How can the production of construction products – from bricks to wastewater pipes – be as energy and resource efficient as possible? Five Energy Scouts work for manufacturers of construction products, one of the key sectors in this year’s Energy Scout workshops in Crete. In May, the young employees received a four-day training session under the Young Energy Europe initiative, raising awareness for energy efficiency potentials at the workplace. The AHK Greece (German Hellenic Chamber of Industry and Commerce) visited the Energy Scouts in late July and talked with them about the upcoming projects.
The company EMM. KOUVIDIS S.A. in Heraklion has been manufacturing plastic pipes and joints for electrical and water systems needed for construction and large infrastructure projects for 40 years. Since 2006, the company is certified according to the environmental management standard ISO 14001. Employees therefore strive to provide particularly safe, innovative and durable products which cause as little an ecological footprint as possible. In addition, only energy from renewable sources is used in production. Energy Scouts Dionysios Kafetzakis, Epaminondas Orfanoudakis, Ioannis Papadopoulos, and Michael Charkiolakis work in various departments of the company and are also involved in the construction of a new production hall and warehouse. This opens a wide range of possibilities for energy saving projects, e. g. to building the new production site as energy efficient as possible or to design the next generation of antibacterial or halogen-free pipe systems used in hospitals and public buildings with high fire protection requirements.
18 kilometers away is the family business AKEK S.A., which produces mainly bricks and roof tiles in a modern production plant. The bricks, made exclusively from natural raw materials (clay and water), have very good thermal insulation and indoor climate properties and are cheaper than other building materials. After the product life of over 100 years, they are fully biodegradable. Bricks must be burned at high temperatures, so that even with excellent insulation and heat recovery of the kiln, much energy is consumed. Every day, up to 800 tons of bricks are produced. Nikolaos Moutesidis will use his training knowledge from the Energy Scout workshops to save more energy and resources in the production process. End of September, all Energy Scouts from Crete will be presenting their projects as part of a closing event. Until September 30, interested companies can register for our next training in Athens with the German-Hellenic Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
