Environment: Airports, Enac and ENEA together for sustainable development

The Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac) and ENEA presented in Rome the results of a collaboration started in 2023 following a memorandum of understanding to promote energy transition in Italian airport infrastructures. On the occasion, “Best Practices for Proposing and Evaluating Indicators in Environmental Protection Plans” by Enac and “Quaderno dell'efficienza energetica negli aeroporti,” the seventh volume in the “Quaderni dell'Efficienza Energetica” series, developed by ENEA as part of the Program Agreement for Electricity System Research 2022-2024 and funded by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, were also illustrated.

The new publication in the ENEA series is proposed as a guideline to prepare high-quality energy diagnoses that comply with current regulations, taking into account the specific features of the airport sector. It provides information on how to create an energy consumption monitoring plan with reference consumption indices and an extensive description of possible energy efficiency measures to be implemented with a cost-effectiveness analysis. An energy consumption reporting sheet will also be made available along with the guidelines and tested at some of Italy's major airports as early as next month.

The innovative concepts developed by ENAC in the Environmental Protection Plans, which set improvement targets for airport operators, include:

• the analysis of the levels of energy consumption and production of airport infrastructures, which are to be evaluated consistently with data from airport energy audits collected by ENEA;
• energy efficiency recommendations based on the Quaderno Energetico degli aeroporti;
• the introduction of the CO2 parameter for assessing the Carbon Footprint of the processes and products that make up the airport sector.

“Enac has long been engaged in national and international initiatives, based on proper planning and programming of interventions, to reconcile air transportation with environmental sustainability,” said Enac Board Member Benedetta Fiorini. “Enac, ENEA and airport operators will continue synergistically to apply new methods of analysis and monitoring to support the energy transition in the sector, also considering the air traffic growth of recent years and bearing in mind the welfare and security of passengers, which are at the heart of the aviation sector”.

“The collaboration with Enac is a good  opportunity to “The collaboration with ENAC offers a significant opportunity to promote energy transition in the civil aviation sector, particularly infrastructures” said ENEA President Gilberto Dialuce. “The Quaderni dell’Efficienza monograph can help disseminate energy efficiency in the sector, with a view to consumption and efficiency measures, on a path toward achieving decarbonization and environmental sustainability goals,” Dialuce concluded.

The presentation at the press room of the Chamber of Deputies was attended by Salvatore Deidda, chairman of the Chamber's IX Transport, Posts and Telecommunications Commission; Pierluigi Di Palma president of Enac; Gilberto Dialuce president of ENEA; Benedetta Fiorini Enac board member; Costantino Pandolfi, Enac deputy central director for Economic Planning and Infrastructure Development; and Ilaria Bertini, director of ENEA's Department of Energy Efficiency.