NQA Webinar: ISO 50001 Transition Essentials (27th February 2020)
Getting Started - ISO 50001 Energy Management - Pt 1 of 4
Top 10 Tips - ISO 50001 Energy Management - Pt 4 of 4
ISO 50001 (International Organization for Standardization 50001)
Google datacentres awarded ISO 50001 certification
Google has become the first North American company to obtain ISO 50001 certification for its energy management systems in several datacentre facilities in the US.
The International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) 50001 certification supports organisations in all sectors to use energy more efficiently. It provides a framework of requirements for companies, such as developing an energy efficiency policy, measuring the performance of energy-efficient systems and planning continual energy management strategies.
Google developed a comprehensive energy management system (EnMS) for use in its corporate datacentre as well six other US facilities in Oklahoma, Oregon, Iowa, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
“Our facilities use 50% less energy than most other datacentres and we’re constantly pushing ourselves to be even more efficient with the energy we use,” said Joe Kava, Google's vice-president for datacentres.
Greenpeace singles out datacentre firms for lack of energy efficiency
ISO 50001 Energy Management System Trainings
Your Guide to Implementing ISO 50001
Benefits of Implementation
A FRAMEWORK TO MANAGE ENERGY
An effective EnMS that is aligned with an organization’s business strategy, will allow visibility of how energy is being used and areas where performance can be improved. It provides the structured policies, processes, procedures and action plans to implement energy saving opportunities. Continual improvement in energy management is therefore achieved.
COST REDUCTION
Any energy reductions identified through an EnMS will, in turn, offer demonstrable savings on energy bills, which will reduce the overhead of a business and in some cases substantially. There are many examples of an organization undertaking the ISO 50001 process achieving first year energy cost savings which are equal to or greater than the initial costs of implementing the Standard.
REDUCING ENERGY
Cost reduction as identified in b) above and reducing energy, go hand in hand. By establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an EnMS, an organization will be able to not only deal with the initial energy saving opportunities or “low-hanging fruit” but to identify and manage where, when and how energy is being consumed and identify energy efficiency improvements and reductions.
CARBON REDUCTION
Many businesses report their output of carbon dioxide (CO2) or “carbon footprint”. Whilst CO2 reduction cannot really be cited as a primary reason for achieving the ISO 50001 Standard, any reductions in energy will have a direct correlation with an organization’s overall carbon footprint.
ORGANIZATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
The “top down” approach within ISO 50001 ensures that key senior stakeholders within the organization understand,as appropriate, its EnMS and are therefore motivated to achieve its objectives. ISO 50001 can be also be used to drive engagement on energy management; providing other members of an organization with a structured approach to managing energy use.
BENCHMARKING
ISO 50001 requires an organization to establish a baseline to act as an indicator of energy performance. By identifying a baseline, energy efficiency can be tracked over time.
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
Similar to ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, ISO 50001 requires an organization to identify and have access to applicable “legal and other requirements” in relation to its energy efficiency, energy use, energy consumption and its EnMS.
In the UK, ISO 50001 can be used to comply directly with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS). The Government established ESOS to implement Article 8 (4 to 6) of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/ EU). In general ESOS applies to large UK undertakings and their corporate groups. It mainly affects businesses but can also apply to not-for-profit bodies and any other non public sector undertakings that are large enough to meet the qualification criteria.
Organizations are required under ESOS to review the total energy use and energy efficiency of the organization and identify cost-effective energy savings opportunities by undertaking an energy audit. However, if an organization has an EnMS certified to ISO 50001 then upon registration of the certification with the Environment Agency, direct compliance with ESOS is achieved.
REPUTATION
Achieving ISO 50001 can offer significant reputational benefits by demonstrating to an organization’s stakeholders that it is fully committed to managing its energy consumption and seeking ways to increase its energy efficiency.
When an organization gains certification, it can display the NQA logos on appropriate materials (in accordance with NQA/UKAS guidelines). This can not only publicise an organization’s credentials (and perhaps provide a competitive edge) but can provide a short-hand info- graphic that energy “governance” is being achieved.
COMMERCIALITY
It is an ever increasing trend, that when seeking to supply goods and services to the business sector (particularly the Public Sector) accredited systems such as ISO 50001 are required, in order to meet pre contract procurement award criteria.
For organizations committed to addressing their impact, conserving resources and improving the bottom line through efficient energy management, we developed ISO 50001.
Designed to support organizations in all sectors, this ISO standard provides a practical way to improve energy use, through the development of an energy management system (EnMS).
Group of multi-ethnic young business people meeting. Management system standards Providing a model to follow when setting up and operating a management system, find out more about how MSS work and where they can be applied.
ISO and energy management
The new ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems can help safeguard our future by making a positive difference in the here and now.
Developing an Energy Management System
ISO 50001 is based on the management system model of continual improvement also used for other well-known standards such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. This makes it easier for organizations to integrate energy management into their overall efforts to improve quality and environmental management.
ISO 50001 provides a framework of requirements for organizations to:
Develop a policy for more efficient use of energy Fix targets and objectives to meet the policy Use data to better understand and make decisions about energy use Measure the results Review how well the policy works, and Continually improve energy management.
Certification to ISO 50001
Like other ISO management system standards, certification to ISO 50001 is possible but not obligatory. Some organizations decide to implement the standard solely for the benefits it provides. Others decide to get certified to it, to show external parties they have implemented an energy management system. ISO does not perform certification.
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.[1]
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.[2] 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.[3]
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.