Department of Energy Highlights New Global Energy Efficiency Standard
June 20, 2011
The Department of Energy (DOE) today recognized the publication of ISO 50001, a new global energy efficiency and energy management standard which will help organizations worldwide save money in their buildings and industrial facilities. The new international standard will pave the way for long term energy savings and serve as a critical tool for the implementation of the Department’s energy efficiency programs. This voluntary standard, developed by a project committee of 45 partnering countries from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), provides organizations with a framework for continuous energy performance improvements. The framework will encourage adoption of best practices that reduce the energy use of existing equipment and facilities, require the use of energy performance data to target cost-effective upgrades, and emphasize the design and installation of highly efficient energy systems and equipment. By increasing their operational efficiency, organizations that adopt the ISO 50001 standard will save money by saving energy.
The ISO 50001 standard is available worldwide and can be applied across economic sectors. This tool will help leading organizations make high-quality, accessible, and affordable energy improvements that can transform the marketplace for energy efficiency upgrades in businesses and institutions across the globe. Because industrial plants and commercial buildings make up 60% of the world’s energy demand
the standard can play a key role in global energy efficiency efforts. ISO 50001 addresses the following issues:
- Integrating energy efficiency into management practices
- Optimizing energy systems and related equipment with regard to overall system efficiency
- Benchmarking, measuring, documenting, and reporting energy use, savings, and reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
- Transparency and communication within organizations on the management of energy resources
- Design and procurement practices for energy efficient equipment, energy systems, and processes.
Organizations adopting the standard can expect to achieve measurable energy savings in as little as two years. This projection is based on five U.S. industrial pilot projects conducted between 2008 and 2010 that adopted the American National Standard, ANSI MSE 2000:2008, which was used as an example in developing the ISO 50001 standard. These facilities achieved energy efficiency improvements between 6.5% and 17% over a period of 2-3 years.
DOE’s Industrial Technologies Program and Building Technologies Program are supporting implementation of the ISO 50001 standard for industrial and commercial facilities through the voluntary Superior Energy Performance certification program, a new comprehensive energy management program that provides facilities with a roadmap for achieving continual improvement in energy efficiency. The program will provide a transparent, globally accepted system for verifying energy performance improvements and management practices. Facilities seeking Superior Energy Performance certification must conform to the ISO 50001 standard and meet carefully defined energy performance improvement criteria. The Superior Energy Performance program for industry will launch in 2012 and will expand to support energy efficiency upgrades in commercial buildings in the future. DOE is also developing and disseminating a portfolio of energy management resources to help facilities implement ISO 50001.
The implementation of ISO 50001 will also be coordinated through DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program for federal industrial and commercial facilities and internationally through DOE’s Clean Energy Ministerial.
ISO promotes enhanced energy management practices to help organizations worldwide achieve significant energy savings and reduce their greenhouse (GHG) emissions. The ISO 50001 project committee was jointly led by the United States though the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Brazil. Forty-five ISO member countries participated along with fourteen observer nations. DOE supported ANSI’s role in the standard development and contributed actively to the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG), the U.S. delegation to the project committee. The U.S. TAG led international efforts to ensure that ISO 50001 preserves the United States’ focus on data-driven energy performance and emphasis on management support to enable continual energy efficiency improvement. DOE support helps to ensure that the new standard will be consistent with U.S. energy policy and strategy.
For more information on the standard and how to purchase it visit the ANSI website at: http://www.ansi.org/news_publications/news_story.aspx?menuid=7&articleid=2920.
For more information about DOE’s involvement with ISO 50001 and Superior Energy Performance please visit: http://www.eere.energy.gov/office_eere/about.html.
