INEDIS: Global Network for Industrial Energy Analysis
The objective of the International Network for Energy Demand Analysis in the Industrial Sector (INEDIS) is to strengthen the analysis of industrial energy use. Energy-use patterns in the industrial sector, the largest global energy user, are poorly understood. INEDIS, begun in 1998, consists of research groups from various countries who are collecting data on industrial energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, and conducting trend analyses, policy evaluations, and technology assessments. The European Commission (ENRICH-programme, DG-XII) and Berkeley Lab (USA) have provided seed funding, while a number of individual projects have provided funding to collect and analyze industrial energy use for specific countries.
Within the manufacturing sector, a subset of industries exists in which the energy required to produce a unit of economic output is three to five times greater than the average energy required for industry overall. In this subset of energy-intensive industries, raw materials are transformed or converted into intermediate and finished products, accounting for 40 to 80% of manufacturing energy use depending on the country. Efficiency or technology improvements that can reduce energy demand in these key raw-materials industries will play an important role in reducing global industrial energy demand and greenhouse-gas emissions.
INEDIS focuses on a number of specific industrial sectors as well as cross-cutting issues. Network participants compile, exchange, and analyze data on energy use and efficiency for particular industrial subsectors (see Table 1).
| Sector | Area of Focus |
|---|---|
| Metals | Iron, steel, aluminum |
| Fuel conversion | Petroleum refining, coke production |
| Building materials | Cement, glass, bricks, tiles |
| Forest products | Pulp, paper |
| Chemicals | Chlorine, ethylene, ammonia |
| Light industries | Food processing, metals fabrication, other light industries |
| Cross-cutting | Energy efficiency and CO2 mitigation policies, cross-cutting technologies (e.g., cogeneration, motors) |
Global Energy Demand Database
Types of quantitative data and information collected by INEDIS include national time-series data of energy consumption by fuel, output by process type and product types, and the shares of key production technologies. The database also contains data on trade, economic output, and factor costs (e.g., energy prices, labor costs). The database will be accessible to all network members through the World Wide Web. An electronic discussion group on industrial energy issues is available for members.
Special Topic Reports
The strength of a network is its ability to bring together researchers, analysts, and industrial professionals to engage in collaborative analyses of key industrial topics, including international assessments of energy efficiency in industry, energy-efficiency research and development, trends in energy use in sector-specific process technologies, energy-efficiency policy effectiveness, and industrial ecology.
Participating Organizations
The institutes that initiated INEDIS have developed internationally accepted methodologies for comparisons of energy efficiency and energy-efficiency developments. Around 20 institutes and international organizations are currently part of INEDIS (see Table 2). The network organized the recent International Workshop on "Industrial Energy Efficiency Policies: Understanding Success and Failure" in The Netherlands; a copy of the proceedings is available.
INEDIS is interested in adding other members to increase its geographical coverage and to strengthen its industrial energy analysis work.
| National Institutes | |
|---|---|
| Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | U.S. |
| Utrecht University | Netherlands |
| Universidade de Coimbra, ISR | Portugal |
| Fraunhofer, Gesellschaft ISI | Germany |
| Lund University | Sweden |
| Federal University of Rio de Janiero | Brazil |
| TATA Energy Research Institute | India |
| Canadian Industry Energy End-Use Data and Analysis Center | Canada |
| Department of Minerals and Energy | South Africa |
| Inha University | South Korea |
| Universidad Nacional Aut—noma de México | Mexico |
| Polytechnic University Bucharest UNESCO Chair | Romania |
| AKF | Denmark |
| ETH Zürich | Switzerland |
| International Organizations | |
| Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre | APEC |
| International Energy Agency | OECD |
| World Energy Efficiency Association | Global |
Visiting Researchers
INEDIS researchers are encouraged to collaborate on industrial-sector analyses and to spend time at other INEDIS organizations to exchange data and information. Over the past two years, EETD has hosted visiting researchers from Brazil, China, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, and Portugal and will be hosting a visitor from South Korea in the near future. LBNL scientists have collaborated on various projects with the visiting researchers.
For more information, contact:
- Ernst Worrell
- (510) 486-6794; fax (510) 486-6996
- Lynn Price
- (510) 486-6519; fax (510) 486-6996
This research is supported by the European Commission, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.