IT Governance Blog on IT governance, risk management, compliance and information security.

Efficient management of energy usage is one means of reducing your operating costs and also of demonstrating good environmental stewardship.

The EN16001 standard assists organisations in demonstrating efficient energy management. Certification to this new standard makes a statement about your organisation that will be understood by all stakeholders: that you are demonstrating your commitment to improved energy performance.

Many organisations that become certified to EN16001 do so as a result of successful certification to the more established environmental management system, ISO14001.

ISO14001 specifies the requirements for an environmental management system (EMS), which provides a framework for an organisation to control the environmental impacts of its activities, products and services, and to continually improve its environmental performance.

At IT Governance, we have developed documentation toolkits for both these standards, which are suitable for all organisations:

1. EN16001 Energy Management System Documentation Toolkit
2. ISO14001 EMS Environmental Management System Documentation Toolkit

Purchasing both toolkits at the same time makes sense, and reduces the total cost by 25%.

	Combi-Toolkit – Energy & Environmental Management System The ITGP ISO14001 Documentation Toolkit and the EN16001 Documentation Toolkit are designed to be complementary and have a number of documents in common. Purchasing both toolkits at the same time makes sense, and reduces the total cost of the toolkits by 25%. That’s a saving worth having – buy the Combi (we deliver two toolkits) today!

Most organisations that are implementing a management system that conforms to either ISO14001 (Environmental Management System Standard) or EN16001 (Energy Management System Standard) could, with little extra work, extend their system to include the relevant aspects of the other system.

Buy the Combi – Energy and Environmental Management System Documentation Toolkit – today!

Coming to a standards office near you is ISO 50001. Due to be published in early 2011, this will be the definitive Energy Management Standard. Currently, the de facto standard for energy management is EN 16001:2009 ‘Energy management systems. Requirements with guidance for use’. This standard is intended to help all organisations irrespective of their size, geographical location, products, services or marketplace to establish the processes and systems necessary for managing and improving energy efficiency. In turn, this helps reduce emissions and green house gases.

Having an EN16001 Energy Management System will enable any organisation to:

• Improve energy use performance in a systematic way
• Establish an energy management system
• Ensure energy management conforms with stated policy
• Demonstrate to stakeholders and others the organisation’s commitment to energy use improvement
• Allow certification of the Energy Management System by an accredited third party.

EN 16001 is currently a European standard (the EN designator indicating it is a ‘European Norm’). However, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) has taken up this standard and is planning to publish the international version as ISO 50001 and, surprise, surprise, will also be called “Energy management systems — Requirements with guidance for use”. Currently, the international standard version is in the voting stage as a Draft International Standard. If all goes well expected publication will be in early 2011. Thus, certainly for a while EN 16001 and ISO 50001 will sit alongside one another. Those of you who have already started on EN 16001 programmes fear not: one of the prime aims in writing the international version has been to retain compatibility between EN 16001 and ISO 50001 thus ensuring early adopters of the former standard will not lose out. It is anticipated that those certifying to EN16001 should have only minimal transitional requirements to achieve ISO 50001 status.

Confused? You certainly should be. Well after reading this hopefully it will clarify the situation and remove doubt. If you still are in need of succour why not call IT Governance (+44(0)845 070 1570) and talk it through.

The contents of EN 16001 are:

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The BP oil spill, off the Gulf of Mexico, has been branded the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced. And unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it’s not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days. The millions of gallons of oil that have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico are more like an epidemic.

Barack Obama has stressed the need for urgent action to move forward with innovative energy policies that will ensure the end of America’s reliance on fossil fuels and a clean energy future. This Administration has taken unprecedented action to jumpstart the clean energy industry, and the President emphasized the need to match these actions by a comprehensive plan that transitions the United States to a 21st-century clean-energy economy.

To meet these objectives, new ‘Green’ policies will be introduced. Some of these policies could have a significant effect on your IT infrustructure and you need to act now, get ahead of the curve and begin your own Green IT initiatives.
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To mark the International Green IT Awareness Week we are offering digital readers 10% off any eBook in the ITGP range – Simply enter: ITGPDOWNLOAD at the checkout!

You can read about the various Green IT activities we are undertaking to coincide with the International Green IT Awareness Week on our blog.

Below are some of the resources available to help you get the most out of your Green IT initiatives, to help you promote environmentally sustainable IT within your organisation, to increase brand and corporate image and to realise the very real bottom line savings that can be achieved through reduced energy costs:
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It’s Green IT Awareness Week and to coincide with the event we are undertaking the following activities:

• We are publishing the second edition of Gary Hird’s book Green IT in Practice.This book is the latest addition to IT Governance’s specialist online Green IT store, which brings together all the best books for learning about Green IT and the tools needed to apply it in practice.
• For organisations pursuing compliance with ISO14001, the environmental management system, we are offering a range of specialist books and resources, including a labour-saving ISO14001 Documentation Toolkit.
• For organisations pursuing compliance with BS EN 16001, the energy management system, we will be launching a labour-saving BS EN 16001 Toolkit.
• Our Critical Issue for June (which is only available to our email subscribers), will focus on Green IT issues – watch this space…
• In keeping with the ‘Green’ theme, we are offering an added incentive to digital readers by taking 10% off the purchase price of its entire ITGP e-book range with the voucher code: ITGPDOWNLOAD.

Promote environmentally sustainable IT within your organisation…

Learn from the John Lewis Partnership with this best-selling practical book:
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