BSI publishes new standard for best practice energy auditing
Press release - 24 October 2012
BSI has published a new European standard to help organizations plan and carry out effective energy audits.
Businesses like consumers continue to face accelerating energy prices. An energy audit is therefore an important tool for organizations to enhance their understanding of their current energy use and monitor it going forwards with the goal of reducing energy consumption.
BS EN 16247-1 - Energy Audits - has been developed with input from influential energy experts including members of the Energy Institute, Institute of Chemical Engineers, and Energy Services and Technology Association, ESTA.
The standard was created in response to the 2006 EU directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services, which is to be replaced in 2014 by the European Commission’s (currently proposed) Energy Efficiency Directive that mandates member countries to create regular energy audits for large organisations.
An energy audit is the first step in good energy management: identifying energy use and utilising this information to reduce energy consumption and energy costs and meet increasing energy and environmental obligations. BS EN 16247-1 defines the attributes of a good quality energy audit, from clarifying the best approach in terms of scope, aims and thoroughness to ensuring clarity and transparency.
The standard applies to commercial, industrial, residential and public-sector organisations, excluding individual private dwellings and complements the internationally recognised energy management system standard, ISO 50001:2011 which identifies the need for clear energy auditing. It is appropriate to all organizations regardless of size or industry sector and will serve as a useful management tool for energy, sustainability and environmental managers, auditors, consultants and senior management interested in targeting energy efficiency for both commercial and environmental benefit
Shirley Bailey-Wood, Director of Publishing at BSI said: “Effective energy auditing is the first step towards best practice energy management and provides a powerful means to address energy complacency within an organization. Clear identification and subsequent targeting of inefficiencies will provide a transparent roadmap from which an organization can address and reduce its energy consumption and better meet its energy obligations.”
Professor Martin Fry, President of ESTA, visiting professor at City University, London, and convenor of the European working group that created BS EN 16247-1 said: ”Understanding how energy is used and improving efficiency of that use are key parts of an energy management programme, within an organisation. The energy audit is the hub of this understanding and subsequent focus on measures for improvement. For many years there has been a range of interpretations of this process, and the new standard is welcomed internationally in ensuring a consistent and reliable approach, such that recommendations can be implemented with total confidence”.
