SQT Blog

ATTENTION!

1. Does your organisation employ more than 250 people directly?
2. Does your organisation have an annual turnover of more than €50 million per year and/or an annual balance sheet in excess of €43 million?
3. Are you a public body with individual buildings having a total useful floor area of more than 500m² or an annual energy spend of more than €35,000?

If you have answered ‘No’ to the above questions, this legislation is voluntary for your organisation.

However, if you have answered ‘Yes’ to any of the above questions, you must complete a high quality energy audit by the 5^th December 2015, notify SEAI once complete, and repeat this every four years thereafter.  Alternatively, you can have a certified ISO 50001 Energy Management System in place, which requires you to conduct regular energy audits to maintain certification.

These are the rules established in the recently published (October 2014) European Union (Energy Efficiency) Regulations 2014, which transpose Article 8 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU).

If your organisation meets the qualification criteria outlined, but is not fully covered by ISO 50001, you will need to conduct a high quality energy audit to comply with the Regulations.

These audits must include energy used by your buildings, industrial processes and transport to identify cost-effective energy saving measures.  The audits must sufficiently represent the overall energy performance of the organisation and the reliable identification of the most significant opportunities for improvement.

Audits are to be conducted with reference to the recently published ISO 50002:2014 or EN 16247 1-4.  Lead auditors conducting the audits must be members of the National Registration Scheme. For your audits, your organisation must:

1. Calculate its total consumption
2. Identify its areas of significant energy consumption
3. Appoint a registered energy auditor
4. Notify the SEAI
5. Keep records

In order to comply with the Regulations, the audits must:

1. Analyse the participant’s energy consumption and energy efficiency
2. Use life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) instead of Simple Payback Periods (SPP)
3. Contain detailed and validated calculations for the proposed measures to determine potential savings
4. Be based on up-to-date, measured, traceable operational data on energy consumption and (for electricity) load profiles

The organisation should be aware that if it does not meet its auditing obligations, for instance by failing to do the required audits or notify SEAI of compliance, it may be prosecuted by the SEAI and is liable on summary conviction to a class A fine.

 

Find out more about comprehensive lead auditor training necessary for you to conduct your own energy audits here.

 

Submitted by Ronan O’Sullivan, Antaris Consulting
To read more blogs from Antaris, click here

Save Energy – Save Money – Help the Environment

 

Light, Electrical Appliances & Energy Tips:

• Turn lights on only when you need them and turn off when you leave the room.
• Keep your lamps and lamp shades dust free – more light in less time.
• If you want lighten your lighting bill, replace incandescent bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescents and LED lighting.
• On outdoor security lighting use timers or motion sensors. They run only when required.

• In general, the most energy efficient HD televisions are LED followed by LCD and then Plasma.
• Switch off and save up. When you leave the TV on standby it can use up to half the electricity in standby as when switched on.
• Be smart with your computer, use energy saving mode and turn it off when not in use.
• If you want save up to 20% on your electricity bill try using a home energy monitoring device. It can help you to manage your energy consumption.
• When replacing a home appliance always chose an appliance with the highest energy efficiency rating. It is a good choice for your wallet and for the environment.
• Plug out mobile phone chargers when not in use

Kitchen & Laundry Tips:

• Use lids on your saucepans. The food will be tastier and it will reduce the cooking time.
• Cook several items of food at one time. Use pans that can divide into sections or use the different temperatures of the space in oven (hotter on top, cooler below).
• When you use the oven resist the temptation to check every minute! 20% of the heat escapes each time you open the door!
• Slow cookers and pressure cookers save energy.
• When using the kettle boil only the quantity of water you need. It is better for the bill, for the environment and for your health. Over-boiled water has a high concentration of limestone.
• Stop the dishwasher before the drying cycle and open the door to let the dishes air-dry.
• If you put hot food into fridge or freezer, they will have to work extra hard to cool it. You can let the food cool first and then put it in the fridge or freezer.
• Defrost your freezer at least every 6 months and check your fridge and freezers door seals.
• Put a full load in the washing machine if you can and use the lowest water temperature required. In this way you can save the money and save the fibres – your clothes remain new longer.
• Iron smart – you should do the low temperature clothes first and the high temperature clothes last.
• Weather permitting dry your clothes outside on the line.  In Ireland, the weather doesn’t always permit this (though we’ve had a good run!!).  If using a tumble dryer, dry heavy and light articles separately and turn the dryer off as soon as the clothes are dry.

