Operation
Task:
Task:
Task 17: We plan and control the processes related to our significant energy uses (SEUs) and action plans, and set operation and maintenance criteria where there are risks of significant deviations in energy performance. We operate the SEU and action-plan related processes in accordance with the criteria and communicate the criteria to relevant personnel. We control planned changes, along with outsourced processes related to SEUs.
Detailed Guidance: Operational Controls
- Create a significant energy use (SEU) operating criteria worksheet and operational controls checklist to determine and set the required criteria and controls for each significant energy use.
- Ensure critical factors affecting energy performance are known and communicated to responsible personnel.
- Ensure that the operational and maintenance control sections of your action plans have been completed and implemented.
- Operate and maintain sites, equipment, systems, or processes associated with your SEUs to meet the determined criteria.
- Establish processes to control planned changes affecting operational and maintenance criteria or controls.
- Control outsourced SEUs or processes related to SEUs.
Operational and maintenance controls ensure that critical equipment, systems, processes, and sites are operated and maintained to achieve required output and efficient performance. Properly defined and implemented controls promote the efficient and uninterrupted functioning of critical equipment. Operational and maintenance controls also are relevant to the sites, equipment, systems, and processes associated with your action plans. This will help ensure their performance is efficient and within intended parameters while concurrently working to improve it.
Determining operational and maintenance controls involves the planning of activities to ensure critical factors affecting energy performance are known, used, and communicated to responsible personnel. Operational and maintenance controls must be planned and implemented for processes related to your significant energy uses (SEUs) and to implement action plans for achieving your objectives and energy targets (see Task 13 Action Plans for Continual Improvement).
Operational and maintenance controls can take a variety of forms. They can include, for example, documented procedures and work instructions, physical controls, use of licensed or other qualified personnel, or combinations of these.
This guidance is relevant to Section 8.1 of the ISO 50001:2018 standard.
Your organization should have effective operating and maintenance criteria in place for all your major sites, equipment, systems, and processes. Your major systems and significant energy uses (SEUs) have optimum running conditions and maintenance practices that maximize their operational efficiency and allow them to achieve their design service life.
Operating criteria are set points where the processes related to your SEUs and action plans operate most efficiently.
Example operating criteria include:
- Occupancy timer settings
- HVAC temperature settings
- Air compressor operating pressure
- Furnace and oven temperature set point
- Steam boiler pressure
- Freezer and cooler temperature set point
- Water temperature generated by chillers
- Line speeds
Operating criteria are implemented through operational controls that work to ensure processes related to your SEUs and action plans are operated within identified criteria. Some examples of operational controls are:
- Physical limits
- Mechanical and electrical controllers
- Measuring equipment and indicators
- Labeling and signage
- Documented procedures
- Operator competence and training
Your organization must also address maintenance criteria and associated controls. Examples of relevant maintenance practices can include:
- Filter replacement
- Lubrication
- Tension adjustment
- Leak repair
- Cleaning
- Fluid levels
- Vibration analysis
- Tuning
Many organizations use a preventive maintenance (PM) system, which can be a component of the maintenance criteria and controls for an energy management system (EnMS). A PM system is an organized approach for maintaining equipment and processes by conducting systematic inspections. These inspections detect and correct anomalies to prevent failure and/or maintain peak operating condition. Both operating and maintenance criteria and associated controls influence the performance and efficiency of energy-consuming equipment.
The ISO 50001 standard requires that you develop operating and maintenance criterion for your SEUs and for the action plans you are implementing “where their absence could lead to a significant deviation from intended energy performance.” Significant deviations are discussed in Task 21 Monitoring and Measurement of Energy Performance Improvement. Your organization must determine what controls are critical to avoid a significant deviation related to the operating and maintenance criteria of your SEUs and action plans. Examples of significant deviations that could be due to, at least partly, operational and maintenance control issues include:
- Equipment or systems running outside of control limits
- Energy consumption variation
- Change in efficiency
- Increased maintenance requirements
- Increased downtime
- Additional equipment requirements
- Longer run times
- Need to change settings
- Product quality issues (e.g., over- or under-cooked food)
A variety of sources can be helpful in planning operating and maintenance criteria for your SEUs and other processes that can impact energy performance. These include:
- Manufacturer’s recommendation
- Personnel who measure performance
- Minimum process or system requirements
- Service personnel suggested operating settings and maintenance intervals
- Statistical process control
- Benchmarking performance of similar equipment
- Industry standards
Keep in mind that you likely have some operating and maintenance criteria already in place within your organization, especially as related to efficient equipment operation. Part of the process of determining operational and maintenance controls is to examine what is already there, and incorporate it into your EnMS as it relates to energy performance. You should take stock of what’s in place and take a fresh look at what else is needed for controlling operations and maintenance activities for processes related to SEUs and action plans. The optional Playbook worksheet is one example of how you can organize and record information on operating and maintenance criteria.
