There is an Native American proverb. He says that when the last tree is cut down, the last river is poisoned, and the last fish dies, you will see that money cannot be renewed. Unfortunately, these words describe the impending disaster very well. The unconscious and irresponsible use of energy is polluting the environment, the natural resources are rapidly depleted and, unfortunately, a higher amount of money is paid each day for energy.
Three elements are needed to sustain human life: matter, energy and knowledge. Energy is necessary to produce matter, and knowledge is necessary to use energy efficiently. The Earth is in serious danger from climate change and environmental problems. Therefore, strategies are being developed in terms of protection of nature, prevention of air pollution and human health. In this process, sustainable development concept comes into prominence in project and industrial strategy planning. Efficient use of energy in terms of sustainable development includes energy saving, not only from a financial point of view, but more importantly in terms of conservation of limited natural resources and prevention of environmental pollution. Therefore, the emergence of energy management systems and the efficient use of energy have been important.
While developing countries determine their energy policies, economic growth, energy security and environmental protection conditions are kept together. Saving energy means using energy efficiently without any reduction in production and daily life, and using less energy. Today, not only in our country but also in the whole world, energy consumption is increasing rapidly. As a result, natural resources are being consumed unconsciously and rapidly. This unconscious consumption brought about the more efficient use of energy resources. In addition, since all kinds of gas, solid and liquid wastes produced as a result of consumption are left uncontrolled to the nature, an important environmental pollution has started to spread and searches have been started to prevent this.
Almost one third of the energy produced is consumed in the industrial sector. However, a significant portion of this energy can be recovered through energy saving measures. If energy savings are made, it will be possible to get rid of the energy bottleneck and industrial companies will gain competitive power by reducing their energy costs.
By saving energy, reducing or restricting energy production is not meant. Saving energy means reducing the amount of energy consumed per product during production, not the amount of energy used. A company that cuts energy costs will increase its competitiveness by using the same amount of products and services with less energy or by producing more with the same amount of energy.
What are the environmental effects of non-biomass energy use
When fossil fuels like coal or oil are used, carbon dioxide gas is produced. The carbon dioxide level, which was the maximum 280 ppm for millions of years, has increased to 360 ppm today. Compared to other greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide disrupts the natural temperature equilibrium at a percentage of 55. This is the cause of what is called global warming today.
Greenhouse effect plays a major role in the formation of global warming. The gas layer, which allows the short-wave rays from the sun to pass through, holds most of the long-wave rays reflected from the earth. This condition, which creates an imbalance in the atmosphere, is called the greenhouse effect.
Other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere are carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, toxic gases and radioactive substances. In addition, coal used in thermal power plants and industry sends ash to the atmosphere. Ash contains lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium and pollutes the air considerably.
If fossil fuels continue to be used in this way, global changes such as extreme drought, rising sea level and flooding, storms and ultraviolet rays await the future. This means disruption of the ecological balance of nature.
Energy Management Studies in Turkey
The first step in Energy Management was taken by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in 1995. The regulation on increasing the efficiency in the use of energy resources and energy issued on this date regulated the principles for increasing efficiency in the use of energy resources and energy:
- Efficient use of energy
- Prevention of energy waste
- Alleviating the burden of energy costs on the economy
- Environmental protection
In this regulation, the following issues are required to be observed in order to increase energy efficiency:
- Combustion of fuels in the most efficient way in the existing combustion system
- Thermal insulation
- Increasing the heat transfer efficiency
- Waste heat recovery
- Automatic control applications
- Increasing efficiency in electrical systems
Why ISO 50001 Energy Management System Designed
Since the use of energy cannot be abandoned, the work to be done is to use energy efficiently. Today, energy management is of paramount importance due to the ever-decreasing energy resources and the increasing environmental pollution. ISO 50001 Energy Management System standards have been developed for this purpose.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization has expressed the need for an energy management system standard, and the International Standards Organization started its activities by establishing the Energy Management Committee in 2008. Works were completed in 2011 and ISO 50001 Energy Management System standards were published on that date. It is designed in accordance with ISO 50001 standard, ISO 9001 Quality Management System, ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and BS 16001 Energy Management System standards.
