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 previous 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. 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 targets (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 targets 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 has changed its tariff and switched to 100% green electricity from hydropower. We also generate own energy from solar power via our PV systems. More on this under photovoltaics.

Our energy needs

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.

Total energy demand (electricity, gas) of the EVVA headquarters incl. main production site. Before 2022, 55% of our purchased electricity came from renewable sources, from January 1, 2022, 100%. The electricity generation from our own photovoltaic system, which covers 5.64% of the demand, is not included in the table.

Comparison with the previous year:

• Our gas requirements for heating in 2022 have fallen by around 10 % compared to the previous year. This is due to more modern systems (more air heat pumps) and the warmer winter
   
• Our electricity requirements increased by around 7%. EVVA increased its clean production share in the reporting year. Unlike conventional systems, these dry processing machines do not require oil or water, but do require more electricity for compressed air
   
• The total energy requirement for electricity and gas has therefore increased by 2.47%. The savings measures mentioned below will have a positive impact in the coming years
   
• The cooling systems will not require any additional refrigerants in 2022 either
   
• The fuel consumption of the vehicle fleet at EVVA headquarters has been reduced in recent years, partly due to the consolidation of journeys and the optimisation of routes, e.g. for field staff. EVVA Vienna has been purchasing electric vehicles since 2018 in order to gain experience. At the beginning of 2024, 8 electric cars and 2 plug-in hybrids will be in operation, around 20% of the current fleet are e-vehicles. More will be added in the coming years.
  
  The consumption of our fossil-fuelled vehicles has nevertheless increased from 2021 to 2022. This was due to the coronavirus pandemic: in 2021, there were far fewer business trips to partners and customers than usual.
  2021: diesel 9,383 l; petrol 1,345 l
  2022: diesel 13,396 l; petrol 3,696 l
  
  EVVA Netherlands is the pioneer in the Group when it comes to e-vehicle fleets. Several electric cars have already been in use here for many years
   
• Energy efficiency calculations for production are being planned

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

EVVA sets ambitious targets to compensate for the increased demand, to increase energy efficiency, and to reduce emissions. The following document provides a comprehensive overview of our transition plans, milestones and measures.

"Energy/emissions" transition plan and targets, EVVA HQ


You can find details of many implementations here:

• Climate neutrality
• Energy management
• Photovoltaics
• Compressed air system optimisation
• More powerful energy storage (Low Power Design)
• Thanks to these diverse measures, among others, EVVA has won the award as a “Green Factory 2020”. For more information, see Certifications & Awards
  
   

Additional measures:

• Virtual servers. EVVA already uses virtual servers for many hardware systems, which leads to lower energy consumption. Currently, 350 virtual servers are in use at the headquarters, which are operated on 8 physical servers. EVVA also relies on virtualisation technology at its other locations. 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 previous years with a total of around 450,000 kWh per year.
   
• 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.