What Is Energy ISO 50001 and SEP?
ISO 50001 is an international energy standard set by the International Standard Organization, which is an indecent body for setting international standards. The standard came into effect in June 2011 and was first changed in 2018. According to the ISO, this standard is to be changed every five years. The main changes are mainly to focus on the new development that can be incorporated and the modification of the existing ones.
ISO 50001 develops the international best practices that help organizations in making the best energy management system. Many people from different parts of the world are already running an energy management system in their organization according to this standard. Some countries have even adopted the ISO 50001 as their national standard for energy consumption regulation.
Implementing the ISO 50001
By just implementing the ISO 50001 standard, your organization can greatly reduce energy wastage and improve performance while reducing the cost of production at the same time. The energy bills weigh heavily on some of the organizations, but that does not mean that all the energy that is paid for is useful. Some are going to waste due to practices that are not energy-efficient.
The ISO 50001 offers an international framework that helps different organizations to develop, implement, and continuously improve their energy management system. It mainly encourages the implementation of good energy management practices that aim at effective use of the available energy. There was a need for setting an international standard after research revealed that almost 60% of global warming is contributed by the energy sector.
By just implementing this standard, your organization will be ready not just to efficiently use energy but also to comply with many government energy regulations. This is a step that will take your organization to another level as you will save on the electricity bills that you can invest in other programs that are more profitable. To better manage the energy consumption throughout the supply chain, you need to get ISO 50001 standard certification to show your conformity.
What is an Energy Management System (EnMS)?
An EnMS is a suite of procedures and best practices defined by the ISO 50001 that ensures that an organization effectively track, analyze, and plan for energy consumption. Just like any other ISO system, the energy management system also uses the Plan-Do-Check-Act framework that allows for continual improvement of the system.
EnMS integrates energy management into your normal operation, thereby making your organization to run more smoothly and more energy efficient. This system lets you to continuously improve energy performance as desired.
Due to the effectiveness of this system in regulating energy consumption in various sectors, many governments are now pushing for it to ensure that different organizations get ISO 50001 certification. However, it is still voluntary yet recommended that organizations comply with the requirements of this standard.
The Framework of EnMS
As mentioned in the previous section, EnMS is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act framework that is accepted globally. To those who already know about ISO systems, this is not a new idea. The manufacturing sector is required to develop this type of framework in their systems. But what are the requirements for this framework? These are as outlined below:
General requirements for planning
Every person is expected to meet the requirements in the following areas:
What is entailed in the DO part?
What comprises the CHECK in the framework?
The act section is all about the management review where an evaluation of the entire management system is done to make it better or to continuously improve it.
What is Superior Energy Performance (SEP)?
This is a certification program that is meant to confirm that your energy management system has indeed led to better energy use and conservation. It checks the effectiveness of the EnMS and that it conforms to the ISO 50001 standards. The SEP tools are very essential to all industries that can take advantage of it to set achievable energy performance objectives.
Why is SEP important?
You may be asking yourself why you need the SEP when you are already ISO 50001 certified. SEP is more than just the ISO 50001 certification. Sep uses the ISO 50001 standards to help organizations to seamlessly integrate the set policies, procedures, and tools for tracking, analyzing, and continually improving the energy management system performance. The performance is measured in terms of efficiency, use, and consumption.
Apart from the ISO 50001 certification, you should also seek for SEP certification. This comes with very many benefits that we may not find time to discuss here. In many cases, organizations get both SEP and Iso 50001 certification to efficiently develop, implement, and continually improve their energy management system. If you want to explore more about the importance of Sep, then you can check out our page on the importance of Energy ISO 50001.
What if your facility is already ISO 50001 certified?
There is no problem if your organization is already ISO certified. The main thing is that you should keep the standards as it will be verified during SED certification. SEP requires that you get ISO 50001 certification first. This sounds confusing, isn’t it?
Before the award of SEP certification, there will be a full SEP conformity audit that aims at verifying the conformance to ISO 50001 and what you have achieved regarding energy performance improvement. That is why it is not surprising that the ISO 50002 auditing will be repeated during the SEP audit. This means that you will need experienced auditors for this role.
Getting SEP certification requires that you first understand the requirements and protocols and implement them in your organization. After that, you call an audit team, and ISO-Pros is very ready to take you through it. Even if you don’t understand anything, you can still contact our experts for the information that you need.