The multiple benefits approach needed in order to successfully “sell” energy-efficiency projects in companies is illustrated below. This approach takes into account three pillars that are critical to upper managers when considering project investment: 1) contribution of energy-efficiency projects to cost reductions (apart from the energy cost), 2) the impact and improvement to value proposition, and 3) risk reduction. Projects that can contribute positively to value, risk reduction and cost reduction align with top management’s interest.

The overarching objective of M-BENEFITS is therefore to provide energy experts with a set of tools to enable them apply the multiple benefits approach to evaluate and communicate the benefits of energy-efficiency in a way that resonates with a companies’ needs and practices. Such tools would allow energy managers and practitioners to improve the business case of energy-efficiency projects. Thanks to this broader approach, the contacts and champions of projects in companies will cut across all company functions, including top management.

The goal of the M-BENEFITS project is to train and build the capacity of energy-efficiency experts to evaluate all benefits (i.e. not only the energy-savings benefits) of measures. The focus is on energy-efficiency projects in the industrial and building/tertiary sector (i.e., industrial production sites, administrative and commercial buildings).
Such training and capacity building is necessary to enable energy professionals to communicate projects in strategic terms to companies’ top management, thus increasing the attractiveness of energy projects and the likelihood for project implementation. This work in turn will contribute to reducing the energy-efficiency gap that has been identified by research.