Effective Implementation of an ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS)

Book excerpt: You may wonder, “Why do we need ISO 50001 EnMS when we have already implemented ISO 14001 Environmental Management (EMS)?” Energy is part of an EMS. Energy is an aspect that is nonrenewable and a must for every organization to have. In ISO 14001 EMS, it is easy to focus on hazardous materials and aspects that have considerable risk in the workplace. Energy use can be easily overlooked, and even when it is considered for an objective and target (O&T), important questions such as what are the significant energy users (SEUs), what can we do to reduce their impact, and what are the variables that affect energy use are not answered. An ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS) allows an organization to focus on reducing energy consumption through establishing a compelling energy policy, establishing legal and other requirements and ensuring that they are being met, and conducting a comprehensive energy review that identifies energy efficiencies, energy conservation efforts implemented, and O&Ts with energy action plans that, when achieved, moves the organization toward meeting its energy policy. For manufacturing companies, energy costs impact both the cost to produce the product and the product price. For government organizations, energy reduction is mandated by executive orders. Everyone benefits from reducing energy consumption, from the environment to the economic health of companies. ISO 50001 EnMS can be implemented by itself or with other ISO standards such as 9001, and 14001 or with OHSMS 18000. The choice is yours—–let’s make this a better place to live and work and with less cost.