Whitfield achieves ISO50001 accreditation

Whitfield in Waterford City has become the first hospital in Ireland and the UK to achieve the new ISO50001 energy management accreditation.

001_wcw_260916

By working in partnership with the global resource management company, Veolia, since 2006, the Waterford based hospital has already made significant reductions to carbon emissions. Now with the ISO50001 status, Whitfield is set to annually save a further 220 tonnes of CO2 – equivalent to taking around 160 cars off the road each year.

 

The 13,000m2 hospital will now gain further energy and cost benefits from the accreditation through the structured energy management which will help reduce its impact on the environment. With energy management top of their sustainability and agenda Veolia has worked with the 90-bed hospital over the last 10 years delivering a wide range of energy and facilities services including introducing combined heat and power technology to supply secure, low carbon heat and electricity. Veolia also designed and installed a high efficiency chilled water system which resulted in a 33% energy saving from air conditioning. This combination of measures helps support patient care activities and delivers carefully controlled building conditions essential for medical care.

 

David Beirne, CEO of Whitfield added, “Achieving ISO50001 marks a real step forward in our sustainability on site, and will help promote greater energy awareness across our staff and patients. This in turn will allow us to redirect cost savings to improve patient care.”

 

Verified after an independent two-stage audit of the energy management systems and future targets, the ISO50001 recognition will now enable the on-site Veolia team to deliver more cost and emission savings by identifying new energy saving initiatives. This will lead to an enhanced energy performance and access to grant funding, with these improvements being independently audited on an annual basis.

 

Commenting on the achievement Niall Gleeson, Managing Director at Veolia Ireland said, “The ISO50001 accreditation really demonstrates how Whitfield has progressed and highlights the advances that have been made so far. We look forward to working with Whitfield to further develop the energy management programme and deliver sustainable energy and cost benefits that support the healthcare activities.”

 

If you would like to learn more about Whitfield’s services and facilities, you can visit Whitfield Clinic on www.whitfieldclinic.ie.

 

-ENDS-