This standard recognises that businesses need to become more energy efficient to be competitive.

This new standard, which follows the Plan, Do, Check, Act approach of previous management standards, such as BS EN ISO 9001, BS EN ISO 14001, and more recently BS EN 12001, provides:

• A structured approach to identifying your energy-related assets
• A framework for controlling, monitoring and measuring your energy consumption
• A means to identify opportunities to cut energy costs and increase energy efficiency

The standard defines the requirements of an energy management system (EnMS).

BS EN 16001 can help you to:

• Reduce operating costs by controlling in-house energy costs
• Improve your reputation by demonstrating that you are controlling greenhouse gas emissions
• Deal with the growing amount of legislation including the Carbon Reduction Commitment which becomes mandatory in April 2010 for organisations using more than 6,000MWh/yr
  

An energy management system, designed around BS EN 16001, will help to embed best practice energy management into normal operations, everyday decisions and behaviour.

BS EN 16001 can be obtained from the BSI Shop priced £100 (£50 to BSI Members).

There is also a companion guide BIP 2187:2009 Energy Management Principles and Practice providing expert insights on implementing BS EN 16001 and having an effective energy management system in place. This is £30 (no discount for BSI Members) and offers a practical and easy to follow introduction to the technical considerations, human factors and management aspects of energy saving in commerce, industry and the public sector.