IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i9p3742-d1134317.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Evolution of Energy Management Maturity in Organizations Subject to Mandatory Energy Audits: Findings from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Annalisa Santolamazza

    (Department of Enterprise Engineering, “Tor Vergata” University of Rome, 00133 Rome, Italy)

  • Vito Introna

    (Department of Enterprise Engineering, “Tor Vergata” University of Rome, 00133 Rome, Italy)

  • Vittorio Cesarotti

    (Department of Enterprise Engineering, “Tor Vergata” University of Rome, 00133 Rome, Italy)

  • Fabrizio Martini

    (DUEE-SPS-ESE Laboratory, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Lungotevere Thaon di Revel, 76, 00196 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Promoting energy efficiency is a key element of the strategic commitment of the European Community. Prominent among the binding measures established by the 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive to further this vision is the requirement for large companies to conduct energy audits every four years. After receiving the second cycle of energy audit reports in December 2019, a new description of the energy situation of Italian companies was made available. This presented the previously inaccessible possibility of comparing the two situations reported in 2015 and 2019 to assess the development of energy efficiency practices in organizations subject to the legislative obligation of energy audits in the country. To this end, in collaboration with the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), a project was initiated with the aim of developing the tools and methodologies necessary to assess in more detail the evolution that has occurred in the four years since 2015. In this paper, the findings of the analysis conducted on a significant sample of companies in Italy are presented. Through the design of a maturity model to assess the degree of progress achieved in a company’s energy management, the results of the two situations were analyzed. The analysis was deepened by assessing the progress achieved in different aspects of Energy Management: “Strategic Approach”, “Awareness, Competence, and Knowledge”, “Methodological Approach”, “Organizational Structure”, “Energy Performance Management and Information System”, and “Best Practices”. Furthermore, the observed variations were statistically tested using a pairwise t -test to make statistical inferences about the maturity of the total population of Italian enterprises under legislative obligation. The results have shown an increase in overall energy management maturity in each maturity dimension.

