In order to reduce costs and their environmental footprint, industries are looking to reduce their CO2 emissions as much as possible and to improve their energy efficiency. One of the methods to achieve this result is to implement an Energy Management System (EMS), certified ISO 50001. In this article, discover what this standard is and what it means for industrials.
The Energy Management System (EMS) is a combination of hardware (e.g., meters for machines) and software that allows to measure its industrial energy consumption accurately.
Standard ISO 50001 indicates the level of requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving the EMS. It allows the different organizations involved to have a systemic approach to the continuous improvement of energy performance. It includes different aspects such as:
The goal of the ISO 50001 standard is to help organizations reduce their energy consumption and, at the same time, reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The first version of the ISO 50001 standard was published in 2011. It is applicable to all types of organizations, in all sectors, regardless of their size or geographical area. A revised version was published in 2018: the ISO 50001:2018. It includes additional measures to enhance energy efficiency.
Why implement the ISO 50001 standard?
There are different reasons for an industrials to consider implementing the ISO 50001 standard. The three most important ones are :
Another advantage of the ISO 50001 standard is that it is compatible with other standards, such as ISO 9001 "Quality Management" or ISO 14001 "Environmental Management Systems". The ISO 50001:2018 version has a modular structure close to these standards, which allows it, if the two previous ones are already in place, to be implemented with a lower cost.
How to implement the ISO 50001 standard?
A company that chooses to implement this standard will have to invest time and resources in making the necessary energy performance improvements.
The standard itself, however, does not specify performance levels to be achieved: it is the industrial director or energy manager who decides on these objectives and creates an action plan.
The goal of the ISO 50001 standard is to establish continuous improvement processes that help companies:
The standard recommends a PDCA (Plan, Do, Check Act):
Plan Do Check Act diagram (credit : Energiency)
Plan :
The first step of the PDCA is the implementation of the ISO 50001 standard by the management, which must nominate a dedicated Energy Manager and a team. In addition, the company must produce a written document - an energy charter - that defines its action plan and objectives. This charter will then be communicated to employees. During this planning phase, the Significant Energy Uses (high consumption items) should be identified and energy efficiency improvement initiatives should be prioritized.
Do :
Based on the energy charter, the action plan must then be implemented by allocating the necessary resources and determining the tasks to be performed. At this stage, the company's management must provide the energy management department with sufficient human resources to accomplish the tasks by increasing these resources if necessary or by freeing them from other tasks. At this stage, the EMS is finalized and established in the company.
Check :
The ISO 50001 standard requires a validation of the EMS results in a quantified way, through key performance indicators or KPI. Thanks to an analysis, the energy management department will ensure that the implementation of the action plan brings the expected results. To measure this, an energy monitoring and tracking technology solution, such as Energiency's software, is required.
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