ISO 50001: Global Standard for Energy Management

The ISO 50001 energy management standard is an international framework for industrial plants, commercial facilities or entire organizations to manage energy, including all aspects of procurement and use. The standard provides organizations and companies with technical and management strategies to increase energy efficiency, reduce costs, and improve environmental performance.

To qualify for Superior Energy Performance^cm, a facility will have to demonstrate conformance to ISO 50001, with additional requirements to achieve and document energy performance improvements. It is expected that facilities would re-certify themselves to the energy management standard every three years.

ISO 50001 was published as an International Standard in June 2011 and is now available from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for purchase.

ISO project committee ISO/PC 242 developed the standard with input from fifty-nine countries, 14 of which were observers. ANSI served as co-Secretariat of PC 242, serving jointly with Brazil. Representatives from the U.S. Council for Energy-Efficient Manufacturing (U.S. CEEM) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) actively contributed to the U.S. Technical Advisory Group, the U.S. delegation to PC 242. The U.S. TAG led international negotiations to ensure that ISO 50001 preserves the U.S. emphasis on management support and data-driven energy performance. Read more about the development of ISO 50001.

Benefits
Conformance to the energy management standard will demonstrate that the plant or company implemented sustainable energy management systems, completed a baseline of energy use, and committed to continuously improve their energy performance. The standard, which is compatible with the widely used ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management), also accomplishes the following:

• Assists organizations in optimizing their existing energy-consuming assets.
• Offers guidance on benchmarking, measuring, documenting, and reporting energy intensity improvements and their projected impact on reducing GHG emissions.
• Creates transparency and facilitates communication on the management of energy resources.
• Promotes energy management best practices and reinforces good energy management behaviors.
• Assists facilities in evaluating and prioritizing the implementation of new energy-efficient technologies
• Provides a framework for promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain.
• Facilitates energy management improvements in the context of GHG emission reduction projects.

ANSI/MSE 2000:2008
Georgia Institute of Technology developed the first comprehensive, ANSI-compatible energy management standard (MSE 2000) for industry in 2000. The ANSI Management System for Energy, ANSI/MSE 2000:2008, was revised in 2008 and represents a standardized approach to manage energy supply, demand, reliability, purchase, storage, use, and disposal (applicable to both primary and secondary energy sources). The standard can be used to control and reduce an organization's energy costs and energy-related environmental impact, and was submitted as input for the development of ISO 50001.

The Texas Pilot Project facilities used ANSI/MSE 2000:2008 to test the Superior Energy Performance program. Going forward, all facilities participating in Superior Energy Performance will demonstrate conformance to ISO 50001.