Energy management New standard
The missing link
Described as filling a gap in current carbon reduction
policy, a new British Standard on energy management
is expected to have a significant impact on building
services, writes Carina Bailey
T
he goal of BSEN 16001:2009 Energy management achieve policy commitments; and demonstrate
systems — Requirements with guidance for use is conformity to European standard.
to help establish the systems and processes BSEN 16001 provides a framework for continuous
necessary to improve energy efficiency in improvement in energy management, and also requires
businesses and organisations, which will ultimately commitment from an organisation, Roberts says: ‘Its
lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. methodology for this continuous improvement is
However, the BSEN will not set absolute performance based on the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle. The
Energy management
requirements; it is up to individual organisations to standard highlights the need for organisations to better
decide what they’re aiming for. understand their energy usage and strive to continually
The definition
Peter Roberts, of OR Consulting Engineers, believes improve their performance.’
of PDCA within
this is the missing link that will pull all the other energy Roberts envisages that the new standard will
BSEN 16001 is:
reduction policies together for clients, utilising energy complement other initiatives designed to drive down
Plan: Establish the experts from the building services sector. energy, such as the Soft Landings programme and
objectives and processes
‘I saw this standard as being the missing piece in the post-occupancy evaluations (POE), while increasing
necessary to deliver
results in line with energy
jigsaw,’ explains Roberts, ‘a framework that allows you the use of energy management systems.
policy to put all the pieces of the jigsaw together. It isn’t just This could result in a number of important
Do: Implement the
purely for the legislative obligation organisations have, developments within the sector, such as the creation
processes it also starts to give context for any voluntary measures by manufacturers of a range of products to upgrade
Check: Monitor and
they want to put into place. the performance of existing plant, including chillers,
measure processes ‘I think it will motivate in terms of prestige, and I air handling units and controls.
against energy policy,
think organisations do want to do the right thing very ‘There will be much more emphasis on how we
objectives, targets,
legal obligations and
often, but they don’t really know how to go about it.’ can change existing buildings to make them more
other requirements to The voluntary standard works on the premise that, efficient,’ he says. ‘For instance, when I go and do an
which the organisation
once it’s implemented, an energy professional will air conditioning audit I’m trying to look for ways of
subscribes and report the
results
visit an organisation on a yearly basis to help that making it more efficient, and it’s often a bit difficult to
organisation stay on track in reducing or maintaining get that much feedback from the supply chain.
Act: Take actions to
continually improve
its energy reduction. It provides organisations with ‘They’ll obviously tell us what the original unit did,
the performance of the a system in order for them to develop an energy but they haven’t got a range of products that can then
energy management
management policy; establish objectives and processes enhance the performance of that existing unit. If they
system
to achieve the policy commitments; take action to had that, there’s a whole marketplace out there that
54 CIBSE Journal January 2010 www.cibsejournal.com
CIBSEjan10 pp54-55_Bsen.indd 54 17/12/09 16:10:16
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