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Tyndall National Institute at UCC has recently received certification
under the ISO 50001 (Energy Management System) standard and
is one of the first research institutes of its kind in the
world to receive this award.
ISO 50001 is an international standard for energy management
which assists organisations in their drive for energy efficiency,
reduced consumption, a lower carbon footprint and lower costs.
“We are delighted to have been awarded ISO 50001 certification,
which is a direct result of the implementation of progressive
energy management policies and initiatives as well as adhering
to a sustainable design policy during our expansion programme
over a number of years.
"Tyndall is a process-intensive research facility with
exceptionally high levels of energy utilisation throughout
the year. We implemented state-of- the-art energy efficient
systems in our new research building and retrofitted the existing
buildings with highly energy efficient equipment.
"Despite almost trebling our site footprint in recent
years, we have reduced our energy consumption by 30% in real
terms, an impressive result of our effective energy management
policies,” says Cormac Harrington, Head of Operations at Tyndall
National Institute.
Tyndall Facilities Manager, Pat Mehigan has been driving
the Tyndall wide energy efficiency programme since 2008. “We
first focused on evaluating our most significant energy users,
looking closely at variables such as cleanroom temperatures
and humidity requirements, process cooling capacities and
the impact of people behaviour on our energy use.
"We then implemented changes in the system properties
and user habits to optimise the energy consumption of existing
equipment. With the grant assistance from Science Foundation
Ireland and Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI),
we consequently upgraded to more energy efficient process
facilities and equipment in key areas, which have had a dramatic
effect on our energy use.”
Mehigan added - “The ISO
50001 certification, awarded by Certification
Europe, also reflects a high level of staff involvement
and buy-in to our overall energy management process and the
cooperation of staff and students at Tyndall has been instrumental
in its success. In the past nine months, eighty energy-saving
ideas have been submitted by staff and, based on these. we
are targeting a further reduction of 5% in our energy and
gas consumption for 2012.’’
University College Cork (UCC) recently separately became
the first
third level research institution worldwide to achieve
the ISO 50001 standard.
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