New energy efficiency standard applied in Uzbekistan
By Vusala Abbasova
The use of effective energy management, which provides the process of monitoring, controlling, and conserving energy in a building or organization, became a kind of requirement in a global economy.
Being a part of profitable business, the efficient energy use helps organizations save money, as well as help to conserve resources and tackle climate change.
The O'ZDST ISO 500001:2011"Energy Management System. Requirements with guidance for use" standard was recently developed and approved in Uzbekistan, in order to save and reduce energy consumption in the country.
This ISO 500001 standard will be carried out within the Program of measures to reduce energy consumption, implement energy-saving technologies in the field of economy and social sphere for 2015-2019, according to the Ministry of Economy and the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan.
Implementation of the new energy management standard in the sphere of construction work will provide houses and industrial buildings with new level of quality in the country.
To achieve the positive results of the ISO 500001 implementation, the great attention is paid to train qualified professionals familiar with international practices in the sphere of energy saving.
Thus, a new educational direction for Energy audits and energy survey of industrial enterprises specialty was created in the Tashkent State Technical University and the Bukhara engineering-technical institute.
The large international five-year energy project on energy saving implemented jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) was completed in Uzbekistan this year.
The total cost of the project is worth more than $13.4 million, including GEF's investments in the amount of $2.91 million, UNDP's contributions for over $724,600 and Uzbekistan's government for $10.2 million.
The basic aim of the project was reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gases emission in both new and existing public buildings (hospitals and schools) of the country.
Earlier, Kahramon Usmanov, the project manager, mentioned in his presentation that 49 percent of total energy consumption and 39 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions of the country are attributed to the buildings.
He made this statement during the International Conference on Improving the energy efficiency of social facilities in Uzbekistan on June 18.
World's energy efficiency indicator is expressed in annual heat consumption per square meter in kilowatt-hours(kWh).
This figure is higher by 2-3 times in Uzbekistan than in the EU countries, where the value of the heat energy consumption is 100-120 kWh per square meter for existing buildings.
Over the five-year period, 3 state educational standards, 11 training modules and 8 programs on energy efficiency and energy management were developed and implemented in Uzbekistan.
Moreover,48 masters and 600 bachelors have got specialty on energy management of buildings, as well as more than 19,500 students have completed the program on energy management, and more than 2,000 practitioners, architects and designers have been trained on the energy efficiency of buildings.
ISO 50001 is based on the management system model of continual improvement, that makes it easier for organizations to integrate energy management into their overall efforts to improve quality and environmental management.
According to the International Standard Organization's official site, ISO 50001:2011 provides a framework of requirements for organizations to develop a policy for more efficient use of energy, fix targets and objectives to meet the policy, use data to better understand and make decisions about energy use, measure the results, review how well the policy works, and continually improve energy management.
The International Standard Organization introduced a new accreditation for the establishment and certification of energy management systems in 2011.
Implementation of associated ISO 50001 standards and best practices has grown dramatically across the globe, since that time.
Obtaining ISO 50001 accreditation can play a key role in helping companies stay competitive, particularly in energy intensive industrial processes, as well as significantly success company's financial savings.
Moreover, some countries as Germany, for example, are even offering tax breaks for companies, that gained the ISO 50001 accreditation.
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