Heating Tips:

• When going away, turn off your central heating and set the timer to warm the house up for your return. Switch off heating before you go to bad. The radiators will continue to heat your home for some time.
• Use time clocks to ensure the heating system works only when you need. With central heating systems use zone controls where necessary and fit thermostatic radiator valves to all radiators.
• Turn heating thermostat down by 1°C can save you up to 10% on your annual heating costs. Room thermostats should be set on 18°C for the bedroom, and on 20°C for the living room.
• Your boiler is heart of an efficient heating system. You should have it serviced annually to ensure it is working as efficiently as possible.
• Ensure your house is well insulated. Double glazing and loft & external wall insulation are fundamental for saving money and for keeping your house warm. Improving your insulation is one of the best investments you can make in your home.
• Carpets or rugs are good to insulate floors.
• In cooler weather, keep the windows and doors closed – save the heat!
• Curtains – close at night and open during the day. This little trick will help you to improve your house temperature management.
• If you have a chimney but you don’t use or use occasionally you can fit a removable chimney cover to cut down the air infiltration.
• Before you turn on your central heating…put on a jumper!
• Radiators: to deflect heat back into a room place a shelf or longer window ledge over the radiator. For the same reason fit reflective foil-backed insulation behind it if it is on the external wall.

Water Heating Tips:

• If your boiler is more than 10 years old, to plan to replace it. The modern ones are significantly more energy efficient. Older boilers operate at lower efficiency levels; on average 60% – 70% which means you are wasting heat and money.
• To avoid overheating water put a thermostat to your hot water cylinder.
• Lag your hot water pipes where you can and fit an insulating jacket on your hot water cylinder. For best results replace your existing hot water cylinder with a cylinder with factory applied insulation.
• Take a shower rather than a bath. Usually an electric shower uses only one fifth of the energy of a full bath.
• To save water and energy you should use a low flow shower head.
• Use radiant heat lamps to heat the bathroom area rather than fan heaters.
• If you use spray taps, you can reduce the amount of hot water you use.

You can also save Energy at work.  If you are interested in training in this area, view our range of Energy Management training courses – many of which are accredited.

Sources of Energy Saving Tips & Tools:

http://www.airtricity.com/ie/home/smarter-energy/

http://www.bordgaisenergy.ie/energy-efficiency/home/

https://www.electricireland.ie/ei/residential-energy-services/home/index.jsp

http://www.energia.ie/Energy-Services/Energy-Efficiency

Figures released from ISO show a large uptake over the previous twelve months.  There are over 19,573 standard developed by the ISO since its formation in 1947. The reach of the organisation has expanded with national members 164 countries, rising from 162 in 2011. Ireland’s representative body is the NSAI. The national members consist of 111 member bodies, 49 correspondent members and four subscriber members.

The number of active projects in 2012 has increased to 4056, from 4007 in 2011. Consequently, the number of standards published has also risen from 1208 in 2011, to 1280 in 2012.

A summary of the statistics is shown in the table below.

Table 1 Global Distribution of Certificates 2011 and 2012

Standard	No. of Certs Issued 2012	No. of Certs Issued 2011	Increase	Increase (%)
ISO 9001 (Quality)	1,101,272	1,079,647	21,625	2%
ISO 14001 (Environmental)	285,844	261,957	23,887	9%
ISO 50001 (Energy)	1,981	459	1,522	332%
ISO 27001 (Information Security)	19,577	17,355	2,222	13%
ISO 22000 (Food Safety)	23,231	19,351	3,880	20%
ISO/TS 16949 (Quality Automotive)	50,071	47,512	2,559	5%
ISO 13485 (Quality Medical Devices)	22,237	19,849	2,388	12%
Total	1,504,213	1,446,130	58,083	4%

Source (ISO, 2013)

From Table 1 above, it can be seen that the uptake for the seven most popular standards have all increased over the past year. The greatest increase in uptake has occurred with ISO 50001, with an increase of 332%.

