ISO 50001 Energy Man­age­ment

Companies of any size share one thing in common: They consume energy. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but every company has to consider the amount of resources it consumes – both for cost reasons and to protect the en­vi­ron­ment. The ISO 50001 standard provides companies with guide­lines for an efficient system. The as­so­ci­at­ed cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of an in­te­grat­ed and func­tion­al energy man­age­ment system (EnMS) can also be ad­ver­tised in­ter­na­tion­al­ly. But what does this involve?

Companies implement an energy man­age­ment system to optimize energy ef­fi­cien­cy. Es­pe­cial­ly for large man­u­fac­tur­ing companies that utilize heavy machinery, energy costs account for a large part of the budget. This aspect as well as en­vi­ron­men­tal and climate pro­tec­tion motivate en­ter­pris­es to treat the necessary resources as eco­nom­i­cal­ly as possible. According to ISO 50001 re­quire­ments, elec­tric­i­ty and other energy sources need to be used as ef­fi­cient­ly as possible. The system therefore rec­og­nizes savings potential and con­tin­u­ous­ly improves energy use.

The In­ter­na­tion­al Or­ga­ni­za­tion for Standards has released guide­lines for various man­age­ment systems: ISO 9001 for quality man­age­ment, ISO 14001 for en­vi­ron­men­tal man­age­ment, ISO 31000 for risk man­age­ment as well as ISO 50001 for energy man­age­ment. An option of cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is available for most standards: When a system has been in­tro­duced in com­pli­ance with the standard, external service providers can be in­struct­ed to verify the im­ple­men­ta­tion. The cer­tifi­cate is rec­og­nized in most parts of the world.

The standard is composed in a way so that any company can implement it. The guide­lines are defined without any im­por­tance attached to the size of a company nor the re­spec­tive industry. ISO 50001 is also ap­plic­a­ble to public bodies and other or­ga­ni­za­tions.

ISO 50001 is not a law: Neither national nor in­ter­na­tion­al leg­is­la­tors require cer­ti­fi­ca­tion according to the standard. However, in some instances, companies that obtain ISO 50001 cer­ti­fi­ca­tion can be exempt from certain en­vi­ron­men­tal and energy-related levies.

ISO 50001 en­com­pass­es the entirety of op­er­a­tions. In order for the energy man­age­ment system to work, both the employees as well as the executive staff have to work on the im­ple­men­ta­tion. Nonethe­less, the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty always rests with the man­age­ment of the company. This duty of ac­count­abil­i­ty is ex­plic­it­ly demanded by the standard.

The essential com­po­nents of the standards are found in sections 4 to 10. The first three chapters only contain sup­ple­men­tary in­for­ma­tion on the document.

In the first instance, the company is analyzed. Both internal and external aspects should be taken into account in this process. External factors include statutory re­quire­ments that apply to the energy man­age­ment of the company, for example. It is important to consider all factors that may have a positive or negative influence on the EnMS. Another task is to identify all in­ter­est­ed stake­hold­ers. Risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties can be de­ter­mined based on this in­for­ma­tion.

Even though all the employees of a company have to con­tribute to the EnMS (energy man­age­ment system) according to ISO 50001, the standard attaches special re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to the man­age­ment level. The man­age­ment of a company does not need to perform all tasks itself, however, and is even advised to delegate them ac­cord­ing­ly. However, the man­age­ment must bear ac­count­abil­i­ty for energy man­age­ment.

One part of a func­tion­al EnMS is an energy policy. This concerns a general guideline on how the company positions itself in the context of energy man­age­ment. These prin­ci­ples have to be com­mu­ni­cat­ed clearly to every employee. The man­age­ment levels likewise have to delegate roles and duties. For the EnMS to work ef­fi­cient­ly, the man­age­ment also needs to provide enough resources and ca­pac­i­ties for im­ple­men­ta­tion.

When planning an energy man­age­ment system in line with ISO 50001 re­quire­ments, it is important to note that the system should be improved on a con­tin­u­ous basis. Here, the risks and op­por­tu­ni­ties already iden­ti­fied also play a part: This in­for­ma­tion can ensure that the energy man­age­ment system is always optimized and does not run the risk of failure. Another element of planning is to identify the main energy consumers. The ef­fec­tive­ness of the energy man­age­ment system should be clearly no­tice­able in these areas of the company. The company has to define key per­for­mance in­di­ca­tors to determine the success of the EnMS. Hard facts enable you to determine whether the system has achieved its ob­jec­tives.

As mentioned earlier, resources and ca­pac­i­ties have to be made available for suc­cess­ful energy man­age­ment. A chapter of ISO 50001 deals with the form of im­ple­men­ta­tion more closely for this reason. Ap­pro­pri­ate support not only needs to be provided when launching an EnMS but also in its continued operation. Financial resources are not the only con­sid­er­a­tion here: Every employee also needs to be equipped with the necessary know-how. What’s more, all the resources provided should be doc­u­ment­ed.

