University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland has become the first university worldwide to achieve the ISO 50001 standard in energy management.

It is also the first public sector body in Ireland to be certified to the international standard.

Enerit ISO 50001 software was used to implement UCC's energy management program and the University was certified to the standard in four months, a fantastic achievement.

UCC decided to partner with Irish firm Enerit Ltd, as their software uniquely covers all aspects of the ISO 50001 standard including: significant energy users, energy saving opportunities, energy actions and planning, corrective actions and audit management.

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The standard represents a major opportunity for large energy users to save energy and become more competitive. While universities may not be the first type of organisation to spring to mind in relation to energy management, they are in fact ideal candidates for certification to ISO 50001. Universities have a vast amount of building stock at their disposal, buildings which can vary greatly in both age and size. The energy bill of a university makes up a large portion of its running costs, a fact which UCC have clearly recognised.

Enerit ISO 50001 software enables organisations to achieve energy savings of 10-20% and results in increased staff cooperation and reduced workload in implementing good energy practices that comply within ISO 50001 approaches.

The energy management consultant behind UCC's successful certification to this international standard was Liam McLaughlin of eNMS. Commenting on the story Liam said: "UCC have been successfully implementing energy saving measures and projects for decades and have been winning awards for some of these projects since the early 1990’s. Given the long history of excellence in the University, it is inspiring to see the improvements in performance that the use of a systematic approach is bringing them."

(CD)