Confindustria Ceramica

Energy consumption

The ceramic tile and refractory materials industry has a natural gas consumption of 1500 million cubic metres per year and an electrical energy requirement of 1,800 GWh/year, 80% of which is concentrated in the area of the Sassuolo cluster. Furthermore, just 500 GWh/year of electrical energy is self-produced via cogeneration, while the remaining 1,300 GWh/year is purchased. Overall, energy accounts for 20% of the production costs of Italian ceramic tiles.


This demonstrates the importance of Confindustria Ceramica’s efforts in pursuing policies to optimise energy use and to achieve constant plant innovation. A survey conducted by Assopiastrelle and Snam has confirmed that due to technological and plant innovation, the sector’s energy consumption in the 1990s was just half of that recorded in the 1970s, in spite of the doubling in production. Carbon dioxide emissions have also returned to the levels of the 1970s.

These outstanding energy performance figures are almost unmatched by other industrial sectors.