Overview

Developed by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) Project Committee of Energy Management (ISO/PC 242), ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems (EnMS) – Requirements with Guidance for Use was published in June 2011. ISO 50001 standard has been developed based on the common elements that can be found in all of the ISO management system standards such as ISO 9001 quality management system and ISO 14001 environmental management system.
Demand for Energy Management:
Over the recent years, the environment has become a more and more significant concern to the sustainability of global business community, and poses serious challenges to individual organisations, affecting their development in the long run. Out of many factors, the main reasons for the energy issue to draw a serious attention from businesses may come from global government initiatives to mitigate climate change and increasing expenses for obtaining natural resources to support daily operation.
Driven by these national or regional energy targets and supporting policies, some jurisdictions have developed own energy management standards to assist the industries in creating their own strategy and roadmap. For example, there are energy management systems standard EN 16001 in Europe, ANSI/MSE 2000 in US, B0071 in Korea, VD14602 in Germany, DS 2403:2001 in Denmark, SS627750:2003 in Sweden, AS3595:1990 in Australia, PLUS 1140:1995 in Canada, and GB/T-23331 in China. The publication of ISO 50001 helps to synchronize the efforts by many different countries and regions, and to provide businesses with a standard approach to improve their energy management
Corporate Responsibility:
The increasing public awareness on environmental issues is another driving force for businesses to reconsider their energy policy. People are paying more attention on the energy performance of organisations. As part of corporate responsibility, besides making profits, organisations should also practice their due diligence to sustainable development of the environment and community, including addressing the public concerns on climate change and resource depletion

Benefits of Adopting Energy Management System

By offering a systematic methodology for any sizes of organisation, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to establish own energy management system, ISO 50001 can provide organisations with a number of business benefits. These include:

• Helping to achieve energy use reduction and carbon emissions in a systematic way;
• Creating a clear picture of current energy use status, based on which new goals and target can be set;
• Evaluating and prioritizing the implementation of new energy-efficient technologies and measures;
• Providing a framework to promote energy efficiency throughout supply chain;
• Providing guidance on how to benchmark, measure, document and report corporate energy use;
• Making better use of energy consuming assets, thus identifying potentials to reduce maintenance costs or expand capacity;
• Demonstrating to the stakeholders that corporate commitment to comply with their best practice to protect the environment; and
• Fulfilling the associated regulatory requirements and responding with confidence to green trade barriers in global market

General Requirements

The ISO 50001 Standard says…
It requires the organisation to establish, document, implement and improve its EnMS according to ISO 50001 standard. The organisation should define and document the scope and boundaries of its EnMS as well as how to achieve continual improvement of its energy performance and EnMS

The purpose of ISO 50001 standard is to enable organisations to establish systems and processes necessary to improve energy performance. The standard applies to all factors affecting energy use that can be monitored and influenced by an organisation. ISO 50001 standard does not specify energy performance criteria. It provides a general-purpose system that allows organisations to choose performance standards that they deem best meet their requirements.
Prior to developing the EnMS, the organisation should define the scope and boundaries of its management system. The scope refers to the extent of activities, facilities and decisions that the organisation addresses through an EnMS, which can include several boundaries. The boundaries are defined as physical or site limits and / or organisational limits as defined by the organisation that could be a process, a group of processes, a site, an entire organisation and multiple sites under the control of an organisation.
The focus of an ISO 50001 EnMS is on improving management processes, practices, and procedures that control an organisation’s functions and activities with significant energy use. The overarching intent is that by implementing a management process and continually improving this management system, it will eventually lead to an improved energy performance.

Management Responsibility

Management Support and Commitment

The ISO 50001 Standard says…
It requires the top management to demonstrate its commitment to support and continually improve the effectiveness of the EnMS.

In addition to providing general support, top management should provide the necessary resources such as time, personnel, financial, materials, etc. for the effective implementation of the EnMS. Top management commitment is crucial to the successful implementation of the EnMS. It must be communicated and made visible to the entire organisation to encourage active participation of all staff members in adhering to the EnMS
Key factors for successful implementation of an EnMS include:
• Top management support;
• Sufficient resources; and
• Management commitment
To ensure effective operation of the EnMS, top management is required to appoint a management representative and approve the formation of an energy management team. The management representative (MR) is responsible for managing all aspects of the EnMS as it evolves. MR should have sufficient authority, competency and resources to ensure the overall effectiveness of the EnMS. The energy management team is responsible for ensuring the implementation of actions / measures of the energy management decisions. The composition and size of the energy management team should be determined with due consideration of the size and complexity of the organisation.

