There’s three new standards on energy management — ISO 50004, ISO 50006 and ISO 50015. Each provides you with guidance on the measurement and verification of your organization’s energy performance. Developed by ISO Technical Committee 242, these new standards can help you set up your system and provide you with the tools to measure your performance going forward. Let’s review them one at a time.
ISO 50004, 1st Edition, “Energy management systems – Guidance for the implementation, maintenance and improvement of an energy management system”
This new guidance standard is geared for a variety of users. It will prove useful for those who have very little familiarity with energy management systems (EMSs) and for those who are looking for additional ways to make improvements to an existing system. And while it’s based on the ISO 50001 methodology, it’s not necessary to be implementing ISO 50001 in order to gain valuable insight from this standard.
ISO 50004 follows the usual convention of providing you with a scope paragraph, a list of referenced documents, and a terms and definitions clause. Then it reviews energy management system requirements. In addition to general requirements, you’ll learn about management responsibility, energy policy and planning, implementation and operation of an EMS program, and the various levels of review.
Additionally, you’ll get real assistance from the 5 Annexes, detailed below:
- Examples of energy policy
- An example of an energy review
- An example of an action plan
- How to develop measurement plans
- The relationship between the key concepts
ISO 50006, 1st Edition, “Energy management systems – Measuring energy performance using energy baselines (EnB) and energy performance indicators (EnPI) – General principles and guidance”
As with most management standards, setting up your measurement system is where the rubber meets the road. ISO 50006 helps you in this regards with information on energy performance indicators (EnPIs) and energy baselines (EnBs). They’re used to quantify the relationship between energy consumption and energy targets.
Again, it’s not necessary to be implementing ISO 50001 in order to gain value from this document. The standard has practical help boxes in the text, placed to give you ideas, examples and strategies for measuring energy performance using the two indicators. The committee notes that the model can even be applicable all the way down to the equipment level.
ISO 50015, 1st Edition, “Energy management systems – Measurement and verification of energy performance of organizations – General principles and guidance”
The ISO 50015 is another overview standard, this time focused on the use of a common set of principles and guidelines required for the measurement and verification of your EMS. It does not matter what kind of energy is being used. And the tools can be used for part of an organization as well as for all of it.
What’s included in this standard? It first contains the usual scope, referenced documents and definitions clauses. Then it reviews the following concepts in depth:
- Measurement and verification (M&V) principles
- M&V Plan
- M&V Plan implementation
- Uncertainty
- Documentation
An additional Annex A covers the overview of the M&V flow. Annex B provides you with measurement uncertainty examples. And the 21-item bibliography finishes off the document.
If you’re involved in an EMS program, you’ll want to get one or more of these new standards. ISO 50004, ISO 50006 and ISO 50015 can all be purchased from Document Center’s webstore, www.document-center.com. All ISO standards are available in paper format or for pdf download. Should you prefer multi-use access, contact our staff for more information on our Standards Online annual subscription service. You can reach them by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). Make us your Standards Experts!
