Tyndall National Institute at UCC has recently received certification under the ISO 50001 (Energy Management System) standard, and is one of the first research institutes of its kind in the world to receive this award. ISO 50001 is an international standard for energy management which assists organisations in their drive for energy efficiency, reduced consumption, a lower carbon footprint and lower costs.

Tyndall National Institute is one of Europe’s leading research centres, specialising in ICT hardware research, with about 450 staff, students and academic and industrial visiting researchers. Tyndall undertakes internationally-leading research into information and communications technology.

“We are delighted to have been awarded ISO 50001 certification, which is a direct result of the implementation of progressive energy management policies and initiatives as well as adhering to a sustainable design policy during our expansion programme over a number of years. Tyndall is a process-intensive research facility with exceptionally high levels of energy utilisation throughout the year. We implemented state-of- the-art energy efficient systems in our new research building and retrofitted the existing buildings with highly energy efficient equipment. Despite almost trebling our site footprint in recent years, we have reduced our energy consumption by 30% in real terms, an impressive result of our effective energy management policies.” says Cormac Harrington, head of operations at Tyndall National Institute.

University College Cork (UCC) recently separately became the first third level research institution worldwide to achieve the ISO 50001 standard.

Tyndall National Institute, UCC is this year’s winner of the ‘Renewable Energy Systems Award’ for its new research building. Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) announced the winner at its seventh annual Sustainable Energy Awards in Dublin recently.

The state-of-the-art semiconductor research facility is heated by energy generated from its data servers, saving 12% on energy costs. “We are delighted to receive this award which is a marvellous recognition of all the efforts of those involved in ensuring the new building was designed to the highest scientific, services and energy efficient standards,” says Cormac Harrington, head of business operations at Tyndall. “Reducing energy usage right across our process intensive facility is a core philosophy at Tyndall, and each heating and cooling system is designed to be kept as close as possible to ambient temperature, to minimize the carbon footprint of the systems.”

The new 5,000 sq m research building, which demands stringent room and humidity requirements, is heated by the energy generated from substantial clusters of data server, avoiding almost 2,000 MW of natural gas usage per year. These servers are a critical research tool at Tyndall, providing researchers with large-scale computational ability to complete intensive theory modelling programmes.

This is part of a sustainable development programme at Tyndall to reduce energy usage and carbon footprint across the site. By implementing energy saving measurements throughout the site Tyndall has already succeeded in achieving a 40% reduction in its overall energy usage.

CAPTION:

Pictured (left to right): Brid Horan, executive director  of ESB Services and Energy Solutions; Pat Mehigan, facilties manager, Tyndall; Cormac Harrington, head of business pperations, Tyndall; and Brendan Halligan, chairman of SEAI.