Background Industrial estates have sprung up all over Europe as commerce has grown during the last 50 years. These areas can bring great benefit as the powerhouses of local economies and help to provide prosperity and employment, but they can also bring difficult environmental headaches. In Murcia, Spain, where this project is based, there are more than 70 industrial parks in a region of 11 300 km2. Across Europe, the majority of these industrial areas are characterised by low-efficiency energy performance and by high CO2 emissions. Improving the sustainability of such areas is already a focus of environmental concern in the EU, with increasing recognition that an inability to adapt and innovate can leave them vulnerable, with consequent risk to economic growth and local employment. However, there are many challenges for improving the environmental performance of such industrial estates. Objectives The overall objective of the 'ENERING' project is to demonstrate sound environmental and economically-feasible solutions to reduce CO2 emissions in industrial estates. Some work will be based on design or adaptation of buildings. Other strategies will include use of passive, renewable and/or residual energy to meet some of the communal electricity requirements on the estates. The project will not only include individual solutions but also management action affecting a whole industrial estate. The project aims to demonstrate the economic and environmental feasibility of different solutions for the design and performance of new industrial buildings. This will include demonstration of use of renewable energies to reduce CO2 emissions. For already developed/old industrial buildings, the project aims to demonstrate sound environmental and economically feasible solutions to reduce CO2 emissions by adaptation strategies. It hopes to demonstrate the feasibility of developing industrial facilitates to produce renewable energy to cover some common energy need in the parks, compensating for/reducing CO2 emissions from the buildings and generating heat to supply industrial facilities. The project hopes to demonstrate a replicable model that could deliver savings of some 28 000 tonnes/yr of CO2 emissions if adopted by 25% of the industrial parks in Murcia. The project will work with research centres, universities, regional administrations, municipalities, professional associations and companies to promote such transfer beyond the life of the project. From an economic point of view, savings will vary with energy prices. But important indirect effects could be achieved – for instance, a decrease in electricity demand at peak times would reduce threats to the stability of electricity grids and allow energy managers to reduce the capacity and size of grids. Expected results The project will demonstrate and apply a range of solutions that reduce CO2 emissions from buildings in industrial parks. Quantified savings/improvements will include: A reduction in energy consumption of 3 650 MWh/yr, covering all lighting needs and other common services of the industrial estate; Harnessing of 3 200 Mwh/yr, which is estimated to be sufficient to cover the complete needs of 14 industrial buildings; A reduction of 726 tonnes of petroleum equivalent (tpe) of primary energy/yr; and A reduction of 1 416 tonnes/yr of CO2 emissions.