ISO 50001: New Energy Management Standard

A new international ISO standard is about to be released that benchmarks energy management, ISO 50001.

ISO 50001 will establish a framework for industrial plants, commercial facilities or entire organizations to manage energy,
and could influence 60% of the world’s energy use, says the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Having a standard will likely further accelerate adoption of energy efficiency practices and drive companies to continuously improve their energy performance.

ISO says there is significant market demand for a global energy management standard, suggesting it will be adopted relatively quickly and widely.

The nonprofit International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the world’s largest developer and publisher of international standards, constructed the standard.

Having an international standard for managing energy use has numerous benefits:

It enables benchmarking and a systematic roadmap to achieve energy savings, it helps document energy savings for legislative requirements, and helps drive supply chain initiatives.

The fact that it’s based on measurement and verification will help companies stay on track to meet their stated energy policies. 

Energy is the third-largest expense for businesses (after employees and real estate), representing an average of 19% of total expenses and accounts for 75% of a company’s carbon footprint.

ISO has developed key standards in almost every economic sector and claims to "only develop standards for which there is a clear market requirement."

ISO standards are highly influential and often widely adopted, as evidenced by the success of ISO 9001 which has more than 1 million certifications and has become the global benchmark for quality management in corporations.

The standard is designed to be compatible with existing ISO standards, including 9001 (quality management) and 14001(environmental management). 

ISO 50001 is being designed to provide these benefits:

• A framework for integrating energy efficiency into management practices
• Making better use of energy-consuming assets
• Benchmarking, measuring, documenting, and reporting energy intensity improvements and their projected impact on reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
• Transparency and communication on the management of energy resources
• Energy management best practices and good energy management behaviors
• Evaluating and prioritizing the implementation of new energy-efficient technologies
• A framework for promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain
• Energy management improvements in the context of GHG emission reduction projects

Like other ISO standards, ISO 50001 will be a voluntary system, but they tend to quickly become de facto requirements as rapid uptake by competitors drives nonparticipating companies to adopt them as well.

The standards do not establish any requirements for energy performance – they are a framework for companies to use to establish their own benchmarks.

The idea is for companies to continually improve their performance. To achieve ISO certification, they must demonstrate that they’ve set benchmarks and met them.

It’s good news for companies that offer energy efficiency services, such as those we cover in our green investing newsletter, Progressive Investor: Ameresco (AMRC), Johnson Controls (JCI), Lime Energy (LIME) and Orion Energy (OESX).