Suggested Citation

  • Annalisa Santolamazza & Vito Introna & Vittorio Cesarotti & Fabrizio Martini, 2023. "The Evolution of Energy Management Maturity in Organizations Subject to Mandatory Energy Audits: Findings from Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:9:p:3742-:d:1134317
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/9/3742/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/9/3742/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benedetti, Miriam & Bonfà, Francesca & Bertini, Ilaria & Introna, Vito & Salvatori, Simone & Ubertini, Stefano & Paradiso, Rosanna, 2019. "Maturity-based approach for the improvement of energy efficiency in industrial compressed air production and use systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    2. Finnerty, Noel & Sterling, Raymond & Coakley, Daniel & Contreras, Sergio & Coffey, Ronan & Keane, Marcus M., 2017. "Development of a Global Energy Management System for non-energy intensive multi-site industrial organisations: A methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 16-31.
    3. Ngai, E.W.T & Chau, D.C.K. & Poon, J.K.L. & To, C.K.M., 2013. "Energy and utility management maturity model for sustainable manufacturing process," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 453-464.
    4. Joachim Schleich, 2004. "Do energy audits help reduce barriers to energy efficiency? An empirical analysis for Germany," International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(3), pages 226-239.
    5. Salvatori, Simone & Benedetti, Miriam & Bonfà, Francesca & Introna, Vito & Ubertini, Stefano, 2018. "Inter-sectorial benchmarking of compressed air generation energy performance: Methodology based on real data gathering in large and energy-intensive industrial firms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 266-280.
    6. Carlos Herce & Enrico Biele & Chiara Martini & Marcello Salvio & Claudia Toro, 2021. "Impact of Energy Monitoring and Management Systems on the Implementation and Planning of Energy Performance Improved Actions: An Empirical Analysis Based on Energy Audits in Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Kalantzis, Fotios & Revoltella, Debora, 2019. "How energy audits promote SMEs' energy efficiency investment," EIB Working Papers 2019/02, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlos Herce & Enrico Biele & Chiara Martini & Marcello Salvio & Claudia Toro, 2021. "Impact of Energy Monitoring and Management Systems on the Implementation and Planning of Energy Performance Improved Actions: An Empirical Analysis Based on Energy Audits in Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Czopek, Dorota & Gryboś, Dominik & Leszczyński, Jacek & Wiciak, Jerzy, 2022. "Identification of energy wastes through sound analysis in compressed air systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PB).
    3. Malinauskaite, J. & Jouhara, H. & Ahmad, L. & Milani, M. & Montorsi, L. & Venturelli, M., 2019. "Energy efficiency in industry: EU and national policies in Italy and the UK," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 255-269.
    4. Olsthoorn, Mark & Schleich, Joachim & Hirzel, Simon, 2017. "Adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures for Non-residential Buildings: Technological and Organizational Heterogeneity in the Trade, Commerce and Services Sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 240-254.
    5. S.R. Patterson & E. Kozan & P. Hyland, 2016. "An integrated model of an open-pit coal mine: improving energy efficiency decisions," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(14), pages 4213-4227, July.
    6. Schlomann, Barbara & Schleich, Joachim, 2015. "Adoption of low-cost energy efficiency measures in the tertiary sector—An empirical analysis based on energy survey data," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1127-1133.
    7. Kong, Lingbo & Price, Lynn & Hasanbeigi, Ali & Liu, Huanbin & Li, Jigeng, 2013. "Potential for reducing paper mill energy use and carbon dioxide emissions through plant-wide energy audits: A case study in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1334-1342.
    8. Ray Galvin, 2024. "How Not to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions: An Unbalanced Focus on Energy Efficiency in Germany’s Building Rehabilitation Policies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-20, September.
    9. Jalo, Noor & Johansson, Ida & Kanchiralla, Fayas Malik & Thollander, Patrik, 2021. "Do energy efficiency networks help reduce barriers to energy efficiency? -A case study of a regional Swedish policy program for industrial SMEs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    10. Oikonomou, Vlasis & Rietbergen, Martijn & Patel, Martin, 2007. "An ex-ante evaluation of a White Certificates scheme in The Netherlands: A case study for the household sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1147-1163, February.
    11. Kalantzis, Fotios & Revoltella, Debora, 2019. "How energy audits promote SMEs' energy efficiency investment," EIB Working Papers 2019/02, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    12. Matteo Piccioni & Fabrizio Martini & Chiara Martini & Claudia Toro, 2024. "Evaluation of Energy Performance Indicators and Energy Saving Opportunities for the Italian Rubber Manufacturing Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-23, March.
    13. Liudmyla Davydenko & Nina Davydenko & Andrii Bosak & Alla Bosak & Agnieszka Deja & Tygran Dzhuguryan, 2022. "Smart Sustainable Freight Transport for a City Multi-Floor Manufacturing Cluster: A Framework of the Energy Efficiency Monitoring of Electric Vehicle Fleet Charging," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-27, May.
    14. Mertzanis, Charilaos & Garas, Samy & Abdel-Maksoud, Ahmed, 2020. "Integrity of financial information and firms' access to energy in developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Perroni, Marcos G. & Gouvea da Costa, Sergio E. & Pinheiro de Lima, Edson & Vieira da Silva, Wesley & Tortato, Ubiratã, 2018. "Measuring energy performance: A process based approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 540-553.
    16. Zhao, Xiaofan & Li, Huimin & Wu, Liang & Qi, Ye, 2014. "Implementation of energy-saving policies in China: How local governments assisted industrial enterprises in achieving energy-saving targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 170-184.
    17. repec:zbw:rwirep:0335 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. F. Knobloch & J. -F. Mercure, 2016. "The behavioural aspect of green technology investments: a general positive model in the context of heterogeneous agents," Papers 1603.06888, arXiv.org.
    19. Valeria Costantini & Mariagrazia D’Angeli & Martina Mancini & Chiara Martini & Elena Paglialunga, 2024. "An Econometric Analysis of the Energy-Saving Performance of the Italian Plastic Manufacturing Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-29, February.
    20. Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & Bertolotti, Matteo & Thollander, Patrik & Andersson, Elias, 2019. "Energy management: A practice-based assessment model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1614-1636.
    21. Fleiter, Tobias & Schleich, Joachim & Ravivanpong, Ployplearn, 2012. "Adoption of energy-efficiency measures in SMEs—An empirical analysis based on energy audit data from Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 863-875.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:9:p:3742-:d:1134317. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.