This increase is due to the fact that ISO 50001 was released in June 2011, and therefore the 2011 figures represent six months of uptake. In addition this is the first internationally recognised energy management standard.  The large increase may be the result of companies with existing standards upgrading their systems to comply with the requirements of ISO 50001, as the standard is in its infancy.

Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland’s Large Industry Energy Network (LIEN) is a voluntary network comprising of 140 companies representing 60 percent of Ireland’s industrial energy usage. A staggering €60m in avoided energy costs has been achieved since 2008 with the Scheme. SEAI also have a scheme under the LIEN, called the Energy Agreements Programme (EAP), over which there are 80 members which requires organisations to implement an energy management system.

In addition to this Ireland is home to many of the world largest MNCs (e.g. Google, Pfizer) and these companies are paving the way for best practice energy management for their colleagues in other countries and this has been enforced further with the swift implementation of ISO 50001. Germany and the UK are the market leaders in the largest number of ISO 50001 certificates issued but Ireland is coming up behind these countries, and is driven by SEAI’s goal to ensure that all members of the EAP have achieved ISO 50001 certification by the end of 2013. (Brogan, 2012)

The global uptake of ISO 50001 over the first twelve months has exceeded that of ISO 14001 in its initial twelve month period, and is rivalling the number of uptakes of the ISO 9001 in the 1990’s.

ISO 9001 makes up the majority of the certificates issued with over 73% of the global total awarded in 2012.

Table 2 Distribution of Certificates 2011 and 2012 in Ireland

Standard	Intro Year	No. of Certs Issued 2012	No. of Certs Issued 2011	Change (%)	Total Certs Issued
ISO 9001 (Quality)	1993	2,331	1,875	+24%	43,462
ISO 14001 (Environmental)	1999	417	663	-37%	4,947
ISO 50001 (Energy)	2011	35	n/a	n/a	35
ISO 27001 (Information Security)	2006	48	30	+60%	146
ISO 22000 (Food Safety)	2007	49	49	0%	246
ISO/TS 16949 (Automotive Quality)	2004	23	21	+10%	187
ISO 13485 (Medical Devices Quality)	2004	193	159	+21%	975
Total		3,096	2,797	+11%	49,998

(Source: ISO, 2013)

From Table 2, it can be seen that the distribution of ISO 9001 makes up the majority (over 75%) of the total number of certificates distributed. The uptake of this standard has increased 24% on the previous year also. The large uptake for this standard has been driven by the introduction of EU directives on products which specify minimum standards

ISO 9001

 

 

 

 

Figure 1 ISO 9001 Annual Distribution of Certificates

The distribution of ISO 9001 conformance certificates peaked in 2000 and 2001 where 3700 certificates were being issued annually. The uptake of the standard has dropped off since then to more modest levels. Yet 2012 saw an increase of 24% in certificates issued versus 2011, as 2331 certificates were issued.  From all the certificates distributed in 2012 in Ireland, over 75% of them were for ISO 9001.

ISO 14001

 

 

Figure 2 ISO 14001 Annual Distribution of Certificates

417 certificates distributed in 2012. This is lowest distribution rate of ISO 14001 certification for the previous five years. This drop off may be due to maturity of standard and proposed introduction of the new ISO 14001 in 2015.

ISO 50001

The number of ISO 50001 certificates issued in 2012 was 35. This number quite big considering it is a voluntary standard. The standard was only introduced in June 2011 and many companies with existing EnMS standards in place, such as EN 16001, may be waiting for their existing certification to expire prior to acquiring the new standard. The next ISO survey will give a good indication as to whether the SEAI met their goal stated above.

 

ISO 27001

 

 

Figure 3 ISO 27001 Annual Distribution of Certificates

There has been significant growth in the uptake of ISO 27001 since its uptake in 2006, where only six certificates were distributed, to 48 certificates being distributed in 2012.

ISO 22000 (Food Safety)

 

 

Figure 4 ISO 22000 Annual Distribution of Certificates

Launched in 2007, 23 ISO 22000 certificates were issued, and annually since 2010, the number of certificates issues has risen to 49.