Which Companies Should Obtain ISO 50001 Energy Management System Certificate
Today, almost all businesses that produce a product or service need energy in some way. For this reason, all companies, regardless of their size and size, can establish and apply ISO 50001 standards in their businesses. These companies can also apply for an ISO 50001 Energy Management System Certificate by applying to an accredited certification body. Although it is theoretically stated, if the company uses a lot of energy, or if it has responsibility for the existing regulations in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, this company must establish and implement the ISO 50001 standard.
Energy costs have become an increasing cost factor for high energy consuming industrial enterprises. Keeping these costs under control is only possible with a cytematic application. The ISO 50001 Energy Management System standard therefore has an important function.
Therefore, it is not wrong to say that all companies using energy will apply ISO 50001 standard and obtain ISO 50001 Certificate.
Due to the depletion of world energy resources and the negative consequences of global warming, many companies today question their responsibilities towards the environment and strive to improve their energy efficiency. For these companies, the most effective way to reduce energy-related costs and prevent energy losses is to implement the ISO 50001 standard. This standard also makes it easier for the company to operate in compliance with legal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.
Companies applying ISO 50001 standards can act more systematically in order to take action, set targets for energy consumption, set energy performance indicators, provide energy efficiency, and identify improvement opportunities.
The benefits of establishing an ISO 50001 Energy Management System can be listed as follows:
• The company's energy costs fall.
• Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced (this is also a legal obligation)
• The firm identifies the risks to energy resources
• An awareness of energy management is created within the company.
• The company's energy policies and objectives become official
• The company can easily integrate with other systems such as Quality Management System and Environmental Management System
What Principles Does the Energy Management System Have
The ISO 50001 Energy Management System standard has been prepared by the International Standards Organization, but in the preparation of these standards, managers and experts from more than sixty countries on energy management have gathered. The resulting ISO 50001 Energy Management System is an extremely important tool for a company to make action plans to ensure energy consumption, set targets to reduce consumption, monitor energy consumption and generate performance indicators.
The basic principles adopted by this system are:
- Energy saving is of great importance today, where climate change is taking place, global warming is increasing and natural resources are being depleted.
- Energy security, depletion of fossil fuels and control of greenhouse gas emissions are extremely serious for future generations.
- For companies, it is important to establish an Energy Management System as well as to maintain this system in a healthy way.
- In order to implement an effective energy and environmental management system, employees must have the same awareness
- Firms now need to set more concrete and acceptable energy targets
Importance of ISO 50001 Energy Management System
In a globalized world, climate changes, increasing demand for energy resources, increasing energy costs in parallel, more difficult competition conditions, energy problems, necessitated efficient use of energy resources. Therefore, energy saving and energy efficiency issues are being discussed more and more. This results in the importance of energy management.
In addition to improving energy efficiency, energy management studies help to capture opportunities in many areas such as analyzing, analyzing and reducing costs of energy use in enterprises. Therefore, it may be necessary to change the organizational structure of the company in order to manage energy use effectively in the enterprises. This issue has reached such a serious dimension that companies without energy units will have difficulty in competing. Every company must have an energy policy.
As with other management systems, the ISO 50001 Energy Management System must be based on the plan, implement, control, take-action cycle (PUKO cycle). These four elements should not be considered separately. In order to achieve success in Energy Management studies, a holistic approach is required.
The fact that ISO 50001 Energy Management System is implemented in a company is an important advantage to increase the competitiveness of the company. Therefore, the number of companies applying this system and receiving ISO 50001 Certificate is increasing every day. Managers are aware that unless they have a good energy management plan and implement it, they will suffer serious economic losses.
To summarize, the ISO 50001 Energy Management System is a disciplined effort to make more efficient and efficient use of energy resources without sacrificing safety, product and service quality and environmental conditions and without interrupting production.
The implementation of the ISO 50001 standard starts with the preparation of an energy management plan in the company and continues with the establishment of energy records, determination of the services to be outsourced, determination of future energy needs, examination of financial resources and similar studies. The most important point here is the contribution and support of the top management. Success cannot be achieved in an energy management that is not supported by the top management. If the senior management does not give the necessary importance to the issue, the studies cannot be of any value.
our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc., ISO 50001 Energy Management System certification studies, national and international accreditation organizations based on the authorization is carried out.