This paper puts forward an integrated approach, based on logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) - an index decomposition analysis (IDA) method, an artificial neural network (ANN) and a data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the analysis of total energy efficiency and optimization in an industrial sector. The energy efficiency assessment and the optimization of the proposed model use LMDI to decompose energy consumption into activity, structural and intensity indicators, which serve as inputs to the ANN. The ANN model is verified and validated by performing a linear regression comparison between the specifically measured energy consumption and the corresponding predicted energy consumption. The proposed approach utilizes the measure-specific, super-efficient DEA model for sensitivity analysis to determine the critical measured energy consumption and its optimization reductions. The proposed method is validated by its application to determine the efficiency computation and an analysis of historical data as well as the prediction and optimization capability of the Canadian industrial sector. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.