You may want to consider developing additional operating and maintenance criteria to address other factors related to energy performance, such as controls needed to sustain past energy performance improvements, and the maintenance of non-SEU energy systems.
Operational and maintenance controls may also be physical devices (e.g., a building automation system [BAS], occupancy sensors for lights, air compressor sequence controllers), as well as the use of certified or other specialty qualified personnel (e.g., licensed electrician, licensed boiler operator, licensed waste treatment operator).
To evaluate the operating and maintenance criteria you might need, bring together the appropriate personnel and information described above and discuss the following:
- What operating and maintenance criteria have been established for the SEUs?
- What controls are needed to operate and maintain SEUs within appropriate criteria?
- What are the operating and maintenance criteria that would indicate a significant deviation?
- Are operational and maintenance controls in place?
- Are the operational and maintenance controls effective in maintaining performance with the identified criteria?
- Are other controls needed to maintain the SEU within identified operating and maintenance criteria?
- Are other controls needed to detect or avoid a significant deviation?
Use the optional Playbook worksheet to help determine the required criteria and controls.
Once the appropriate operating and maintenance criteria are determined, they become the targeted operating and maintenance state.
Once the appropriate operational and maintenance controls and criteria are determined, you must operate and maintain the sites, equipment, systems, or processes associated with your SEUs and action plans so they meet the criteria. If the criteria and controls are new or have changed, you will have to communicate this information to appropriate personnel. If the controls are not functioning or are bypassed, you will have to implement inspections to confirm that the operational and maintenance controls are being implemented or maintained and the criteria are being met.
An example is the disabling of the speed control of a fan’s variable frequency drive (VFD), which would cause the fan to operate at full speed constantly. The VFD would not be able to reduce the fan motor speed during periods when the fan is lightly loaded, and consequently the VFD would not achieve the expected energy performance improvement.
For the sites, equipment, systems, and processes associated with your SEUs and action plans to be operated and maintained using the established controls, you must ensure they are communicated to the appropriate personnel. This includes on-site contractors or suppliers performing work associated with SEUs and action plans. Robust communication processes ensure that expectations with regard to performing and following the controls are known and understood by the appropriate personnel. You can provide the controls and criteria information through training, documentation, or other communication processes as appropriate, such as:
- Shift or toolbox meetings
- Demonstrations
- E-mails
- Staff meetings
- Equipment markings
- Supplier meetings
- Contractor briefings
For complicated processes, you may need to provide training supported by appropriate documentation. Personnel who are new to the organization, or personnel for processes that require a licensed operator or maintenance technician, should be included in such training. Training may also be a convenient form of informing large numbers of personnel about operation or maintenance activities. Training can involve:
- On-the-job training
- Shift training
- Classroom training
- Supplier training
- Peer mentoring
- On-line training
- Training from certified bodies
- Technical training
Your organization must retain documented information (i.e., records) (see Task 16 Documenting the EnMS) on operational and maintenance controls to the extent necessary to have confidence that the processes are operating properly and in accordance with the relevant criteria. These records could include, for example, completed log sheets, logbooks or checklists; data from automated control systems; testing or other types of reports; work orders; data analyses.
Maintaining documented operational and maintenance controls (i.e., documents) is not an explicit ISO 50001 requirement, but it is a best practice. These documents can be an effective medium for communicating to or reminding appropriate personnel. You can update documents as required to ensure the information is relevant and accurate. Documents could include:
- Work instructions
- Equipment logbooks (blank)
- Equipment operating procedures
- Contractor/supplier handbooks
- Instruction sheets
- Checklists (blank)
- Work area postings
- Brochures
Use the method(s) of communication most effective for your organization. What is important is that the operating and maintenance criteria are clear and accurate, and that you make appropriate employees and contractors aware of them.
To maintain ongoing efficient operation of processes associated with your SEUs and action plans, it is critical that operational and maintenance controls are not unintentionally modified, bypassed, or otherwise disrupted when changes are made that impact those processes. Such changes could be planned or unplanned.
Identifying the potential and actual impacts of planned changes on your SEUs and action plans, and addressing them as appropriate, can be incorporated into your organization’s change management process. In this way, the planned changes are controlled and undesired effects on the processes, and the operational and maintenance controls that support them, are avoided.
When operational and maintenance controls are unintentionally affected by unplanned changes, you must review the consequences of those changes and take action to address any negative effects. This helps ensure that the processes associated with SEUs and action plans continue to operate as intended.
