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Following on from the introduction of the British Standard for Energy Management Systems
BSEN16001: 2009 the international standard for Energy Management Systems
ISO50001:2011(1) was introduced mid June to bring harmonisation to the area.
There is a lot of information in the ether as to the opportunity from introducing the standard
but little on the background of the standard, what it can deliver and how it interacts with
other standards and systems. In this beginners guide I want to give a high level review to
the standard and not consider the implementation, which brings wider discussion.
The UK and in particular influential and passionate groups of energy professionals such as
the Energy Services and Technology Association (ESTA)(2) were instrumental in encouraging
a fast track of 16001 to ensure that the international standard was influenced by proven
methodologies.
There have been several attempts at national standards in several countries without really
having an impact due simply due to the lack of importance placed upon energy use. This
changed with the emphasis on climate change, green house gasses and in particular
emissions from energy in use following the Kyoto accord.
There are many that believe that ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems (EMS)(4)
covers energy use effectively enough, mitigating the need for a specific standard for energy
management. The belief is true; ISO14001 does indeed cover all environmental impacts,
including energy consumption but only in a very generic way and it is an option to use.
Energy professionals are united in their belief that energy consumption from direct and
indirect sources, carbon footprint scope one and two elements, requires as greater focus. In
a large number of segments scope one and two emissions cover greater than 80% of all
emissions, yet under ISO14001 can get less attention than emissions from waste.
It was this belief that led to the creation of an international working group to development
the international standard for energy management systems, ISO50001.
There are many common parts to 50001 to that of 9001 and 14001; particularly evident is
the terminology used, management system speak, often new to seasoned energy
professionals. Also common is the structure, in effect the PDCA model.
Whilst there are common parts to the management system standards there are also
significant differences. The largest difference is in the driver to certification, in the case of
9001 and more recently in the last decade 14001, organisaitons are finding certification to
quality and environmental standard as essential as good financial standing to become a
supplier to certain groups.
Energy management standards are current a requirement in the supply chain, I would hope
that this does change over time to encourage uptake. It does however show evidence to
support organisations green credentials, something that has been popularised by the Carbon
Trust Standard(5) and a myriad of others since the introduction of the Carbon Reduction
Commitment(6) early action metrics(7).
The standard provides the framework for a formal, procedure driven management
system to support energy management activities, and as with14001 is based upon the
encouragement of making continual improvements. The say that Rome wasnt built in a day,
neither is a good, robust energy management system.
Following the guidance and implementing procedure will lead to energy reductions and in
turn cost reductions. Different organisations will have different results, your organisation
could see dramatic reductions from kick off 5-10-20% and then more modest reductions, or
even, just as positive no increase! Or maybe modest reductions to begin with until process
and procedures are embraced and behaviour is changed.
The absolute value of implementation is the ability to cement behaviour change into the
ethos of an organisation, if good practice is followed as the standard poor energy
management will be difficult to go back to regardless of the change of an energy manager
or facilities team.
Something that is important to understand is that success will come at a cost; the good
news is that this can be managed well if savings are re-invested into the program. Just
implementing a standard alone will not sustain ongoing savings, for this investment is
required, both financial and time.
What will be uncovered will be issues with data integrity, which could lead to immediate
financial savings but also identify areas requiring improvement metering. Analysis of energy
data will identify areas of poor plant and operational efficiency, again potentially leading to
immediate financial savings but also identifying areas for capital investment.
Formal standards dont suit all organisations but even if only part implemented would be
able to offer steps forward to sustainable reductions and of course cost savings.
So the answer is yes your organsiation should consider ISO50001 to see how it would fit,
what the benefits would be and what would be required to enable implementation, a good
starting point would be a simple gap analysis (10).
You could alternatively purchase a copy of the standard document(1) for yourself and
attempt to decipher the requirements or maybe even attend a training course(11) to
understand in more detail what the requirements would be and have the opportunity to
question an expert.
Depending on your internal expertise the course of action could be quite different. If your
organisation has good energy management knowledge, even employing an energy
manager/officer then the considerations should be to improve management system
knowledge. Conversely if your organisation has good management system knowledge,
maybe already certified to ISO9001 or ISO14001 (or both!) its likely that there will already
be a good internal auditor and it will be important to improve energy management
knowledge.
If you have both then what are you waiting for! Implementation and certification should be
a relatively straightforward exercise, contact a certification body to investigate how your
existing management systems can be extended and to determine if they are up to speed
with ISO50001.
Something that is pretty important is to ensure that you have at least a high level energy
management strategy in place before you consider drafting up procedures for an energy
management system. Consider two basic questions, what do you want to achieve and what
resource do you have capable of achieving it?
In Summary
An international standard is only part of the completion solution, an extremely valuable tool
but only one of the implements required for success. Implementing the standard alone does
not save you energy and therefore money. Only as part of a wider energy management
program will energy and costs reduce sustainably.
Author
Richard Hipkiss
Product Director, digitalenergy
richard.hipkiss@digitalenergy.org.uk
www.digitalenergy.org.uk