Energy & Emissions overview Facts and initiatives at a glance
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Defined as a key topic for EVVA GRI 302: Energy; 305: Emissions UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), No 7: Affordable and clean energy; No. 12 Sustainable consumption and production
Management approach – our why:

High energy demand – high materiality

It is not surprising that EVVA achieved high impact values for the topic “energy” in the materiality analysis. As an industrial company that supplies numerous high-quality access systems worldwide, EVVA has a corresponding energy requirement. It is essential for EVVA to save energy through various measures, partially generate it from renewable sources, and improve energy efficiency within the company. The topic has:

  • Ecological impact: optimal energy usage, including reliance on renewable sources, counteracts negative impacts on the environment and reduces CO2 emissions. This is a task to which the EU has committed intensely. And so has EVVA, as evidenced by the goals at the end of this page;
     
  • Economic impact: Due to the war in Ukraine and worldwide supply shortages, energy prices have skyrocketed, with EVVA incurring up to 2 million euros more than before the crisis. Reducing consumption has a positive impact on purchasing costs and competitiveness. In addition to the large savings goals mentioned below, EVVA also focuses on smaller, but no less important activities, such as maintenance work on windows and doors (seal windows, replace seals), raising awareness among employees to avoid wasting energy (e.g., don’t forget to turn off heating at night), turning off illuminated outdoor advertising, or installing new motion sensors for lighting;
     
  • Social/Political impact: If companies and households can reduce their energy demand, this supports national and EU-wide efforts to become less dependent on current gas suppliers. This can help reduce economic pressure on companies, end conflicts more quickly, and restore human rights in affected war regions.

 

Emissions have been newly defined as “material”

Due to these needs, EVVA has also defined “climate neutrality/emissions” as a key issue in the reporting period. In the last materiality analysis with stakeholders, it was not classified accordingly. This is no longer timely, because through the Green Deal and the target of climate neutrality in the EU by 2050 (and Austria by 2040), every company must consider in depth what it contributes and how it reduces its emissions. Therefore, we believe that the topic can only be defined as material. You can find all information about our CO2 footprint and our emission targets under Climate neutrality.

EVVA’s measures for “energy & emissions” flow into a clear short-, medium-, and long-term goals (which you can read more about at the end of this page) as well as two guiding principles of our environmental policy: “use resources sparingly” and “avoid emissions and waste as far as possible”. EVVA continuously informs stakeholders about the company’s sustainability goals and milestones (e.g., through newsletters, employee and partner magazines, events, etc.).

 

100% green electricity

By the end of 2021, approximately 55% of our purchased electricity came from renewable sources. On January 1, 2022, the EVVA headquarters set a milestone in sustainable energy procurement: EVVA changed tariffs and switched to 100% green electricity. It primarily comes from hydropower and also from our own photovoltaic system via our solar panels on the roofs.

 

Our energy needs (Electricity/gas)

We need most of the electricity for our production processes: for machines/ production 50%, compressed air/compressors 22%, cooling/heating 10%, and workstations/PCs 5%, the rest is lighting and building technology. Gas is used for heating.

The recorded data is published in EVVA’s environmental reports and in the energy audit. They are externally reviewed and confirmed by authorities (e.g., Environmental Magistrate, Waste Magistrate, Trade Authority, Representatives of the Chamber of Workers and Economy) and sustainability consultants.

 

chart energy requirement

Total energy demand (electricity, gas) of the EVVA headquarters incl. main production site, 2015 to 2021. Before 2022, 55% of our purchased electricity came from renewable sources, from January 1, 2022, 100% (purchased electricity from hydropower). The electricity generation from our own photovoltaic system, which covers 4.3% of the demand, is not included in the table.


Energy intensity per kg of product or per m²

chart energy intensity

Energy intensity for electricity and gas from 2015 to 2021, based on consumption within the headquarters with main production site. Another key indicator: In 2015, the total energy consumption (electricity, gas) per employee was 12,838 kWh, in 2019 it was 13,2000 kWh. In 2020, the value decreased to 12,940 kWh due to the pandemic. In 2021, the value increased to 13,156 kWh due to the reasons mentioned below. EVVA is – according to an external energy audit – in the good mid-range compared to other metal processing companies.


Our gas demand has decreased by 22% compared to the previous year and electricity demand has increased by 9.8%. The reasons for this are:

  • In 2021, EVVA expanded the headquarters by adding a new building that houses new assembly facilities and modern workstations on 650 m2 over several floors. Many assembly stations have moved from the old building to the new building. The annex is exclusively supplied with air heat pumps – and not with gas like the old building. Accordingly, the gas consumption has decreased significantly, and the electricity share has increased.
     
  • The more energy-efficient control of the heating system has also reduced gas consumption (more on this under Central building control technology).
     
