Dublin City Council's Think Energy campaign was among the winners at this year's LAMA Community & Council Awards which took place on Saturday, 24th January at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry.

The campaign scooped the top prize in the 'Best Energy Smart Initiative by a Local Authority' category for the innovative way that it inspired staff in the council’s Civic Offices to become more energy-efficient.

Dublin's energy agency Codema implemented the campaign on behalf of the council and created a range of unique activities to inform staff about the energy use of the building and the steps they could take to save energy.

This included the development of an interactive online platform, www.codema.ie/thinkenergy, which was the first of its kind to be applied to a local authority in Ireland. The platform included:

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• A live energy screen which showed how much energy the building is consuming in real time;

• Energy saving tips for home, work and commuting between the two;

• Informative videos & educational resources;

• Inspiring case studies;

• Campaign updates and announcements of upcoming events;

• Creative competitions that were executed according to time of year.

Another vital part of the campaign was the recruitment of staff members as Think Energy ambassadors so that they could spread energy-saving messages to their colleagues and give feedback to the Think Energy team on how to improve energy efficiency within the building.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, John Ryan, Senior Executive Officer, Corporate Services, said: "I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of Dublin City Council which recognises the hard work and dedication of the entire Think Energy team. It is often challenging to present energy information in an interesting way but Think Energy really raised the bar in making a complex topic appeal to staff."

Verena Brennan, Marketing Officer with Codema, added: "The aim of Think Energy was to communicate energy use in the most engaging way possible and to provide easy yet innovative solutions to saving energy at home, at work and while commuting between the two. We look forward to spreading the Think Energy message to other local authority buildings this year."