International energy efficiency regulations
Introduction
ISO 50001 is an international standard developed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization or International Organization for Standardization) that aims to maintain and improve an energy management system in an organization, the purpose of which is to enable continuous improvement of energy efficiency, energy security, energy utilization and energy consumption with a systematic approach. This standard aims to enable organizations to continually improve efficiency, energy-related costs, and greenhouse gas emissions.
This standard was published by ISO in June 2011, and is applicable to any type of organization, regardless of its size, sector, or geographic location.
The system has been modeled from the ISO 9001 standard, quality management systems, and the ISO 14001 standard, environmental management systems.
One of the most prominent attributes of ISO 50001 is the requirement to “…improve the energy management system, and the resulting energy performance” (clause 4.2.1.c) The other two standards mentioned here (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001), both require improvements to the effectiveness of the management system, but not to product/service quality (ISO 9001) or environmental performance (ISO 14001).
In this way, the ISO 50001 standard has made an important leap by requiring the organization to demonstrate its commitment to improving its energy performance. Quantitative goals are not specified, but rather each organization chooses the goals it wishes to establish, and subsequently designs an action plan to achieve these goals. With this structured approach, an organization is more likely to see tangible financial benefits.
History
ISO 50001 was developed at the request of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) which had recognized the industry's need for an international standard as an effective response to climate change and the proliferation of national Energy Management standards.
It was prepared by the ISO/PC 242 project committee, in which local regulatory experts from 44 member countries of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT) participated with the collaboration of organizations such as and the World Energy Council ().