The used method in the project MEMPHIS to assess waste heat potentials of industrial sources is based on the usage of sector-specific company data. In order to ensure comparability, the system of industrial statistical classification of economic activities is used. 


The Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, commonly referred to as NACE (for the French term "nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne"), is the industry standard classification system used in the European Union.


NACE is similar in function to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), which was established in the United States and is nowadays uses e.g. in the United Kingdom.


The international system of economic classifications

The comparability at world level of statistics produced on the basis of NACE is due to the fact that NACE is part of an integrated system of statistical classifications, developed mainly under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical Division. From the European point of view, this system can be represented as follows:


Source: NACE