Energy Team/Energy Manager of the Year
Are you part of a team that has demonstrated remarkable leadership and ambition in implementing energy management across your organisation?
About the Award
This award celebrates individuals or teams in the public, private or voluntary sectors, who have demonstrated long-term leadership and ambition in implementing energy management and delivering significant benefits for their organisation.
Who should apply?
Applications are welcome from individuals, teams or organisations, across the public, private and voluntary sectors.
Previous project finalists under this category include:
An Post
An Post is Ireland’s national postal operator with a presence in every Irish community. It has a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2030. To achieve this, they have a quarterly Sustainability Forum for the organisation led by the energy team consisting of the Sustainable Infrastructure and Facilities Manager, the Energy Manager and two Environmental Project Executives. . The team is responsible for internal energy audits, implementing energy-saving and climate action initiatives, monitoring heating and energy control systems and the rollout and management of EV chargers. They also work on researching innovative methods to reduce emissions and energy use. Through their energy team, An Post has embedded climate action and energy management across their business. Since 2018, An Post has spent over €24m on sustainability capital expenditure. This has included investment in electric vehicles to decarbonise their fleet, and several other sustainability initiatives within their property portfolio, including installing panels and insulation. It is certified to the International Standard ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems and is audited by independent auditing companies to verify compliance.
University of Galway
The University of Galway is on a journey to reduce energy and carbon on campus. This journey was formalised in 2012 with accreditation to ISO50001. The University of Galway embeds sustainability into their culture, operational policies and governance structures. Their 2030 Zero Carbon Action Plan is fully costed to transition to a zero-carbon campus in the next decade. It includes the installation of 2 district heating networks with biomass energy centres which are estimated to cost in the region €3.4 million. Other critical actions involve reviewing the building fabrics to improve U-values and reduce unwanted heat loss.
The Energy Team is an integral part of the University strategy, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, they completed €1.9 million of energy/carbon reduction projects, with an SEAI communities grant and college-related funding. The team ensures operations, research and behaviour are all major factors in the energy transition. They are committed to lead sustainability across the campus and beyond.
The Energy Team are an integral part of the University of Galway Sustainability Strategy. They operate a holistic approach.
University College Cork (UCC)
University College Cork (UCC) has a student-led, research-informed and practice-focused Green Campus program. UCC's energy management team has senior representatives from the Capital projects office, the Estates operational team and the academic community. The energy team prioritise an energy efficiency first approach. They operate their estate, communication campaigns and energy action plans. This has proven to be the foundation of their many successes. They have rolled out a ‘Saver Saves Scheme’. This inspires the internal culture of energy savers across multiple teams. They have encouraged capital investment in UCC to reduce its overall energy consumption. Since 2016, they have implemented over 100 energy efficiency projects aligned with their ISO 50001 Energy Management Programme. These range from lighting upgrades, building management system upgrades and building retrofits. They commenced their heating decarbonisation programme in 2021. This was built on the successes of all their activities so far.
AbbVie
AbbVie is a biopharmaceutical business. It has five manufacturing facilities and three offices across Ireland. AbbVie Team Evergreen is the AbbVie All-Ireland Sustainability Team. It includes Site Directors, HR Directors, and Communications Leadership. They have set ambitious, long-term environmental decarbonisation goals. They have a target to reduce scopes 1 and 2 by 50% by 2035, including 100% renewable electricity. The team focus on supporting and enabling the delivery of AbbVie’s sustainability goals. They work on building relationships with the community and supporting sustainable projects. They focus on absolute reductions in carbon emissions, water and waste generation. They are striving for zero waste in landfill at their sites. This is all while driving increases in renewable electricity and sustainability. Team Evergreen and the site energy teams have achieved a 6.51 GWh (3%) reduction in 2021 energy anda 48% reduction in CO2 (since 2015). All Abbvie sites are certified to the International Standard ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
The cross-departmental Dún Laoghaire – Rathdown energy team is representative of their significant energy use, including public lighting, transport fleet and large buildings. Dún Laoghaire – Rathdown has improved its energy performance by 51% in 2020, compared to the baseline year of 2009. They are continuously improving energy efficiency and carbon reduction through their ISO 50001 Energy Management System. Dún Laoghaire – Rathdown’s goal is to create sustainable and cost effective zero-carbon green towns and villages and to act as an exemplar.
National University of Ireland Galway
The NUI Galway energy team are key members of the Community and University Sustainability Project which brings together Senior Management, Students, staff, academics, researchers, Health Service Executive, Galway City Council and local community groups. NUI Galway are on a journey to reduce energy on campus, formalised in 2012 with accreditation to ISO50001. This has allowed the energy team successfully to achieve 40% energy savings by 2020. In 2021 NUI Galway were ranked 14th in World Universities for SDG 7: Energy.
Pfizer, Grange Castle
The Grange Castle site is the first Pfizer site in the world to develop a clear plan for carbon neutrality by 2030. The energy team engaged with over 150 people who impact energy on site. From this, they developed credible initiatives to support their 2030 goals. They commenced a range of diverse projects and initiatives since 2012 which include; operational controls, process changes, design reviews, large capital investment and awareness initiatives, all within a highly regulated environment.
We are absolutely delighted and grateful to receive this award for the energy team. Credit, of course, must go to all the hardworking members of the energy team but I would also like to thank the DLR management team, the staff, the elected representatives and the stakeholders. We are so thrilled.
Application guidelines
- Please submit your application online by 5pm Friday 7th July.
- You are eligible to apply under more than one category. Simply follow the online guidelines and copy and paste your application to a new category and amend your answers as appropriate.
- Please ensure all mandatory fields are completed before you hit submit.
- Please complete the 'Data' section to the best of your ability.
- Once you submit, you can still edit your application up to the deadline date.
- Please keep attachments to 5MB or less.
- Shortlisted applications will be announced in August.