Editorial

Industrial Energy Management and Sustainability

1 Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA),
00123 Rome, Italy
2 Department of Enterprise Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy

* Correspondence: miriam.benedetti@enea.it (M.B.); vito.introna@uniroma2.it (V.I.)

Increasing the sustainability of industrial activities is a top priority for national and
supranational governmental institutions. Given both their resource intensity and their
criticality for competitiveness, industries of all sectors have been at center stage in the
fight against pollution and global warming over the last decades as well as the focus of
research and of policy and industrial programs in recent years. In this context, energy
management and energy efficiency opportunities and technologies play an important
role, as energy is a particularly critical resource in terms of cost, availability, and intensity.
Despite the increasing attention paid to this topic by academics and policy makers, it is
often noted that practitioners and undertakings still present implementation issues and
demand support tools and updated data in order to facilitate the identification of practices
and technologies, benchmark activities, knowledge transfer, and, ultimately, the transi-
tion to more sustainable business models and production systems. Such demands have
also become more urgent in the last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated
that resilience and flexibility are necessary features for a business to thrive and are inti-
mately related to the ability to efficiently and effectively manage resources and energy, in
particular.
Citation: Benedetti, M.; Introna, V.
This Special Issue focuses on Energy Management and Sustainability of both manu-
Industrial energy management facturing processes and systems, including methods, practices, tools, applications, and
and sustainability. Sustainability experiences. It aims on the one hand at highlighting recent advances in the field and, on
2021, 13, 8814. https://doi.org/ the other hand, at proposing ready-to-use tools and data that can be valuable for practi-
10.3390/su13168814 tioners willing to better understand the topic and contextualize it to their sector and busi-
ness. It includes a focus on a specific and critical energy efficiency opportunity such as
Received: 3 August 2021 waste heat recovery with the proposal of a database where companies can gather valuable
Accepted: 5 August 2021 ideas and data (Contribution 1); three in-depth analyses of specific sectors and technolo-
Published: 6 August 2021 gies (CHP in the ceramic sector for Contribution 2, cement industry for Contribution 3,
and metal extraction for Contribution 4), all supported by careful and robust data collec-
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu-
tion and analyses; and the proposal of a broadly applicable methodology to translate en-
tral with regard to jurisdictional
ergy management theory into practice, providing effective and practical support. Some of
claims in published maps and institu-
the papers (Contribution 2, Contribution 3, and Contribution 4, in particular) are based
tional affiliations.
on data referring to a specific geographical area, but we think that information and out-
comes can be considered of general validity and are certainly a fundamental starting point
for replication and application to different contexts.
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Li-
Benedetti et al. (Contribution 1) focus on industrial waste heat recovery, which is
censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
nowadays considered one of the hot topics when it comes to energy efficiency and re-
This article is an open access article source preservation. In their paper, a methodology is presented for waste heat recovery
distributed under the terms and con- opportunities identification as well as two distinct databases containing waste heat recov-
ditions of the Creative Commons At- ery case studies and technologies. The databases can be considered as a tool to enhance
tribution (CC BY) license (http://crea- knowledge transfer in the industrial sector. Through an in-depth analysis of the scientific
tivecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). literature, the two database structures were developed to define the fields and infor-

Sustainability 2021, 13, 8814. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168814 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability

mation to collect, and then preliminary population was performed. To highlight the usa-
bility of research outcomes by practitioners, a validation phase was carried out and main
results are presented.
Branchini et al. (Contribution 2) present the preliminary results of a research project
aimed at defining the benefits of using combined heat and power (CHP) systems in the
ceramic sector. Their study is based on data collected from ten CHP installations in Italian
ceramic plants, which allowed them to outline the average characteristics of prime movers
and to quantify the contribution of CHP thermal energy in supporting the dryer process.
Data revealed that when the goal is to maximize the generation of electricity for self-con-
sumption, internal combustion engines are the preferred choice because of their higher
conversion efficiency. In contrast, gas turbines allowed minimizing the consumption of
natural gas by the spray dryer.
Cantini et al. (Contribution 3) describe the recent application of energy efficiency so-
lutions and technologies in the Italian cement industry and their future perspectives. They
analyzed a sample of plants by considering the type of interventions they recently imple-
mented or intend to implement. The outcome is a descriptive analysis, useful for compa-
nies willing to improve their sustainability. Results prove that measures to reduce the en-
ergy consumption of auxiliary systems such as compressors, engines, and pumps are cur-
rently the most attractive opportunities. Moreover, the results prove that consulting with
sector experts enables the collection of updated ideas for improving technologies, thus
giving valuable inputs to scientific research.
Imasiku and Thomas (Contribution 4) present an evaluation of energy efficiency op-
portunities in copper operations and the environmental impact of metal extraction by
means of a case study on the Central African Copperbelt countries of Zambia and the
Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, four strategies are identified by which the
mining and technology industries can enhance sustainable electricity generation capacity:
energy efficiency; use of solar and other renewable resources; sharing expertise from the
mining and technology industries within the region; and taking advantage of the abun-
dant cobalt and other raw materials to initiate value-added manufacturing.
Solnørdal and Nilsen (Contribution 5) explore the implementation of a corporate en-
vironmental program in an incumbent firm and the ensuing emergence of energy man-
agement practices. Translation theory and the “travel of management ideas” are used as
a theoretical lens in this case study when analyzing the process over a 10-year period.
Furthermore, based on a review and synthesis of prior studies, a “best Energy Manage-
ment practice” is developed and used as a baseline when assessing the energy manage-
ment practices of the case firm.
The editors would like to thank all authors for their valuable contributions and MDPI
for all the support in putting it together. We hope that readers can find information, data,
and inspiration to keep up the good work on industrial energy efficiency and sustainabil-
ity.

Author Contributions: All authors contributed to the idea and the design of the editorial; M.B. pre-
pared the original draft; V.I. contributed to the review and editing.
Funding: The research activity received no external funding.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

List of contributions
1. Benedetti, M.; Dadi, D.; Giordano, L.; Introna, V.; Lapenna, P.E.; Santolamazza, A. Design of a
Database of Case Studies and Technologies to Increase the Diffusion of Low-Temperature
Waste Heat Recovery in the Industrial Sector. Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5223,
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095223.
2. Branchini, L.; Bignozzi, M.C.; Ferrari, B.; Mazzanti, B.; Ottaviano, S.; Salvio, M.; Toro, C.;
Martini, F.; Canetti, A. Cogeneration Supporting the Energy Transition in the Italian Ceramic
Tile Industry. Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 4006, https://doi.org/10.3390/su13074006.
Sustainability 2021, 13, 8814 3 of 3

3. Cantini, A.; Leoni, L.; De Carlo, F.; Salvio, M.; Martini, C.; Martini, F. Technological Energy
Efficiency Improvements in Cement Industries. Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3810;
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073810.
4. Imasiku, K.; Thomas, V.M. The Mining and Technology Industries as Catalysts for Sustainable
Energy Development. Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10410; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410410.
5. Solnørdal, M.T.; Nilsen, E.A. From Program to Practice: Translating Energy Management in a
Manufacturing Firm. Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 10084; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310084.