Abstract
Despite the fact that the implementation of ISO 50001 has helped organizations to successfully accomplish energy saving policies, there is still a significant disparity in the number of companies certificated under ISO 50001 compared with other standards such as ISO 14001. Considering the compatibilities between both standards, a potential sector is identified for the integration of ISO 50001 in organizations that operate under ISO 14001 systems. The cost and time associated with the development and implementation of the Energy Management System are identified as being amongst the most important obstacles, restricting the number of companies that are inclined to this energy certification. As an attempt to overcome this limitation, in this work, both standards were analyzed in detail and their coincidences identified and organized to propose a novel methodology that allows companies to naturally integrate an Energy Management System based on ISO 50001 into an ISO 14001 already in operation. The results provide evidence of a strong compatibility among the energy and environmental management systems, allowing enterprises to integrate the former with minimum investment and resources. In order to validate the proposed methodology and to demonstrate the agreement between both programs, these procedures were applied in a manufacturing company of the automotive sector, considered as a high energy consumer according to the classification made by the National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy in Mexico.
Highlights
Market competition encourages companies to be more efficient through operational and processing cost reduction
Sustainability 2017, 9, 1304 and International Standard Organization (ISO) 14001 were analyzed in detail and summarized in order to offer a clear outlook of their compatibilities, a step by step integrating methodology is proposed that allows companies to naturally migrate from the environmental to the combined environmental–energy management system with little investment and resources by performing only minimum adaptations to the infrastructure already designed for ISO 14001
A novel methodology was developed and implemented for the integration of an Energy Management System (EnMS) ISO 50001 into an Environmental Management System (EMS) ISO 14001 already in operation, in order to take advantage of the benefits presented by the compatibility between the requirements of both standards
Summary
Market competition encourages companies to be more efficient through operational and processing cost reduction. By implementing energy saving strategies, companies can achieve certifications that will improve their social perception, gaining recognition over the competition and allowing their products to enter in more exclusive markets. The implementation of ISO 50001 has allowed organizations all over the world to accomplish energy performance improvements, helping companies to achieve environmental regulations, fiscal benefits, selling CO2 credits and promoting competitiveness [10,11,12,13,14]. The time and cost associated with the development, implementation and certification processes of an EnMS are relatively high, and are perceived as an expense, not as an investment This still common thinking in the global industrial environment, clouds a more accurate and realistic vision, in which many companies are already achieving significant economic benefits through the operation of an EnMS. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1304 and ISO 14001 were analyzed in detail and summarized in order to offer a clear outlook of their compatibilities, a step by step integrating methodology is proposed that allows companies to naturally migrate from the environmental to the combined environmental–energy management system with little investment and resources by performing only minimum adaptations to the infrastructure already designed for ISO 14001
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