The section on processes is even more specific. It is necessary to adjust the plans to the existing processes in the company. This raises the question: How can you increase the ef­fi­cien­cy of the iden­ti­fied energy consumers? Measures for in­creas­ing ef­fi­cien­cy should be designed so that they can be prac­ti­cal­ly im­ple­ment­ed in the normal course of business. In the future, the company should then also consider how every new pro­cure­ment in the area of energy man­age­ment affects ef­fi­cien­cy.

Key per­for­mance in­di­ca­tors should already have been defined when planning the energy man­age­ment system. These can then be used to check the im­ple­men­ta­tion of the EnMS. Data is regularly collected to assess the impact. This col­lec­tion of energy data then enables an eval­u­a­tion. If the ob­jec­tives are not achieved, the system will need to be adjusted.

According to the ISO standards on man­age­ment systems, it is par­tic­u­lar­ly important that not only are im­prove­ments achieved for the company by im­ple­ment­ing an efficient system, but that the system con­stant­ly improves itself. The tasks therefore involve con­tin­u­ous­ly searching for op­ti­miza­tion potential for the EnMS. Op­por­tu­ni­ties should be found where the EnMS and the energy ef­fi­cien­cy of the entire company can be optimized. These efforts should also be doc­u­ment­ed.

Once the standard has been suc­cess­ful­ly im­ple­ment­ed, it can be confirmed by an in­de­pen­dent in­sti­tu­tion. ISO 50001 cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is valid in­ter­na­tion­al­ly and thus offers a com­pet­i­tive advantage in most parts of the world. Apart from that, the analysis by the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion body can provide certainty for a company that it has es­tab­lished an effective system and can therefore expect positive effects.

However, before seeking a review by an external provider, it’s advisable to conduct an internal audit. Support for this can be obtained from expert third parties (including cer­ti­fi­ca­tion bodies). Nonethe­less, the internal audit does not form part of the actual cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process. These initial checks are intended to find any mistakes and thereby reduce the risk of failing the external audit. An expert can also be consulted to provide tips for im­ple­ment­ing ISO 50001.

Only once the system has been reviewed in­ter­nal­ly should you com­mis­sion a certifier. Each company can freely choose the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion body. There are a range of or­ga­ni­za­tions and as­so­ci­a­tions available to this end – one of the most well-known is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). In the first stage of the process, the auditor reviews doc­u­men­ta­tion. Here, they seek to confirm that all the steps for im­ple­ment­ing ISO 50001 have been properly doc­u­ment­ed in full.

When this stage is passed suc­cess­ful­ly, the audit quickly proceeds to the next stage. But if the auditor finds short­com­ings, the con­tin­u­a­tion of the process depends on the severity of the problems. If too many errors are found, the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process will be stopped. However, if deficits only exist to a limited extent, the audited company has time to resolve the errors before the second part of the audit.

In the second part, the certifier considers the actual im­ple­men­ta­tion of the standard. This means, the certifier visits the premises, speaks with a random sample of employees, and checks the use of the energy man­age­ment system in the company. In addition, another document review is conducted – although in greater detail this time. At the end, an extensive dis­cus­sion is held in which the auditor presents their findings and points out any issues. If the second step of the audit uncovers any errors, there is also the chance here to retroac­tive­ly correct for any short­com­ings according to the standard. A follow-up audit is then performed to review the im­prove­ment measures.

If the company receives the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, it is valid for three years. During this timeframe, the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion body performs an annual mon­i­tor­ing audit. The aim of this less com­pre­hen­sive review is to check the continued use of the certified EnMS. Ongoing im­prove­ment is also con­sid­ered here. Once the three years are over, the cer­tifi­cate is no longer valid. A re­cer­ti­fi­ca­tion then has to take place, which involves repeating the entire audit process.

The costs of ISO 50001 cer­ti­fi­ca­tion depend on several factors. First of all, it’s important to bear in mind that im­ple­ment­ing the standard (as well as adjusting or newly acquiring an energy man­age­ment system) already involves costs. Resources have to be made available for the planning and im­ple­men­ta­tion. The financial cost therefore largely depends on the cir­cum­stances of the re­spec­tive company.

The costs of the actual cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process also vary depending on the company. When charging for their services, cer­ti­fi­ca­tion bodies follow the system of the In­ter­na­tion­al Ac­cred­i­ta­tions Forum (IAF). Ac­cord­ing­ly, the price depends on the size of the company (measured by the number of employees) and the industry. Both factors affect the work involved and therefore also the costs.

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