By Vilnis Vesma

1. If your light fittings are the type with translucent diffusers, fill them with dead flies.
2. Avoid replacing tungsten-filament light bulbs with LEDs or compact fluorescent equivalents. Although it is now illegal to sell most general lighting service (GLS) filament lamps, one can still buy “rough service” equivalents which have the great advantage of being even less energy-efficient.
3. Keep your external lighting on 24 hours a day. This encourages a culture of not caring about leaving things running when idle, and will help waste many times more energy than is used in the lights alone.
4. Also keep your internal lights on continuously, not least because doing so will increase the demand for air conditioning.
5. Provide excessive light levels in working areas and try to ensure that corridors and stairwells are even brighter (this removes one of the vital cues that prompt people to turn lights off when they leave empty rooms).
6. Be careless when specifying automatic lighting controls. Choose the wrong sensor technology, so as to maximise nuisance switching. This has a dual benefit – it encourages people to override the control, and it also antagonises them so they won’t cooperate with other energy-saving initiatives.
7. In shared workplaces, paint over any labels identifying which switch controls which zone.
8. Choose automatic lighting controls with remote control handsets that cannot be understood without training. Then lose the instructions and the remotes.

This article first appeared in the Energy Management Register newsletter (www.vesma.com/notices)

1. Introduction

The Energy Management System Standard, ISO 50001:2011, was published in June 2011 and the rapid take up since then has resulted in more than 90 countries with over 22,800 certifications by December 2017. In August 2018, a revised version was published: ISO 50001:2018. This new version adopts the High Level Structure (HLS) common to other management standards. It removes some requirements and adds others. It also makes some requirements less prescriptive.

2. A Tale of Two Companies

It takes some effort and cost to build an Energy Management System (EnMS), to get everyone involved and then go through a certification process. So it is worth the effort? Does the application of ISO 50001 make a difference? An answer to that can be found in two case studies on 3M and Schneider Electric. Both organisation have sites across the world and are pro-active in energy management. For both companies some sites are certified to ISO 50001:2011 and some are not. Figure 1 shows savings in the sites that do have ISO 50001 certification compared to sites that do not. All sites achieved savings but those with ISO 50001 saved 62 to 65% more energy than those that didn’t.

Figure 1 - Comparison of savings at sites with and without ISO 50001

For further details see:
http://www.energy.gov/eere/amo/articles/3m-and-schneider-electric-implement-iso-50001-and-superior-energy-performance-and
http://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/Portals/2/pdfs/3M_Global.pdf
http://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/Portals/2/pdfs/Schneider Electric_Mexico_Canada_USA.pdf

3. Where are we now?

ISO publish certification numbers globally against each standard in September of each year. Below is summary of the number of global certifications for ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environment) and ISO 50001 (energy). Between 2015 and 2017 the growth rate for ISO 50001 was 90.8% but the number of global certifications is only 22,870 (to December 2017) compared to 362,610 certifications for ISO 14001 which has been running since 1996. In the future there will be companies who will hold ISO 50001 but not ISO 14001 and vice versa. However, there will be many who will hold both these standards. So by 2030, the number of global certifications for ISO 50001 has the potential to grow from the current 22,870 to more than 300,000. So the journey has just begun. See Figure 2.

Figure 2 - Global ISO Certification Comparison 2015/17 (Source: iso.org)

Many people new to ISO 50001 are surprised to learn that there is no central register of organisations certified to ISO 50001. While ISO publish the numbers of certifications they do not publish the names or organisations holding current certifications. So an organisation can claim to hold accredited certification to ISO 50001:2011 but there is no way of checking if this is true. If ISO knows the names of organisations then why is there no accessible list? Clearly a request can be made to an organisation to see a copy of their certificate. But the organisation is not obliged to show it unless there is a pressing reason, such as evidence of a route to compliance with ESOS.

4. What can stimulate uptake of ISO 50001:2018?

There is evidence in Europe that there was a sharp increase in certification in 2015/16 which may have been stimulated by Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS). Article 8 of the EU Directive on Energy efficiency mandates ‘large undertakings’ to conduct mandatory energy audits across every four years across all 28 EU Member countries. However, an available route to compliance in most countries is by holding ISO 50001 certification on the compliance date. Another sharp increase in ISO 50001 certification is expected in 2019 in the run up to Phase 2 of ESOS compliance date of 5 December 2019.

However, there is evidence that Government tax breaks can also encourage take up.. Examining the countries with the greatest number of ISO 500001 certifications supports this. See Figure 3.

Figure 3 - Top 9 countries for ISO 50001 Certification (up to December 2017) (Source: iso.org)

At one point Germany held over 50% of global certifications to ISO 50001:2011. It is now 36.3%. So why is Germany top of the country leader board? The answer is that the enlightened Germany government gives green tax breaks to Germany companies holding certification to ISO 50001. Furthermore Germany companies only have access to grants for renewable projects if they are certified to ISO 50001. There is some logic to this thinking. Why install relatively expensive renewable energy generation if the organisation is ‘leaking’ energy by poor energy management practices and from the lack of investment in energy efficiency? In other words, sort out the demand side (by applying ISO 50001) before applying high cost renewable generation. Who can argue with that?

