• WEXFORD COUNTY COUNCIL ACHIEVES THE ISO 50001 STANDARD FOR ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Councillor Ger Carthy, Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council has formally announced that Wexford County Council, supported by 3 Counties Energy Agency has achieved the globally recognised international energy management standard, ISO 50001, becoming more advanced in optimising their energy efficiency.

The ISO 50001 standard was developed to support public and private sector organisations committed to efficient energy management providing the most robust framework for achieving cost and carbon emission reductions.

Councillor Ger Carthy, Cathaoirleach, Wexford County Council said ʻWe are very proud to achieve this standard. In achieving this international accreditation energy performance improvement is on the top of the agenda for the organisation and I commend all involved for the great work done to date. Wexford County Council has committed to effective energy management and will meet 2020 public sector energy efficiency targets and has improved performance by 29% in 2019 when compared to the 2009 baseline period. The ISO50001 certification will be the basis of formulating a pathway to reach energy efficiency and carbon target for 2030 and beyondʼ. Tom Enright, Chief Executive of Wexford County Council said ʻachieving this standard is a significant accomplishment given the diversity of services that local authorities offer. We are focused and fully committed to continuously improving energy performance in all our operations. This year will see the completion of an extensive public lighting upgrade resulting in significant energy and operational costs savings. Upon completion approximately 97% of the public lights within the county will have been converted to high efficiency LED technology.ʼ Carolyne Godkin, Director of Services Wexford County Council paid tribute to the work undertaken by the cross-departmental energy team and the 3 Counties Energy Agency. She stated that new energy targets facing the Local Authority for 2030 will be challenging but ISO 50001 provides us with a systematic approach to achieve continuous improvement in terms of energy performance.ʼ Ray Murphy, Acting Chief Fire Officer with Wexford County Council who has led the certification programme stated that ʻThere is a program of works about to commence that has been recently approved with funding support under SEAIʼs Better Energy Communities programme. This will focus retrofitting several of our facilities such as District Offices, Libraries and Fire stations with a range of measures including insulation upgrades, fabric improvements, lighting upgrades and Solar PV. In terms of transport Wexford County Council has started to introduce Electric Vehicles where there are currently 4 electric vans and 3 forklifts within the fleet.ʼ

Sarah Kent, 3 Counties Energy Agency (3CEA) stated that ʻWe are very proud that our project partner, Wexford County Council is ISO 50001 accredited for its Energy Management System. It demonstrates that Wexford County Council is taking a systematic and logical approach in its responsibility to continually improve energy management as part of Climate Action goals and commitmentsʼ.