 

ISO/TS 16949 (Automotive Quality)

 

 

 

Figure 5 ISO/TS 16949 Annual Distribution of Certificates

The adoption of ISO /TS 16949 has grown from seven in 2004 and 2005, to over 20 annually for the previous 6 years.

 

ISO 13485 (Medical Device Quality)

 

 

 

Figure 6 ISO 13485 Annual Distribution of Certificates

Progressive growth has occurred in the uptake of ISO 13485 since 2004. The number of certificates has increased tenfold from its introduction in 2004, where 19 certificates were issued, to 2012 where 193 certificates were issued.

 

To read more blogs from Antaris, click here

To achieve multi-jurisdictional compliance under standards including ISO 14001 and 50001 and OHSAS 18001, understanding and applying the law of each jurisdiction in which your organisation operates is a necessity.

To this end, there are two key challenges for an organisation operating at multiple sites and/or in multiple jurisdictions:

1. Understanding the legislation, regulations and directives (‘laws’) pertinent to the activities being undertaken in each jurisdiction
2. Achieving confidence in the business’s level of compliance with those laws

What at face value appears to be a black and white situation quickly becomes grey as operators dig into the detail of their business.  A number of questions may be exposed:

1.       What jurisdiction(s) am I operating in?

Do you think you are running your business in Spain, Italy, and Germany?  Perhaps you should consider that you actually operate in the Cantabrian Autonomous Community, the Marche Region, and Hesse Lander.  Taking these three, relatively complex, European Union members as an example, in just three countries, you could be operating in 53 jurisdictions (and that does not consider the added complexities of local byelaws which may exist in single cities and provinces).

2.       What level of detail do I need to cover?

From a pragmatic perspective, the creation of central legal registers to collect laws at a European, National, Regional, and Local level should be (in the writer’s opinion) considered in light of the law of diminishing returns.  Any organisation operating in multiple jurisdictions must decide what is important to include in its legal register from an EH&S perspective.

For example, Kirkby Lonsdale in the English County of Cumbria has a local bye-law prohibiting members of the public from jumping off a bridge at a local pleasure spot.  It is fair to say that the benefit of including this bye-law (and assessing compliance against it) in a health & safety register for a local organisation would be marginal at best.

3.       What can I afford to source?

There is also a cost angle to consider: to fully map all the law relevant in the Lugo province in Galicia is likely to require the engagement of a local individual. Alone this might be practical (if that individual can be found). However, can this scale across the other 49 provinces of Spain? In today’s competitive business environment, it is unlikely many organisations will have the financial resources to plough into this kind of activity. To an extent, this is the type of tacit knowledge you might expect your factory manager to have, in much the same way that you expect that he knows to direct 44 tonne trucks down certain roads to avoid structurally weak bridges.

4.       What does my certification auditor expect to see?

As commercial operations, certification bodies are under similar constraints to the organisations they audit with regards to having a full understanding of local law.  The certification body must be given confidence that you present a well-organised, proactive organisation with well-documented legal registers.  However, they are highly unlikely to work through endless lists of local ordinances seeking to ‘catch you out’.

5.       How can we feel confident that compliance is being assessed?

There is one person who really cares about feeling confident about compliance: you – hence this section catching your eye.  You probably sit in a QHSE role responsible for several sites, perhaps at a country or pan-continental level.

But why do you want to feel confident about compliance?  There are two main drivers within the multi-jurisdictional business:

1. The desire to retain your certification
2. But most importantly: ensuring that corporate does not find out about non-compliance first through local or national media.

Clauses 4.5.2, 4.3.2 and 4.6.2 of the previously mentioned standards all stipulate a requirement to assess compliance with applicable legislation on an on-going basis.  However, the practical business risk of negative publicity due to non-compliance is at least as important to many businesses.

Central visibility of dispersed activity increases corporate confidence in the operations’ legal compliance.  When implementing an approach to provide confidence on compliance, the QHSE practitioner must consider two things: collecting enough information, balanced against ensuring that any approach taken can be easily mastered by non-specialists.