Outsourcing is an arrangement where an external organization performs part of an organization’s function or process. Although the external organization is outside the scope of the EnMS, the outsourced process or function is within the EnMS scope.
SEUs or processes related to SEUs that are outsourced must be controlled. The extent of control will vary, depending on the specifics of the SEU and the related processes. For example, an outsourced process that is actually conducted onsite at your organization could be more directly under your control than an outsourced process that is not.
Common forms of control for outsourced processes can include specific contract provisions or requirements for the following:
- Second-party audits or inspections
- Qualifications or competencies
- Operational controls, including technologies
- Monitoring and measurement
- Tests or analyses
- Records to be available
Review your criteria for operations and for maintenance of the SEUs to ensure they remain adequate, and document that operation and maintenance criteria are being met.
Review communications, documentation and training related to operations and maintenance to ensure that each are current.
Operational controls are very important. This is where the EnMS meets the day-to-day operations of the site, the SEUs and the action plans.
Part of the internal audit should include interviewing operators that work with SEUs and items related to action plans. Review SEU-related work orders with any new operational personnel.
These operators should have a detailed knowledge of their impact on SEUs and action plans and be able to explain what significant deviations are and how they should to respond to them.
When adding energy-related GHG emissions to your EnMS, determining operational and maintenance controls involves the planning of activities to ensure critical factors affecting energy performance and GHG emissions are known, used, and communicated to responsible personnel. Operational and maintenance controls must be planned and implemented for equipment, systems, and processes related to your significant energy uses (SEUs) and to implement action plans for achieving your objectives and targets (see Task 13 Action Plans for Continual Improvement).
If you do not have an existing 50001 Ready-based EnMS and want to build one that also helps your organization manage energy-related GHG emissions, in addition to the guidance for the energy management system you should:
- When following the guidance for this task, define operating and maintenance criteria for SEUs. The criteria should consider both energy performance and GHG emissions.
If you have an existing 50001 Ready-based EnMS and want to adapt it to manage energy-related GHG emissions, you should:
- Review your existing SEU operating and maintenance criteria to see if they need to be modified for GHG emission considerations. If the criteria are modified, make sure to document the new criteria.
- If in Task 9 Significant Energy Uses (SEUs), there were equipment or processes identified that were not previously SEUs, and were determined to be SEUs because of GHG considerations, develop operating and maintenance criterion using the guidance in this task.
- If you made any changes to operating or maintenance criteria, ensure that those changes are communicated to the appropriate personnel and implemented.
No direct mention of Operational Controls in the ERP Framework. However, there are brief mentions of operational changes in some tables in Milestones 1 and 5.
Property Management, Facilities/Engineering, and Energy Management should identify operational needs and maintenance concerns, suggest and evaluate technical solutions, and provide building-level information. (Milestone 1) Assess the comparative impact to facilities operations, including maintainability, disruption, and system complexity. (Milestone 5)
There is no additional guidance for this task in the ERP Industrial Framework, which does not address operational controls.
Task 17 Decarbonization Guidance Version: v0.9
Operational controls for HVAC systems required under 42 U.S. Code § 8259b(d) can be used towards developing the operational and maintenance criteria required for this Navigator task.
Users can use plans for life-cycle cost effective energy controls required under
42 U.S. Code § 8253(g)(1) towards completion of this task.
Commissioning towards system functionality required under 42 U.S. Code § 8253(f)(1)(A) may be used to support the operational and maintenance development requirements for this task.
When implementing a water management system, determining operational and maintenance controls involves the planning of activities to ensure critical factors affecting water consumption are known, used, and communicated to responsible personnel. Operational and maintenance controls must be planned and implemented for equipment, systems, and processes related to your significant water uses and to implement action plans for achieving your objectives and targets (see Task 13: Action Plans for Continual Improvement).
Operational controls are important for keeping tabs on the highest-consuming end uses. Determine criteria for tracking leaks or other issues in your machines, and assign responsibility to someone who can regularly take these measurements.
Review FEMP Water Manual section 3.2.2 to learn more about available water efficiency options. Table 3 (Water Efficiency Opportunities) provides examples and recommendations for O&M changes, retrofits, and replacements that can help you with this task.
Tools and Resources:
- Water Metering Resources (https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/water-metering-resources)
- Metering in Federal Buildings (https://www.energy.gov/eere/femp/metering-federal-buildings)
The key to successful control of your selected SEUs is to ensure that your SEUs are operated and maintained for optimized energy performance. To do this, personnel who operate this equipment must be aware and understand their impact on energy performance.
