Audit Plus Programme – funded under the European LIFE Programme (LIFE-CET-22)
Industrial facilities are under growing pressure to reduce energy costs, cut carbon emissions and develop a credible decarbonisation roadmap – often while operating ageing plant, tight margins and limited energy visibility.
This article outlines what an energy efficiency and decarbonisation audit, delivered under the Audit Plus Programme, can achieve in practice for an industrial manufacturing facility, based on a real project completed by Lawler Sustainability within the industrial sector. While the client remains anonymous, the outcomes reflect challenges and opportunities commonly faced across energy-intensive industrial operations.
The challenge facing industrial facilities
Industrial sites such as metal fabrication and manufacturing facilities typically face a combination of:
- High and growing energy demand driven by production processes
- Limited sub-metering and poor visibility of where energy is actually consumed
- Ageing equipment with unknown efficiency performance
- Increasing pressure to demonstrate progress on decarbonisation
- Uncertainty around where to invest first to achieve meaningful returns
In many cases, energy costs are monitored at a high level through utility bills, but decision-makers lack the data needed to confidently prioritise efficiency or decarbonisation measures.
This is where a structured, independent energy audit becomes critical.
The approach: Audit Plus (LIFE-CET-22 funded)
Lawler Sustainability was engaged to deliver a comprehensive energy efficiency and decarbonisation audit under the Audit Plus scheme, funded through the European LIFE Programme (LIFE-CET-22).
Audit Plus is designed to go beyond compliance-led energy audits, supporting organisations in developing robust, investable decarbonisation roadmaps grounded in operational reality.
For this industrial facility, the audit focused on:
- Establishing a detailed energy baseline
- Identifying significant energy users across production and support systems
- Quantifying energy efficiency opportunities
- Assessing decarbonisation measures aligned with site constraints
- Developing a phased, prioritised roadmap to support implementation
The emphasis throughout was on practical, data-driven recommendations that could be implemented without disrupting core operations.
Key outcomes delivered for the client
1 . Clear visibility of energy use and inefficiencies
The audit provided the client with a detailed understanding of how energy was consumed across the facility, highlighting:
- High-consumption systems and processes
- Areas of avoidable energy loss
- Equipment operating outside optimal efficiency ranges
This shifted energy management from a reactive, bill-based view to a proactive, evidence-based understanding of performance.
2 . Identified energy and cost reduction opportunities
A range of energy efficiency measures were identified and assessed, including:
- Low-cost and no-cost operational improvements
- Targeted equipment upgrades with short payback periods
- Medium-term investments delivering sustained reductions in energy demand
Each opportunity was evaluated in terms of:
- Estimated energy savings
- Cost savings
- Capital investment requirements
- Payback periods
This allowed the client to clearly see which actions would deliver the greatest impact for the least disruption.
3 . A credible decarbonisation pathway
Beyond efficiency, the audit assessed opportunities to reduce carbon emissions, including:
- Electrification potential
- Heat recovery and system optimisation
- Future-proofing measures aligned with evolving regulation and energy prices
Rather than presenting decarbonisation as a single large capital project, the output was a phased, realistic decarbonisation roadmap aligned with production realities and budget cycles.
4. Stronger basis for internal decision-making
One of the most valuable outcomes was not a single measure, but confidence.
The audit provided:
- A defensible evidence base for investment decisions
- Clear justification for prioritising specific projects
- A shared understanding across operational, financial and sustainability teams
This moved internal conversations from “Should we act?” to “When and how do we implement?”
Why Audit Plus matters
The Audit Plus Programme, funded under the European LIFE Programme (LIFE-CET-22), enables organisations to undertake deeper, more strategic energy audits that support long-term decision-making — not just regulatory compliance.
For industrial organisations, this means:
- Independent, expert-led analysis
- Recommendations grounded in real operational conditions
- Outputs that directly support capital planning, funding applications and sustainability reporting
Lawler Sustainability’s approach ensures that Audit Plus outputs are actionable tools, not standalone reports.
What this means for industrial organisations
For energy-intensive industrial facilities, an Audit Plus energy audit can deliver:
- Reduced energy costs
- Lower carbon emissions
- Improved operational resilience
- A structured route toward net zero
Most importantly, it provides clarity – enabling organisations to act with confidence in a complex and evolving energy landscape.
Client perspective
While the industrial client featured in this example remains anonymous, the value of this approach is echoed across Lawler Sustainability’s wider industrial portfolio:
“Working with Lawler Sustainability through the Audit Plus Programme was a very positive experience. The audit provided clear, data-driven insight into our energy performance and a set of practical recommendations that will directly support our decarbonisation roadmap and ongoing energy efficiency improvements across our units in Ashbourne.” – Jonatan Michel Krieser, ESG Manager, Primeline Group
Want to see how this works in practice ?
The example outlined above is based on a real Audit Plus assessment for an energy-intensive steel fabrication facility helping them:
- identify three decarbonisation strategies,
- and how different strategic choices led to very different financial and carbon outcomes.
Click the button below to explore how a strategic energy audit can lead to your own decarbonisation roadmap.