Rotunda Hospital -Making strides in energy management through ISO 50001
The Health Service Executive (HSE), one of the largest energy users in the country is engaged with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) to develop an overall strategic plan for improved energy performance in all public healthcare facilities.
As part of these activities the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin has been steadily reviewing its energy usage and costs over the past few years. The hospital is committed to improving its energy efficiency and playing its part in achieving the goals of the National Efficiency Action Plan 2009 goal of a 33% reduction in public sector energy use by 2020.
The Rotunda’s energy management team strongly believe that the successful reduction of the hospitals energy costs and subsequently its carbon footprint massively depends on the efforts made by hospital staff. Management are acting as energy champions in order to achieve the targets set. Also an energy awareness section has been included in the Rotunda Delivery (hospital in-house magazine).
The completion of tasks as simple as ensuring lights are switched off when they are not necessary or at the end of the day, switching off pc’s and hard drives and switching off all non-essential medical equipment when not in use are all examples of ways Rotunda staff are keeping the hospitals energy costs down. It is estimated that the completion of low cost/no cost actions such as these will reduce the hospitals overall electricity bill by 10-15%.
A key approach which the hospital has taken in order to achieve its planned energy reductions is to implement its energy management programme according to the principles of the ISO 50001. This is a new and internationally recognized energy management standard from the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the Rotunda is committed to achieving ISO 50001 certification in the near future.
Enerit ISO 50001 software has been selected by the hospital to implement its energy management programme. Enerit ISO 50001 software enables organizations to achieve extra energy savings by focusing on the human behaviour aspect of energy management, making it the ideal platform for the hospital to implement and manage their energy management programme.
HSE Estates and the Rotunda Hospital feel that initiating a strategic well defined approach to energy management is the only way to effectively monitor and record energy savings. The Rotunda Hospital has achieved this by introducing an energy management software tool to the hospital. This will facilitate the systematic approach to energy management by implementing an ISO 50001 framework and using Enerit software has made sure that all energy saving actions, whether large or small are managed through to completion. It also helps to identify and manage new energy saving opportunities effectively while continuously improving our approach to energy management.
The Rotunda Hospital can demonstrate how other hospitals and health care facilities across Ireland can make significant energy savings by implementing a continuous and systematic energy management programme according to ISO 50001.
