Overview of ISO 50001 Standard for Energy Management System

The purpose of ISO 50001 Standard is to enable organizations to the systems and processes that are required to improve the energy performance, including energy efficiency, the use and to determine the fuel consumption. Implementation of this international standard should lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts and energy costs through systematic management of energy. This International Standard is applicable to all sizes of organizations irrespective of geographical, cultural or social circumstances. Successful implementation depends on commitment from all levels and functions of the organization, and especially from top management.

This International Standard specifies energy management system (EnMS) requirements which an organization can develop and implement an energy policy, and the objectives, targets and action plans that take into account legal requirements and information pertaining to establish significant energy consumption. An EnMS enables an organization to achieve its policy, take action as needed to improve the energy performance and demonstrate the conformity of the system to the requirements of this international standard. This standard applies to the activities under the control of the organization, and the use of this standard can be tailored to suit the specific requirements of the organization, such as the complexity of the system, the degree of documents and resources.

The implementation of an energy management system that is meant by this International Standard to lead to better energy saving practices. Therefore, this International Standard is based on the assumption that the organization periodically reviews and evaluates the energy management system in order to identify opportunities for improvement and their implementation. The organization will have the flexibility in the way they run the EnMS, eg. The speed, scope and timescale of the continuous improvement process is determined by the organization. The concept of energy includes energy, energy efficiency and energy consumption. So the organization can choose from a wide range of energy activities. For example, the organization would reduce the peak demand, use of a surplus or waste energy or to improve the functioning of the systems, processes, or apparatus.

For establishing good Energy Management System ISO 50001 Documents have primary role within it. It toolkit mainly designed to address wide range of energy related issues including complex situations. The organization must take and maintain an energy review certain documented methodology and criteria. An energy-assessment is a process to determine the energy performance of an organization on the basis of data and the actual measurement, leading to the identification of opportunities for improvement. The review provides useful information for the development of the energy baseline and selection of energy performance indicators. It also enables the monitoring of the ability to support in the future effective continuous improvement of EnMS.