ISO 50001Energy management system

Courtesy: ISO 50001Energy management system

ISO 50001 Energy management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, is an international standard created by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The standard specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an energy management system, whose purpose is to enable an organization to follow a systematic approach in achieving continual improvement of energy performance, including energy efficiency, energy security, energy use and consumption.

The standard aims to help organizations continually reduce their energy use, and therefore their energy costs and their greenhouse gas emissions.

ISO 50001 was originally released by ISO in June 2011 and is suitable for any organization, whatever its size, sector or geographical location. The second edition, ISO 50001:2018 was released in August 2018.

The system is modelled after the ISO 9001 Quality Management System and the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) and the 2018 version has clauses modular with both.

A significant feature in ISO 50001 is the requirement to “… improve the EnMS and the resulting energy performance” (clause 4.2.1 c). The other standards mentioned here (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) both require improvement to the effectiveness of the Management System but not to the quality of the product/service (ISO 9001) or to environmental performance (ISO 14001). It is anticipated that by implementing ISO 9001 and 14001 together an organization would improve quality and environmental performance, but the standards do not currently specify this as a requirement.

ISO 50001, therefore, has made a major leap forward in ‘raising the bar’ by requiring an organization to demonstrate that they have improved their energy performance. There are no quantitative targets specified – an organization chooses its own then creates an action plan to reach the targets. With this structured approach, an organization is more likely to see some tangible financial benefits.

Reasons for use

The main objective of the standard is to improve energy-related performance and energy efficiency continuously and to identify energy reduction opportunities. This systematic approach will help organizations to establish systems and processes.

Consistent energy management helps organizations to realize untapped energy efficiency potential. They will benefit from cost savings and make a significant contribution to environmental and climate protection, for example by the permanent reduction of CO₂ emissions. The standard should alert employees and in particular the management level to the immediate and long-term energy management gains that can be made. The organization can discover potential savings and competitive advantages. Furthermore, a huge image boost for the organization can be created