ENERGY MANAGEMENT MODEL – AN INNOVATIVE TOOL FOR BENCHMARKING THE ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES
Energy management is becoming an important topic for companies around the world. It influences organizational and technical processes and behaviors in the company in order to reduce the operational total energy consumption, improve resource efficiency, implement legislative requirements, and improve their corporate image. ISO 50001 International Standard was introduced as a global standard for managing energy use through that provides the unified framework for energy management. This paper introduces and describes model methodology and innovative software tool for benchmarking the energy management system in industrial companies. The software is designed to illustrate the current energy management situation in the company, the estimation of target state and to identify the energy efficiency potentials. Using the benchmark methodology, the energy management is summarized in an assessment profile. The results can be used as a reference guide for Energy Managers or extern consultants to understand the requirements and to implement ISO Standard 50001 in their company. A case study of an Austrian foundry is empirically tested and presented in order to evaluate the efficiency of the developed model.
Keywords: energy management; energy efficiency; ISO Standard 50001; Energy Assessment Tool; Benchmarking
