Energy Management System

Requirements with orientation to usage

The ISO 50001 Energy management systems – Requirements with guidance for use standard is an voluntary international standard developed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

The energy savings is the founding element of the initiatives aimed at increasing the eco-sustainability and the reduction of wastes. 

The ISO 50001 standard specifies the requirements that an energy management system must have, requiring that the organisation have a systematic approach for the continuous improvement of their own energy performances, taking into account the legal obligations and other information relative to significant aspects of energy.

Plan-Do-Check-Act

An Energy Management System is a systematic approach for monitoring and reducing energy consumption in any type of organisation or business.

The ISO 50001 standard is based on a PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) approach, which amounts to the implementation of correct energy policies and characterised by concrete objectives, aimed at enacting targeted actions and, successively, at the control and verification of the methods of reduction of energy use, with the objective of continuous improvement.

Main requirements

• Periodic forecasting of consumptions and their systematic comparison with actual consumption
• Implementation of energy policies characterised by concrete and measurable objectives
• Identification of energy uses, defining the areas of criticality and elements that have a greater influence on consumptions
• Inclusion of energy consumptions into the decisional processes like the planning and acquisition of installations, raw materials, services, etc.

Recent modifications made to the new ISO 50001:2018

21 August 2018 – The new version of ISO 50001 was published (ISO 50001:2018 “Energy management systems — Requirements with guidance for use”).

Period of transition

• The period for the transition to the requirements of the ISO 50001:2018 standard is three years; therefore, three years from the date of publication of the ISO 50001:2018, all certificates of the conformity to the 2011 version of the standard will expire and will have to be substituted;
• within 6 months of the publication of the ISO 50001:2018 standards, all national accreditation agencies must be ready to carry out the verifications for transition to the requirements of the new standard by the certification agency;
• within 18 months of the publication of the ISO 50001:2018 standard, all the certification bodies must have completed the transition to the requirements of the new standard, as defined by the corresponding accreditation agency;
• the certification bodies must stop conducting audits (of any kind) according to the ISO 50001:2011 standard after 18 months from the publication of the ISO 50001:2018 version.

Structure

The new ISO 5001 also follows the HLS – High Level Structure of the ISO, thereby facilitating the integration of the Energy Management Systems implemented by the organisations with other potential existing management systems; it is therefore organised according to the same 10 chapters that can be found, for example, in the 2015 versions of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards:

1. Purpose and field of application
   2. Regulatory references
   3. Terms and definitions
   4. Context of the organisation
   5. Leadership
   6. Planning
   7. Support
   8. Operative activities
   9. Assessment of performances
   10. Improvements

Recipients

The new regulation on the Energy Management Systems can be applied to any organisation, regardless of his dimensions, products and/or services that it supplies, its complexity or its geographic localisation; moreover, it may be integrated with other management system standards, or can be applied independently.

ECO Certificazioni boasts a team of qualified assessors and three-decades of experience in the Certification of Management Systems and experts in the aspects linked to sustainability and energy efficiency.