Energy saving and efficiency tool for SMEs of the european textile industry

Efficiency and competitiveness in textile and clothing manufacturing sector must take into account the current and future energy challenges. Energy efficiency is a subject of critical importance for the Textile & Clothing industry, for other sectors and for the society in general. EURATEX has initiated Energy Made-to-Measure, an information campaign running between 2014-2016 to empower over 300 textile & clothing companies, notably SMEs, to become more energy efficient. SET (Save Energy in Textile SMEs), a collaborative project co-funded within the European Programme Intelligent Energy Europe II helps companies to understand their energy consumption and allows them to compare the sector benchmarks in different production processes. SET has developed the SET Scheme, Energy Saving and Efficiency Tool, a free of charge tool customized for textile manufacturers. The SET Scheme is made up of 4 elements: a stand-alone software (SET Tool) for self-assessment based on an Excel application; an on-line part (SET WEB) for advanced benchmarking and comparison of the performances across years; a guiding document for the companies and overview of financial incentives and legal obligations regarding energy efficiency. Designed specifically for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the SET Scheme enables the evaluation of energy consumption and recommends measures to reduce the consumption. Prior to modifying the company's production processes and making investments to increase energy efficiency, textile SMEs need to get different type of information, including legal context, economic and technical peculiarities.