Environmental management systems based on ISO 14001 require organizations to monitor and control the main environmental aspects associated with their activities. Among these aspects, energy consumption represents a relevant factor affecting both environmental performance and operational efficiency. However, in many certified organizations the evaluation of energy consumption is still based on fragmented indicators that do not allow a clear prioritization of improvement actions. This work proposes a structured approach for the assessment of energy consumption within an Environmental Management System to support monitoring and control activities. The methodology is based on the identification of representative company activities and on the classification of the related energy consumption typologies. The relationships between activities and energy sources are represented through a vector-based structure and evaluated using four drivers: legislation compliance, impact entity, control degree and territorial sensitivity. Based on these drivers, a Criticality Index (CI) is calculated in order to rank activities according to their relevance in terms of energy impact and management priority. The methodology has been applied to a research laboratory operating under ISO 14001 certification, where four main energy consumption typologies have been considered. Results show that the proposed framework supports the identification of critical activities and facilitates the organization of information required during internal and external environmental audits.

Keywords

Environmental management systems; ISO 14001; energy consumption; environmental performance; audit support.