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 the country to be certified to the international standard, the university said.

UCC partnered with Irish firm Enerit Ltd, and used its Enerit ISO 50001 software to implement the new energy management program. The software was able to integrate with the university’s existing energy management software, allowing the university to reach its accreditation goal within five months, UCC said. 

Over the years, UCC has won several grants from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) to support energy saving initiatives. The campus has projects currently under way involving lighting, metering, heat recovery, ventilation, photovoltaics and wind energy.

UCC decided to seek the ISO accreditation to reinforce overall sustainability efforts of the university with an internationally recognized system.

Released in June 2011, Enerit ISO 50001 software runs systematic energy management programs covering all aspects of the ISO 50001 standard including major energy users, energy saving opportunities, energy actions and planning, corrective actions and audit management, Enerit said.

According to Enerit, the software can help organizations to achieve energy savings between 10 and 20 percent and reduce the workload of an energy compliance project.

Photo: University College Cork