How you can benefit from an energy management system

ISO 50001

Electricity bills are a big cost for business owners. The good news is that improving efficiency can help reduce the cost of electricity bills and bring significant benefits to business people. According to IEA’s 2018 energy efficiency report, energy efficiency improvements since 2000 have prevented a 12% increase in energy use in 2017.

From installing LED lighting to upgrading heating and cooling systems, businesses can implement a range of strategies to lower their energy footprint and at the same time improve property value and reduce operating costs. Other solutions include but are not limited to building sealing and insulation, power factor correction, and improving the quality of supply. This does not mean that you need to change some of your expensive assets. However, before acting, you should understand your energy profile to know which energy reduction strategies will best suit your business needs. This can be provided by energy management systems.

Here are some reasons why you should have an energy management system for your business.

1.) Know Your Energy Needs

Here’s an energy management strategy that will help you understand your consumption patterns i.e., when you’re using your energy most intensely and which kinds of processes or equipment are contributing to this.  You can pinpoint your energy waste with advanced data analytics.

Hence, reduction in your consumption will transform costs to savings and better your consumption patterns. In addition, if your business has operations in different locations, energy management systems will provide benchmarking across your offices/ branches/depots/ shops, etc.

2.) Improve Your Power Factor To Reduce Your Electricity Bill

An energy management system will also show your active and reactive power data which you will need to understand your power factor. 

Power factor represents the relationship between real and apparent power.

Power factor is between 0 and 1, and a higher value means higher efficiency.

There are several types of power factor correction equipment like capacitors, static compensators, etc. which are used mainly for reactive power compensation and voltage regulation. Capacitors are generally a good fit in industries because of relatively cheaper installation costs compared to other measures. However, capacitors should be designed and sized properly to avoid the amplification of harmonics (resonance phenomena) generated by disturbing loads such as arc furnaces, welding machines or rectifiers. To avoid this, either harmonic filters or static compensators can be used.

3.) Track Your Energy KPIs To Reduce Your Operational Cost

Building energy performance can also be improved by effective energy management systems. Different business segments have different performance criteria; for example, consumption/m², kWh/occupant rate for hotels, etc.

The energy management system also enables to set a target value like targeted electricity consumption/month and targeted cost/month so that deviations will be easily tracked and identified.  In addition, an energy management system provides a comparison between the previous and the current situation for energy efficiency assessments and helps to systematically develop KPIs.

4.) Reduce Your Electricity Demand Charge

 A demand charge is a part of commercial bill where a daily charge is determined by the highest power demand (load) observed during a certain timeframe during the day in a specified period. It is usually the maximum demand at a 15- or 30-min interval and calculated on kVA or kW. Your electricity bill will mostly be influenced by the highest demand for used energy at this particular point in time.

One of the main reasons kVA demand charges are being introduced is to encourage customers to improve their power factor. A poor power factor places higher demands on the electricity network. As you can see below invoice, the network demand charge in kVA contributes has the biggest portion of the total electricity bill.

5.) Being Aware Of Your Solar System Health

Owning a solar system will give you a big chance to reduce your electricity cost and demand charges, but it is very important to know if your solar system is working as expected.

The energy management system will send production in real time, so if there is any failure in your system, you will get a notification and you will not wait for your next electricity bill to take action.

The energy management system will also give expected and actual production values to track your system performance for previous and current periods.

6.) Your HVAC System Is Under Control.

HVAC is one of the biggest energy consuming equipment and needs to work efficiently.

Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) is generally responsible for a significant proportion of total building energy consumption. A typical system accounts for approximately 40% of total building consumption and 70% of base building (i.e., landlord)

7.) Energy Consumption In Buildings

• Load disaggregation option of energy management system will provide more insight about your HVAC and other energy consumed equipment load details. Reduction in energy use of HVAC can be achieved, and some of the strategies are:
• Change or clean your HVAC filters
• Identify optimum set points
• Identify energy waste times

Why ISO 50001:2018 Can be Implemented with ISO 9001 and Other Management System Standards

ISO 50001:2018 Certification– Energy management systems

With the recent release of ISO 50001:2018 Certification – Energy management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, organizations (regardless of industry or size) can better position themselves in establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving an ISO Energy Management Systems (EnMS). In making use of such a system, while not repairing the lingering errors of the past, organizations can enhance their processes and, in turn, help to secure the future. In fact, energy management systems have risen to importance over the past several years due to the imminence of mitigating climate change. Nothing can happen in the universe without energy. Therefore, it only makes sense that organizations or companies, regardless of their size, need to consume or use energy to carry out services, create products, or conduct other processes.