  • In addition to the new air heat pumps, there are three other reasons for the higher electricity demand in 2021:
    > The construction of a new building generally requires a lot of electricity (for machines, equipment, lighting during construction)
    > EVVA’s production output has increased in 2021 – by +4% across all products compared to the first Corona year 2020, when demand and customer investments declined.  
    > More electronic and more complex mechanical access systems are being demanded that offer higher security but also have a greater variety of parts. The more complex production processes and machines require more energy, but they also replace numerous older production systems. A new digital machine can replace up to five conventional ones.
     
  • Although the total energy demand has therefore increased slightly, EVVA continues to pursue the existing goal of reducing energy consumption by 10% by 2024 (see target at the very bottom).

 

Efficiency in production

Although the energy consumption of the EVVA headquarters has increased by 3%, it is lower than the EVVA production increase of 4%. Therefore, production has become more efficient overall in 2021: EVVA produced more but required relatively less energy to do so (the 1% equivalent to approximately 60,000 kWh, as much as 17 private households consume in electricity. Assumption: 3,500 kWh per household and year). The numerous energy-saving measures in the company and the already achieved milestones of the set goals are already having a positive effect.

 

Significant energy-saving measures –
positive impacts and short- to long-term goals:

EVVA sets ambitious goals to compensate for the increased demand, to increase energy efficiency, and to reduce emissions. In particular, with the following measures, EVVA is able to counteract the increased energy demand. The saved kilowatt hours make up about 20% of the annual electricity demand.

Additional measures:

  • Digitalisation strategy for new machines: installation of central software in the next two years that optimises communication among production machines and thus processes production more energy efficiently (electricity, cooling, air pressure). The first estimates show savings of 150,000 kWh.
     
  • Virtual servers. EVVA already uses virtual servers for many hardware systems, which leads to lower energy consumption. Currently, 408 virtual servers are in use at the headquarters, which are operated on 8 physical servers. This allows each EVVA service to be handled on its own server, greatly reducing dependencies (e.g., during reboots). Energy savings through this: EVVA only requires about 70,000 kWh per year for the 8 servers – in contrast to the many dozens of servers from the past with a total of around 450,000 kWh per year.
     
  • Increased use of video conferencing, digital meetings, and teleworking. EVVA had already placed a greater emphasis on digital communication and training before Covid-19 crisis to reduce travel expenses. During the pandemic, use has particularly increased and at the same time business trips have accordingly decreased. Since EVVA will resume its export activities after the Covid-19 crisis, business trips – especially to new markets – will still be necessary. However, we expect that especially shorter trips and business trips will be increasingly replaced by video conferences.
     
  • Photo of an electric carConversion of fleet. The energy consumption of the EVVA fleet at the headquarters has reduced in recent years, among other things, due to the consolidation of trips and the optimisation of routes, e.g., for field staff. Since 2018, EVVA Vienna has acquired electric vehicles to gain experience with them. Currently, 4 electric cars and 3 plug-in hybrids are in operation. More will be added in 2023. To learn more about the CO2 savings in our fleet, see Climate neutrality.

    EVVA Netherlands is a pioneer in the group in terms of e-fleet. Several e-cars have been in use for many years.
     
  • 50% travel cost subsidy from EVVA for employees at the headquarters. These subsidies apply exclusively to public transport, not cars. This has a steering influence and reduces the environmental impacts of individual transport.
     
  • Clean Production. The much lower oil demand from EVVA also means fewer oil transports from refineries to EVVA – and the oil does not have to be disposed of in an elaborate manner. For more information on this topic, see Clean Production.
     
  • Focus on regional suppliers. The closer the sources, the shorter the transport distances. For more information, see Proportion of regional suppliers.
     
  • The cooling of the server rooms at the headquarters has been carried out for many years using free cooling. That is, if the outdoor temperature is about 10 degrees below the desired indoor temperature, cooling is no longer carried out via compression, but via outdoor air.
Our targets

Fulfilment date: 2024

How: The target pertains to the EVVA headquarters with the main production site (75% of the production value added in the EVVA Group) and to all energy-saving measures described in this report. EVVA will invest around 23 million euros in sustainable and digital production systems, photovoltaic systems and energy-efficient building technology by 2024.

Positive effects: The total energy requirement for electricity and gas for the EVVA headquarters was around 6.5 gigawatt hours when the target was formulated in 2019. This means that with a 10% reduction in consumption, EVVA would save 650,000 kWh of energy and have reduced its annual demand to between 5.8 and 5.9 gigawatt hours by 2024 at the latest. That would be the equivalent of a reduction of around 200 tonnes of CO² per year in manufacturing processes. Concrete target figures are for us the electrical energy consumed per kg of product (base value 2019: 3.56 kWh per kg) and the heating gas energy per kg of product (base value 2019: 0.982 kWh per kg). In 2024, they are expected to decrease by 10% to achieve this goal.

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