If every country in the world followed Germany’s fiscal incentive example, the number of global certifications would increase at least three fold. It could mean a million certifications worldwide by 2030 instead of the likely 300,000. We know from 3M and Schneider this is likely to result in up to 65% more savings compared to business as usual. This could have a substantial impact in reducing energy consumption, costs and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions. However, a little known fact about ISO 50001:2011 is that the words “carbon” or “carbon dioxide” are never mentioned in the entire Standard, it is all about reducing kWh consumption. However reducing kWh naturally leads to reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as well as costs.

Could ISO 50001:2018 make a significant difference to reduce carbon emissions? The answer is ‘yes’ for three reasons. The first is that most of the direct controllable carbon emissions by organisations are from their energy use. Secondly, ISO 50001 is a global Standard and already is being applied in 95 countries. Thirdly, evidence from the case studies by 3M and Schneider, show that up to 65% more energy is saved at sites operating to ISO 50001 compared to sites which don’t. And unlike various company initiatives where energy performance waxes and wanes certification to a standard ensures consistency and continuity in energy management and thus benefits the company and the wider environment.

Last week I was in discussion with an eminent University professor who asked me:

“After over 40 years in the industry, John, what advice would you give to a younger engineer or consultant just getting started?”

A good question. I pondered for a moment and reeled off a few thoughts. But over the weekend I considered the question more deeply as I am mentoring some younger professionals. I came up with a list of 20 tips. Here they are:

1. Define your values and if possible, work for an organisation whose values reflect your own.
2. Try to focus on what interests you, what you are passionate about and what you are good at.
3. Learning how to think is a vital skill.
4. Capture original ideas/thoughts. Write them down. Use your creativity. Follow your thoughts to a conclusion.
5. Have an enquiring mind. Ask questions. Always ask: “why?” and again, listen.
6. Never lose the love of learning.
7. Present solutions not problems. A good employee tries to find a solution first before pushing it upwards.
8. Develop your people skills - a key one is to become a good listener. You will learn more through listening than talking or interrupting. You will make more allies, people will feel valued and more likely to respect you.
9. Be courteous, irrespective of provocation or how you are treated.
10. Be discreet with privileged information.
11. Remember Napoleon’s advice: “Never attribute to malice which can easily be attributed to incompetence.” Don’t take things personally. People are often thoughtless, hurried, lazy or inept rather than malicious.
12. Most people leave bosses not their jobs. Be a good boss and if you can, find a good boss.
13. Peter Drucker said: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” The right things involve having a moral compass and a sense of what is important. Focus on what really matters.
14. The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst has the motto is “Serve to Lead” and Max de Pree said: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, the second is to serve the team and the last is to say thank you.” Leadership is about serving people, not lording it over them.
15. Give credit where it is due. Harry S. Truman said: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
16. William Bruce Cameron, Einstein and others are attributed with the quotation: “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” Many managers count the pennies in their so-called productivity measures and cost cutting exercises, whilst ignoring the value of employees’ goodwill.
17. Get organised and make better use of time. Find the tools that work for you, e.g. to do lists, methods for overcoming procrastination etc. And where appropriate don’t be afraid to say no, or negotiate on task scope or deadline.
18. Develop good email etiquette (check internet for advice on effective email communication). Never send an email when angry. And ask yourself “Will this email make things better or worse? Am I prepared for this message to be more widely circulated?”
19. The principle of obliquity states that your objectives are best met indirectly. If you focus on the welfare and needs of others, what you seek often comes to you indirectly.
20. Find a mentor who knows you and whom you respect and trust. Especially when making big decisions. Take your time, though be aware often you will have to make a decision without all the information you would like.

Phase 3 of ESOS is already underway (6 December 2019 to 5 December 2023). Some companies are considering using an Energy Management Systems (EnMS) certified to ISO 50001 as a route to compliance. To take this route certification needs to be held on the compliance date of 5th December 2023. This may seem some time away but in EnMS terms it is closer than you think.

There are 5 steps to achieving certification to ISO 50001:

Step 1 EnMS Gap Assessment (2 weeks)

This is a sensible idea to assess the current energy management practices against the requirements of ISO 50001.

Step 2 EnMS Building (6 to 8 weeks)

This is where a tailor-made EnMS is built and geared to your organisation.

Step 3 EnMS Population (5 to 10 weeks)

Here the EnMS is populated with data to demonstrate current practice and compliance. Any gaps identified in Step 1 should be addressed at this stage.

Step 4 EnMS Operation (26 to 52 weeks)

This is where the EnMS is run for 6 to 12 months with internal audits and at least one management review.

Step 5 EnMS Certification (10 weeks)

Here an accredited certification body will conduct Stages 1 and 2 certification. The two stages are usually separated by six weeks. Stage 1 is an assessment by the certification body to see if the EnMS is in a state of readiness. If Stage 2 is successful, certification is usually issued in about 4 weeks. Certification lasts for three years, subject to surveillance audits.

So if a company embarked on this process in January of a given year the timeline would be approximately:

So the whole process typically takes 18 months.

Of course some originations will take longer or may complete the process faster depending on how well organised they are and current energy management practices.

ISO 50001:2018 was published in August 2018. For organisations holding ISO 50001:2011, they must transition to the new version of the Standard (ISO 50001:2018) by August 2021. This means that in Phase 3 of ESOS, any company using ISO 50001 as a route to compliance on 5 December 2023, will have to hold certification to ISO 50001:2018.