Frederik Lottje, project manager at BEA. At GEAR@SME, BEA will be able to contribute its many years of national and international experience in the field of energy consulting and energetic renovation, said Lottje.

Also read the press release of our Dutch project partner TNO.