The framework of ISO 50001 Certification

ISO 50001 Certification is based on the management system model of consistent improvement also used for other well-known standards such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. This makes it easier for organizations to integrate energy management into their overall efforts to improve quality and environmental management.

ISO 50001:2018 gives a framework of requirements for organizations to:

• Develop a policy for more efficient utilization of energy
• Fix targets and destinations to meet the policy
• Use the information to better understand and make decisions about energy use
• Measure the outcomes
• Review how well the policy works, and
• Continually improve energy management. 

Aims of ISO 50001:2018 Certification

You can implement ISO 50001:2018 with other administration system standards. Changes to the revision have made this simpler. ISO 50001:2018 – Energy management systems – Requirements with guidance for use was just released. The timing of this standard revision was certainly fortunate, as energy reduction and improved energy efficiency are at the forefront of current efforts to combat climate change. ISO 50001 likewise demonstrated its significance in recent years. Actually, a total of 20,216 certificates to ISO 50001 Certification Services were issued by the end of 2016.

Like its predecessor, ISO 50001:2018 means to enable organizations, regardless of industry or size, to set up the systems and processes necessary to continually improve energy performance, including energy efficiency, energy use, and energy utilization. It does this by specifying the guidelines for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving an energy management system (EnMS).

How 50001:2018 is similar with ISO 9001:2018

Such a system might seem familiar to users of ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. These similarities are, in fact, founded in reality, as ISO 50001 is a management system standard. ISO 9001, which specifies the minimum guidelines for establishing and implementing a quality management system, kicked off the general non-prescriptive and widely-applicable format for ISO management system standards when it was first published back in 1987.

In the decades following its initial publication, ISO 9001 saw several revisions, and several other management system standards were released to help users enhance processes throughout many industries. By the time ISO 50001 was first published in 2011, there existed numerous ISO management system standards, and they shared many similarities simply by the virtue of providing the minimum guidelines for a specific management system.

Changes in the ISO 50001:2018 

However, over the past several years, management system standards have incorporated changes to intentionally better align them with one another. This began with the publication of ISO 9001:2015 and has continued with several others since.

Among its changes, ISO 50001:2018 adopted ISO’s requirements for management system standards. This includes the high-level structure, identical core text, and common terms and definitions. By revising the ISO Energy Management Systems standard with these alterations, the international document now shares an overarching format with other management system standards, which makes it easier to comply with the guidelines of multiple standards.

Inclusion of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)

ISO 50001:2018 also contains some less-overt changes that we’ve seen in other management system standards. For example, the 2018 revision of the energy management systems standard places a greater emphasis on the role of top management and includes the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle model for assessing continual improvement.

In the case you were wondering whether ISO 50001:2018 could be used in tandem with other management system standards like ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001:2018, the answer is yes. In fact, the inclusion of changes similar to those made to these existing ISO management system standards now make it easier than ever before to enrich and fortify an organization’s processes in the pursuit of quality, sustainability, and safety.

Updates of ISO 50001:2018

ISO 50001:2018 revises the 2011 edition of the same international standard for energy management systems. Having been used to such significance, it is crucial that any users of the standard remain aware of its changes. With these updates, ISO 50001:2018 has: Adopted ISO’s requirements for management system standards. Specifically, this includes the high-level structure, identical core text, and common terms and definitions. Better integration with strategic management processes. Clarified language and document structure. Placed a stronger emphasis on the role of top management. Adopted context order for the terms and their definitions in Clause 3, “Terms and definitions,” and updated some definitions found in this section. Included new definitions, including “energy performance management.” Clarified exclusions of energy types. Clarified “energy review.” Introduced the concept of normalization of energy performance indicators and associated energy baselines. Added details on the energy data collection plan and related requirements. In ISO 50001:2011, this was known as the “energy measurement plan.”

If you are looking for an ISO 50001 Certification Body to assist you with your certification, you should ensure that the company has the qualification and expertise necessary to offer relevant ISO 50001 Certification Service. While accreditation is not compulsory for ISO certification companies, an accreditation certificate is an indicator of good qualification. After reading that you have a question in mind that how to get ISO Certification for that there are many ISO 50001 Certification body helps to check out the ISO procedure. Check out these some frequently asked questions.

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