This can only be effectively achieved at reasonable cost through the delivery of questionnaires via technology – be this MS SharePoint, an internal reporting solution, or a contracted solution like thePegasus Legal Register.

Conclusion

Achieving and maintaining legal compliance can be a huge challenge for companies operating a number of sites across multiple jurisdictions. Addressing this challenge means organisations must take a closer look at their businesses requirements and constraints and make an informed choice about the level of compliance risk that is acceptable to their operations. While there are a number of methods for identifying relevant legislation and monitoring your company’s compliance, cost, comprehensiveness, quality and corporate visibility should all be considered when selecting a solution.

ISO 50001:2011 is a standard created by ISO for an energy management system. This standard’s purpose is to enable organisations to follow a systematic approach in achieving continual improvement of energy performance. ISO 50001 aims to help organisations to continually reduce energy use, resulting in a reduction in energy costs and also their carbon footprint.

ISO 50001 provides a framework of requirements for organisations to:

• Develop a policy for efficient energy use
• Use data constructively to understand energy use
• Implement targets and objectives to meet policy
• Review results against policy, targets and objectives

Benefits

• Achieves energy savings of 10%-25% through close monitoring of energy management policy
• Builds energy management best practice into business practices
• Improves transparency and communication of energy resource management
• Helps to evaluate new energy-efficient technology
• Provides a framework to promote energy management throughout the supply chain
• Reduces administrative work

Drivers

• Corporate sustainability programmes
• Energy cost reduction initiatives
• Demand from vendors in every part of the supply chain
• Carbon and energy taxes
• Requirement to reduce carbon footprint

Certification is not obligatory. Some organisations implement the standard for its benefits alone, while others opt for ISO 50001 certification.

A company’s senior management must be engaged in order for ISO 50001 to be a success. To implement and sustain adoption of the standard requires behavioural change across the organisation.

Certificate	Year of first publication	Number of certified organisations
ISO 9001	1987	>1m
ISO 14001	1996	>250,000
ISO 50001	2011	>500

From the above chart it is clear that ISO 50001 is still at an early stage of adoption in comparison to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. As with many new standards, companies may well want to wait until the benefits of ISO 50001 are proven or until customers demand that such energy policies are implemented.

One particular reason for lack of adoption may be a lack of education around the difference between ISO 50001 and ISO 14001. Many organisations will manage energy via ISO 14001, but where energy has a significant environmental impact, ISO 50001 provides a sharper focus on energy efficiency which may ultimately have more benefits for an organisation.

Adoption currently has been led by energy intensive industries such as smelting, mining, chemical, glass and cement. Whether or not adoption will go beyond these industries could be influenced by energy costs, customer demand and education in the benefits of the standard itself.

With Europe committing to a reduction in emissions of 20% by 2020, there is definitely growing support for energy efficiency to bolster emissions reduction efforts. The adoption of ISO 50001 as the European standard for energy management systems sets a precedent: the EU is actively pursuing a policy to implement energy management systems in order to drive more energy efficient industries. Now the real challenge will be to encourage the adoption of ISO 50001.

For more information on Energy Management and ISO 50001, check out our Energy Management training courses here.

Blog courtesy of http://www.pegasuslegalregister.com/resources/pegasus-blog

We are delighted to bring you two free webinars from Antaris Consulting.  Antaris provide SQT’s Quality, Health & Safety, Environment & Energy Training courses.

 1.      Can the threat of adverse publicity motivate companies to achieve legal compliance?

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/1890875576166800384

This webinar explores the question ‘Have adverse publicity orders lead to more effective regulatory compliance?’  You will have the opportunity to learn about current trends in multi-jurisdictional compliance and hear from one of our senior consultants, Cheryl Robertson. Cheryl has previously worked in the oil and gas industry in Environment and Health & Safety. Cheryl is a senior consultant with Antaris, with over ten years’ experience in the field of consulting, specialising in Environmental Management and Integrated Management Systems with Environment, Health & Safety and Quality.

2.      Delivering Multi-Jurisdictional Compliance

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/8987522742387711744

This webinar looks at how multi-national companies can overcome the challenges of delivering multi-jurisdictional compliance. This webinar is delivered by Gerard Higgins, the CEO of Antaris Consulting and has over 20 years’ experience in Environment, Health and Safety.