A key part of this task is determining optimized set points for your SEUs. You may already have written criteria for many of your key systems. If so, this task provides an opportunity to review these criteria and adjust set points as necessary to ensure that they are optimized. Examples include chilled water temperatures, outside air quantities for ventilation (be sure to maintain compliance with the latest requirements and guidance on ventilation for commercial spaces), and sensitivities for lighting occupancy controllers. If you have a trusted HVAC service provider, this is a good time to bring that provider into the conversation to add their expertise.
Setting maintenance criteria is also a part of this task. The Full Description text under the Detailed Guidance for task 17 provides additional examples of both operating criteria and maintenance criteria.
You are also responsible for the control of outsourced services related to your SEUs, such as maintenance of your chillers and boilers. This can be achieved through inspections, monitoring & measurement, or other means.
When planning appropriate controls for significant energy uses and processes relevant to the success of the Energy Management System, consider this guidance from the EPA’s Wastewater Guide:
“Develop management system “operating controls" to support energy improvements. Operating controls are documents that specify the way to execute a certain activity or operation. These controls need to be established before implementation.
Operating controls include:
Training: Evaluate current training to determine if energy management training can be incorporated into an existing training program to reduce burden.
Communication: Evaluate internal and external communications to determine where communication of the energy policy and energy goals can be directed within the facility (e.g., employees, managers) and outside of the facility (e.g., local citizens, energy advisory groups, local officials).
Controlling documents and managing records: Review and evaluate the current document control and records procedures. Ensure that the procedures are updated to account for changes to the energy management program.
Work instructions or Standard Operating Procedures and operations/equipment manuals for energy improvements: Operating controls outline the procedures for maintenance, calibration, and operation of or piece of equipment or process. Operating controls may or may not need to be updated to include the most recent energy improvements that the facility will implement. The facility can review the current operating controls and update or draft new ones. Additionally, it can review the maintenance and calibration requirements to be sure that these are consistent. After requirements have been developed and checked for completeness, the energy leaders can communicate the operating controls to staff, discuss the effectiveness of the procedures with staff, and make changes accordingly." (EPA WW Guide, p.14)
It is very important that personnel who operate SEUs on a day-to-day basis have a full understanding of the impact of their actions on the wastewater treatment plant energy consumption. They should have a good of understanding on how to optimize operations for both quality water and best energy efficiency. In addition, these personnel should know what to do and who to inform if operations have significant deviations from defined operational parameters.
ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 9001:2015 also have requirements for operational planning and control, although they may not be focused on specific energy uses. In implementing operational and maintenance controls for SEUs and action plans in ISO 50001:2018, it is not unusual for the organization to find that some of the operational controls already in place for an environmental or quality management system are relevant to the SEUs or processes related to action plans. It may be appropriate to leverage those existing controls, particularly if the controls are based on procedures, work instructions, and other documented information that must be followed in operating a specific process.
Organizations with ISO 14001:2015 and/or ISO 9001:2015 systems already have processes in place for internal and external communication, including the communication of relevant requirements to internal personnel and external providers. These same communication processes can be used to communicate operational controls to relevant internal and external personnel under ISO 50001:2018.
This guidance is relevant to steps 3.1, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, and 5.3 of the ENERGY STAR® Guidelines for Energy Management. In your EnMS program, operations and maintenance activities are identified and planned for your SEUs. This ensures that those operations and activities are carried out consistently. It is likely that your organization already has operational and maintenance controls in place that can meet these ISO 50001 requirements.
In addition, when implementing your EnMS, the operational and maintenance controls in place for your significant energy uses need to be communicated to employees and contractors who perform work related to those significant energy uses. You can leverage your existing training and communication processes for this purpose.
Step 4.2 briefly discusses outsourcing parts of action plans and the need to determine which standards will be used to evaluate bids and incorporate metrics into contracts.
Use this Notes section to save information for communication with other members of your project team, they will be able to see these Notes whey they are logged in to the 50001 Ready Navigator. Notes examples include dates of meeting with relevant personnel for completion of a portion of the task, decisions that have been made about task implementation, or perhaps a link to a file in your organization's shared drive that contains a completed worksheet or template. Please note, do not enter any information in here that you would not want shared with any members of the project team or the site's administrative staff.
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Log in to track notes| Name | Type | Description | Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50001 Ready Playbook Task 17 | Operational Controls | PB.17.01.01 | |
| EXAMPLE--Playbook Task 17 Operational Controls | Federal Agency Playbook Example File | ||
| Wastewater Example Playbook Task 17 - Filled Out | Wastewater Treatment Playbook Example File | ||
| 50001 Ready Playbook Task 17 Operational Controls-hotels | Hotels Playbook Example File | ||