Background and objectives
The European automotive industry ranks among the largest energy consumers worldwide. With an annual growth rate of 4.3% and a global market share of 20%, the sector is essential to the effort to reduce global energy use. In the industry’s complex manufacturing supply chains, small- and medium-scale auto parts suppliers from Europe consume about 90% of the total energy in production processes.
Total final energy consumption of the vehicle production for the EU-28 and the four focus countries
Distribution of electricity use in vehicle assembly plants
(Galitsky & Worrell, 2008)
| Use / Process | Share of electricity use (%) |
|---|---|
| Paint Booths | 30-50 |
| HVAC | 11-20 |
| Lighting | 15 |
| Compressed Air | 9-14 |
| Welding | 9-10 |
| Material handling / tools | 7-8 |
| Metal forming | 2-9 |
| Miscellaneaous / other | 4-5 |
Aim
The goal of E2DRIVER is to train SMEs in the automotive sector in energy auditing and on energy saving measures for cost-effective energy efficiency improvements. To overcome the lack of knowledge, skills and awareness that are prevalent in the industry, the project’s integrative approach aims at boosting capacity building programmes in energy auditing by establishing an innovative learning platform and methodology.
The learning platform puts people at the centre through a creative training methodology. The hallmark of this methodology is the customisation of the capacity building programme to each company’s needs and motivations (customized learning environment). In addition, trainees will take centre stage as they generate their own knowledge on energy efficiency and share it with their co-workers (ontological-flip teaching).