For more information, visit Antaris website

The ESB and Chambers Ireland have just come out with a new ‘Bright Ideas A Smarter Business Guide to Energy Efficiency’. Here is a copy.

The guide gives many useful tips as to how to reduce energy consumption. It is well laid out and quickly read. Being more energy efficient makes sound economic and environmental sense and every individual in the organisation has a part to play.

Many projects completed for both Lean Six Sigma Black and Green Belt programmes have achieved significant cost reductions through improved energy usage in companies.

I for one will be using the guide to review our own performance in this area. Given we provide many Energy Management training courses, we must walk the walk, not just talk the talk!

A new article in this month’s Envirosolutions, claims that Organisations are failing to take advantage of the opportunities to save money through improved energy purchasing and efficiency. In the current rather challenging times, organisations should be looking at every avenue available to them to save cash.

The article states that a high level Energy Manager position can often pay for itself in as little as four to five months. The article is from Paul Baier, vice president of sustainability consulting at Groom Energy in the US and is worth a read.

He highlights the fact that…

“Opportunities to save money are everywhere. There are, consistently, opportunities to reduce overall energy spend by 5 to 15 percent through projects with a two to three year payback period. This is serious money for companies with large energy budgets. A typical project may improve energy purchasing practices or increase energy efficiency.

Generating savings need not require a capital investment – zero capital projects also exist. One US retailer, for example, saves $60,000 per year at each of its distribution warehouses by adjusting the temperature set points for its frozen and refrigerated warehouse to be cooler at night and warmer during the day, when electricity rates were 50 percent higher. This same retailer saves $15,000 annually by recharging its electrical forklifts at 6 pm instead of 3pm, as was previously the custom, in order to take advanage of reduced electricity rates.

Why aren’t other companies exploiting these kinds of opportunities? “

If your organisation is not currently taking advantage of the savings or doesn’t have the expertise to do so, it might be worth checking out our six day Certified Energy Manager course (awarded by the Association of Energy Engineers). Our next course commences on 08 February – it’s never too early to start planning! Further information is available here

We would like to congratulate a number of our customers who have been shortlisted as finalists for the 2010 Sustainable Energy Awards. The annual Sustainable Energy Awards encourage, recognise and reward excellence in energy management among energy users of all sizes. 2010 is the seventh year of the awards and SEAI received over 450 expressions of interest across 9 categories this year.

A growing number of organisations wish to reduce their impact on the environment and incorporate best energy practices, often saving money along the way.

We have a wide range of Energy Management courses available, including the first IEMA-approved EN 16001 course worldwide.

Best of luck to our customers in the final. Winners will be announced at a gala event in Dublin on 25th November

With September coming and children returning to school and students starting or returning to college, many people begin to think of their own training needs. There has never been as much emphasis on upskilling for all of us.

Here in SQT we find a big increase in course bookings at this time of year. I just want to draw your attention to some of the longer courses commencing shortly. Here’s a quick list and I’ve inserted a link back to the course page, where further details can be found. I’ve included public courses of four days or more duration.

Black Belt – HETAC level 8, commencing 12th October Dublin

Green Belt – HETAC level 7, commencing 22nd September Dublin and 19th October in Cork

Green Belt – HETAC level 6, commencing 22nd September Dublin and 19th October in Cork

NEBOSH International Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, commencing 23rd September Dublin

NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, commencing 28th September Dublin

Certified Energy Management – AEE, commencing 21st September Dublin

Train the Trainer, National Register of Trainers – FETAC level 6, commencing 12th October Dublin and 16th November Limerick

Quality Management Systems Auditor/Lead Auditor – IRCA, commencing various dates in the Autumn in Dublin and Limerick

Lean Manufacturing Tools – FETAC level 5, commencing 14th September Dublin

IEMA Approved Foundation Course in Environmental Auditing (Ireland), commencing 11th October Dublin

IEMA Approved Advanced EMS Auditing Course (Ireland), commencing 22nd November Dublin

Occupational Health & Safety Management System Lead Auditor, commencing 8th November Dublin

Good luck to all.