I Network

Some of Ireland’s largest employers improved their competitiveness by avoiding €60 million in energy costs during 2008.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Mr Eamon Ryan, announced the news at the Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) global conference on energy management in Farmleigh, Dublin.

The global conference included energy experts from over 20 countries including the US, Japan, Italy and Finland. At the conference more was learnt about the success of Ireland’s large enterprises in driving substantial energy efficiencies through implementing Ireland’s Energy Management Standard.

The following companies are amongst the 122 members of SEI’s Large Energy Network (LIEN) who reduced their energy costs by €60 million in 2008:

• Intel
• Diageo
• Pfizer
• Glanbia

At the conference, Minister Ryan stated that:

“Ireland’s large enterprises are developing innovative energy solutions and moving towards exporting their energy expertise. This is vital to developing the green economy and supporting jobs and innovative industry into the future. It also builds upon Ireland’s foundation as a leader in the area of energy management, which we are delighted to share with our international colleagues attending today’s conference in Farmleigh.”

The SEI’s LIEN programme has been in place for 15 years and participants include over 60% of Ireland’s industrial energy use and collectively had energy costs in excess of €1 billion in 2008.

The country’s small businesses could save €300m a year by taking simple steps to reduce their energy costs.

This comes after the completion assessments of 15,000 small companies across the country by Sustainable Energy Ireland over the past two years.

Companies managed to reduce their energy costs by an average of 10-20% from taking part in the SEI programme by making simple changes such as changing to more efficient lighting or heating systems.

It is estimated that if all of the small companies in Ireland made similar changes it would make an estimated saving of around €300m per year. SEI is now encouraging companies to take advantage of it’s free energy assessment to make look at ways in which savings could be made.

According to SEI, they estimate that lighting is the main factor in the cost of electricity, whereas in restaurants and pubs, refrigeration was the largest cost.

SEI says that lighting is the most significant energy cost for many businesses, making up to half of the total energy bill for offices and shops. In pubs and restaurants, the assessments revealed that refrigeration can often be the biggest cost.

Brian Motherway, Head of Strategy at Sustainable Energy Ireland, stated that,

Most businesses that come to SEI save at least 10% of their energy costs almost immediately

This isn’t pie in the sky stuff, we are talking about simple steps that will cut energy bills, save money and protect jobs. Many businesses are already acting and a lot of money has already been saved

For more information about the free energy assessments which are being provided by SEI, please feel free to visit the following website:

• www.sei.ie