Management Representative

The ISO 50001 Standard says…
It requires the top management to appoint a management representative(s) to promote awareness and oversee the implementation of the EnMS

The ISO 50001 standard requires an organisation to appoint a management representative to oversee the development and operation of the EnMS. He / she is the key person to help the organisation achieve its energy objectives and targets and for improving energy performance. The management representative should be competent to perform the required duties and be capable of exerting influence throughout the organisation to implement and improve the EnMS.
The selection of this person should be carefully considered in order to fulfil the following responsibilities:

• Selecting, training and leading the energy management team;
• Coordinating energy management team activities;
• Identifying and communicating resources needed for energy management activities;
• Working with senior management for planning of resources;
• Arranging to deliver energy management awareness training in the organisation and for contractors;
• Being involved in drafting the policy and other EnMS documents;
• Providing information for and participating in energy management strategic planning;
• Ensuring appropriate monitoring, data collection and verification activities;
• Ensuring instrument calibration;
• Overseeing internal audit programme;
• Identifying training needs of staff members related to the EnMS; and
• Managing the corrective/preventive action system.

Energy Policy

The ISO 50001 Standard says…
It requires the organisation to define an energy policy to state its commitment for achieving energy performance improvement.

The energy policy is a cornerstone for implementing and improving an organisation’s EnMS and energy performance within its scope and boundaries. The policy provides a statement of the highlevel overview of management’s intent that members of the organisation should apply to their work activities. The policy also provides a framework for an organisation to set energy objectives and targets and associated energy management action plans to further improve its energy performance.
ISO 50001 requires an organisation to at least state the following commitments in the energy policy:
• Continual improvement in energy performance;
• Availability of information and of necessary resources to achieve objectives and targets; and
• Compliance with relevant legislation and other requirements related to energy use, consumption and efficiency.
In addition to these commitments, the policy will include the support for purchasing energy efficient products and services, as well as designing for enhanced energy performance. The policy should be defined and approved by the top management to show its commitment to meet the organisation’s goals. In terms of management, the policy must be communicated to all staff and be reviewed and updated in a systematic manner. Unlike other common standards, the organisation can decide whether or not to make the policy available externally.

Energy Review, Baseline and Performance Indicators

The ISO 50001 Standard says…
It requires the organization to develop record and maintain an energy review as well as document the methodology and criteria used to develop the review.
It requires the organization to establish an energy baseline(s) for the measurement of the energy performance.
It requires the organization to identify appropriate energy performance indicators to monitor and measure its energy performance

The organization must record and maintain an energy review with certain documented methodology and criteria. An energy review is a process to determine an organisation’s energy performance based on data and/or actual measurement, leading to identification of opportunities for improvement. The review provides useful information for the development of the energy baseline and the selection of energy performance indicators (EnPIs). It also establishes the monitoring capability to support effective continuous improvement of the EnMS in the future

Improvement on Energy Performance

Continual improvement on energy performance is the ultimate goal of implementing an ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS). In order to achieve it, organisations need to look closely at their specific operation. For the manufacturing sector, a significant amount of energy is consumed by hardware installations, since their operations involve different types of production machines, equipment and auxiliary devices. With the advancement of technologies, production machines and auxiliary equipment with high energy efficiency are available in the market that can help reduce energy consumption and achieve cost saving. There are also quite a number of practical energy-saving measures and techniques applicable to various industrial applications. Organisations should take these technologies and measures into consideration when improving their energy performance.

Process and Auditing Requirements of ISO 50001

Accredited Certification Bodies

Certification of an EnMS will demonstrate to an organisation’s customers that the organization has attained an internationally recognized standard in terms of energy management and is continuously improving its energy performance.
Using a Certification Body (CB) that has been accredited by an International Accreditation Body on ISO 50001 provides international recognition of the EnMS established. Accreditation is a process in which a CB is audited by a third party (e.g. United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)) in order to ensure the competence of the CB in the provision of relevant certification process.
The Accreditation Body will determine whether the CB has implemented, and is following, its certification management system in accordance with the following international guidelines:
• ISO / IEC Guide 62 General requirements for bodies operating assessment and certification / registration of quality systems; and
• Interpretations by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC Guide 62 for bodies operating assessment and certification / registration of quality systems.

Certification Requirements

During EnMS audit, certification can only be granted if all of the criteria indicated below are met:
The EnMS must be effectively implemented at least to the extent that:

• The EnMS has been operational for a minimum of three months;
• The internal audit is implemented and can be shown to be effective;
• One management review has been conducted;
• All staff are aware of the energy policy, objectives and the energy management system; and
• Staff involved in managing significant energy uses and associated impacts have received training according to a training needs analysis

In addition to the above mandatory requirements in certification, the certification bodies also focus on the following aspects, most of which are related to the energy review.

• The methodology in determining significant energy uses (SEU);
• Prioritization of areas for improvement in energy review;
• The analysis and evaluation of energy review;
• The methodology to determine the energy baseline for the organisation or individual SEU;
• The methodology to determine the energy performance indicator(s) for the organization or individual SEU;
• The method and result verification for energy objectives, targets and action plans; and
• The operational control related to SEU