by Shane Henson — June 24, 2011—The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has launched ISO 50001 on energy management systems, a standard that is estimated could have a positive impact on some 60 percent of the world’s energy use, ISO officials say. The voluntary standard was developed by a project committee of 45 partnering countries from the ISO.
The standard is intended to:
- Assist organizations in making better use of their existing energy-consuming assets.
- Create transparency and facilitate communication on the management of energy resources.
- Promote energy management best practices and reinforce good energy management behaviors.
- Assist facilities in evaluating and prioritizing the implementation of new energy-efficient technologies.
- Provide a framework for promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain.
- Facilitate energy management improvements for greenhouse gas emission reduction projects.
- Allow integration with other organizational management systems such as environmental, and health and safety.
Substantial improvements in energy efficiency with positive financial impacts have already been experienced both by a major company, Dow Chemicals, and by a small business, CCP of Houston, Texas, that took part in a pilot program to test the new ISO 50001 energy management standard. Using the standard, Dow Chemicals’ plant reduced its use of energy by 17.9 percent over two years. CCP, which employs 36 people, achieved energy savings of 14.9 percent in two years.
The ISO 50001 standard is available worldwide and can be applied across economic sectors. In the United States, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program and Building Technologies Program are supporting implementation of the ISO 50001 standard for industrial and commercial facilities through the voluntary Superior Energy Performance certification program, a new comprehensive energy management program that provides facilities with a roadmap for achieving continual improvement in energy efficiency.
Facilities seeking Superior Energy Performance certification must conform to the ISO 50001 standard and meet carefully defined energy performance improvement criteria. The Superior Energy Performance program for industry will launch in 2012 and will expand to support energy efficiency upgrades in commercial buildings in the future.
