Standard ISO 50001: a new version for improved tracking of your energy performance
Voluntary standard ISO 50001 explains how to implement an effective energy management system. A new version was released on 21 August 2018, to help you measure, maximize and sustain your energy performance improvements.
Large groups, SMEs, local authorities, hospitals, universities… ISO 50001, originally published in 2011, has contributed to improving the energy performance of organizations worldwide. It provides guidance on how to effectively monitor, maximize and maintain energy savings and reduce associated costs. It also helps organizations reduce the environmental impact of their activities and thereby meet their reduction targets for CO2 emissions and pollutants. The new version of the standard was released on 21 August 2018 and is available in the AFNOR collection under the title NF EN ISO 50001:2018.
The 2018 version contains two main changes. The first concerns taking account of best practices on collection of consumption data and measurement of energy performance improvement. “It provides valuable tools for monitoring, measuring and verifying this improvement, the intention being to offer the best possible guarantees so that improvement is maintained over time,” explains Sylvie Fernandez, who leads the AFNOR standardization committee bringing together professionals who participated in creation of the standard and submitted their proposals to the ISO. The second relates to the structure of the document, now similar to that of the other management system standards, to facilitate integrated approaches.
ISO 50001 version 2018: maximizing energy savings
For energy managers in organizations, the 2018 version of ISO 50001 makes their work easier. It explains how to be organized so that planned energy savings are actually achieved and so that improvement measures prove effective over time. And so it helps avoid unrealistic return on investment times and, ultimately, reassures those financing energy-related works. The new text also clarifies certain concepts, such as the relationship between “energy performance indicators” and the “energy baseline” in demonstration of an energy performance improvement.
As with all ISO standards, its application is not obligatory. However, its use is recommended for formalization of an energy policy, since the experts involved in its preparation are united in the view that it contains the best practices required to achieve the intended outcome: to improve energy performance.
Even though entirely voluntary, publication of the new version of ISO 50001 is indeed well-timed for large European companies expected to prepare their second mandatory energy audit, from 2019 in the case of France.
> Purchase NF EN ISO 50001 version 2018…
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