Excellence in Energy Management Recognised at Sustainable Energy Awards 2008
Media Information
20th November 2008
Projects entered in five years of Awards achieve estimated energy savings of €327 million
Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) last night presented the Sustainable Energy Awards 2008 to organisations from across Ireland which have demonstrated best practice in energy management in the past year. Intel Ireland Limited, Crown Paints Ireland Limited, Vodafone/Dalkia partnership and Lee Strand Co-operative Creamery were amongst the 18 award recipients.
According to SEI, this year has seen a growing interest in the annual Awards programme as organisations in the commercial, industrial and public sectors continue to take action to manage their energy requirements. The quality of entries received demonstrates that more companies are fully engaged with sustainable energy and are benefiting accordingly.
SEI also revealed that estimated cumulative energy cost savings of €327 million have been achieved by projects which have entered the Awards since their establishment in 2004. The 2008 entrants to the Awards, which were sponsored by ESB Customer Supply, reported demonstrated energy savings of €17 million based on the energy management initiatives which they have implemented in their organisations. These initiatives have also led to the annual reduction of 100,000 tonnes of CO2 and further energy and CO2 savings will accrue on an ongoing basis.
The Energy Manager of the Year for Large Users was awarded to Intel Ireland's Energy Manager Kevin Geoghegan. Improvements in Intel's manufacturing energy efficiency has led to a 20% reduction in its natural gas consumption during the period 2006-2007 and along with other measures have yielded savings of over 25,000 tonnes of CO2 over the last 3 years. Jerry Dwyer of Lee Strand Co-operative Creamery received the Energy Manager of the Year Award in the Small to Medium category. Lee Strand has achieved energy cost savings of approximately €500,000 in the last ten years.
Seán Power T.D. Minister for State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources who presented the winners with their awards said, "In the current economic climate, sustainable energy practices are critical for organisations both large and small, generating significant reductions in energy costs and overheads. The actions of those organisations involved today are helping both the Irish economy and the environment by contributing to the achievement of our national energy targets. Such role models are to be commended."
Brian Motherway, Head of Industry, SEI said; "Activity on energy efficiency in business is growing tremendously. The quality of entries for this year's Awards is excellent. Particularly encouraging is the standard and number of entries from SMEs. It is clear from the results achieved by these companies that there are very significant energy efficiency gains and costs savings which can be made through effectively managing the energy demands of an organisation. It is also significant that a large number of the businesses that entered this year's Awards, such as those in the services sector, are relatively new to the area of sustainable energy and are now leading the way for others to follow. "
Vodafone/Dalkia, which achieved almost 10% energy cost savings, was the winner of the Small to Medium User category of the Co-ordinated Energy Management Programme, while H.J. Heinz won the same award for Large Users. Crown Paints Ireland Ltd received the award for Energy Efficiency in the Small Energy User category in recognition of its efforts to manage its lighting and heating requirements which resulted in a 40% reduction in electrical consumption. University College Cork won the Excellence in Building Design award for its post graduate research library. The Renewable Energy Project of the year was awarded to Gorey Courtown Forest Park Limit
