Innovative local coach company Matthews.ie were lauded at a major national conference this week as pioneers in the area of energy management.
Matthews.ie, who were the first passenger transport company in the UK and Ireland (and only the second in the world) to achieve the coveted ISO 50001 certificated energy management standard in 2013, were keynote speakers at this year’s ISO 50001 conference.
Matthews had secured the major standard thanks to a five-year energy saving campaign which saw them reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20%.
The company’s energy management journey had led them to a 27% reduction in fuel usage and the title of Ireland’s greenest passenger transport company.
ISO 50001 is a voluntary international standard developed by ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) which aims to help organisations continually reduce their energy use, and therefore their energy costs and their greenhouse gas emissions.
General Manager Noel Matthews and HR Manager Majella Lambe delivered a keynote address at the ISO50001 Ireland conference in Croke Park – sharing their unique story with over 200 companies who are considering following their lead across a range of industries.
“Through continuous driver education and energy monitoring, we have reduced our fuel consumption from an industry standard of 33 litres per 100km to 26 litres per 100km, which makes a huge difference across our fleet,” said Noel.
“Our CO2 and GHG are now a full 20% lower than when we started on our journey.
“With our emissions at just 20g of CO2 per passenger kilometre, compared to an A-labeled car at 140g/km, we can confidently say that we are Ireland’s cleanest passenger transport service.”
The scale of Matthews’ achievement was evident in the quality of the other main speakers at the event who were also asked to encourage others to achieve the certification – eBay, Microsoft, ABP Foods, SEAI and Roadstone.
Majella outlined the accurate daily systems that Matthews have put in place to monitor energy usage, the way in which the company measures both vehicle and driver accuracy and how the business has benefitted from achieving the standard.
“ISO 50001 requires us to continuously improve our energy management system, and our resulting energy performance year-on-year,” said Majella.
“It also offers public procurement and licensing agencies the means to objectively measure and differentiate clean and sustainable transport operators under the Green Procurement Policy.”