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Congratulations to Cork Airport – Winners of the Public Sector – Sustainable Energy Awards 2014.

InTouch Controls are delighted to work with Cork Airport to enable them to achieve their energy targets.

http://www.seai.ie/Your_Business/Sustainable_Energy_Awards/Winners_2014/Public-Sector/Public-Sector-Award-Winner.html

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The authority ranked the airport within the top 2% of 190 public bodies and Ireland’s fourth best performer overall in terms of energy reduction.

Cork Airport has introduced a continuous approach to energy management, focusing on optimising the existing operational control of the airport and ensuring all equipment and practices are as efficient as possible.

With 6 years remaining to the 2020 deadline of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, Cork Airport has surpassed the 33% target set out for public sector bodies and says it continuing to drive energy efficiency measures for continuous improvement.

Cork Airport managing director, Niall MacCarthy, explains: “We are absolutely delighted that Cork Airport has reduced its energy bills by 35% since 2009.

“This result is a great recognition of the initiatives, which Cork Airport has undertaken to ensure that we have the most effective approach to energy management.

“We have successfully achieved annual savings of €575,000 since 2009, which is a testimony to the hard work of all of the team at Cork Airport to make sure that we are continuously reducing emissions and reducing costs.”

Cork Airport is the international gateway to the south of Ireland, and welcomed more than 2.2 million passengers a year.

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For our current clients, our approval for ISO 9001:2008 provides peace of mind that we are committed to the continual improvement of our services,
enabling them to be confident that they are dealing with a reputable organisation that treats the needs of its clients as priority.
By regularly evaluating the performance of our organization at every level, we assure our customers that we are committed to providing them with superior customer service and the highest quality products.

For prospective clients it provides assurances that InTouch Controls Systems Ltd. work within robust management framework to the highest standards.

It is also recognition of the achievements of our team in applying a commitment to quality at the forefront of everything they do.

Read all about it in the BS News.  http://issuu.com/patlehane/docs/building_services_news_may_june__20/1

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InTouch Control Systems are proud to be associated with the design and commissioning of the Building Management System for EirGen Pharma’s state of the art high containment facility in Waterford.

EirGen Pharma specialises in the development, manufacture and registration of high potency cancer therapy products using innovative isolation technology to allow handling of high potency or moisture sensitive products in an environment which is safe to both the user and the product for global pharmaceutical markets.

InTouch Control Systems would like to take this opportunity to congratulate EirGen on their success and wish them continued success for the future in Ireland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p_WowoY0o4&sns=em

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If further proof was required of the need for human beings to address their behaviour regarding energy use it came in a 2013 report by the U.K. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It stated that scientists are 95% certain that we humans are the ‘dominant cause’ of global warming since the 1950s.
This view probably won’t come as much of a surprise. However, the good news is that through greater awareness of the effects of CO2, combined with the financial implications of rising utility bills, individuals are more willing and able than ever to use energy wisely. This is definitely the case when it comes to the domestic sector, but in workplaces throughout the nation energy is being wasted on a truly colossal scale. The question is, why are so many people prepared to treat energy use at work differently?
According to research conducted by Trend Controls through its energy audits, 39% of energy is wasted within the workplace. Perhaps of greater concern is that half of this figure can be directly attributed to poor behaviour such as leaving lights on after vacating a room, the use of individual fan heaters and windows that are left open with the radiators turned on. People wouldn’t do this at home, so why do it in the workplace?
To help establish a culture of energy efficiency, it is important to look at the causes of certain behaviour. For instance, if fan heaters are being used, it could be because certain parts of a building are not as warm as they should be. Making sure that a building has a comfortable temperature and good level of air quality is imperative in reducing activities that can lead to energy waste.
In the vast majority of cases, individuals engage in this kind of behaviour as a result of a poorly installed, operated and maintained building services infrastructure that are controlled by an equally inefficient building energy management system (BEMS).
When a BEMS is first commissioned it is configured around existing building layouts and occupancy patterns. These elements can change over time, leading to a highly detrimental effect on comfort conditions. For example, time clocks and setpoints can be incorrectly configured. Heating and cooling technology might be in conflict. Control loops, valves, actuators and sensors can become incorrectly calibrated. Finally, the addition or relocation of equipment will have a highly detrimental effect on comfort conditions.
A typical example is electrical equipment, such as a photocopier, being placed near a temperature sensor. This increases the temperature around the sensor, which will then call for cool air to reduce it. The cool airflow will affect adjacent controlled zones so people will feel colder and use fan heaters to warm up. This scenario of heating fighting cooling is all too common, but it is one of the easiest problems to address.
While this explanation is not intended to justify or excuse bad behaviour — opening a window when the heating is on makes no sense whichever way you look at it — it does explain certain actions. People are often so far removed from the BEMS that they feel powerless to make the type of ‘sensible’ adjustments that could reduce waste.
Giving local control back to stakeholders is important and something that BEMS manufacturers like Trend recognise. Our IQ View8 display makes energy management as simple and accessible as possible. It has a full colour touchscreen display that provides a self-configuring user interface to a BEMS, and its intuitive operation means that users can access and act upon energy management information instantly.
If the touchscreen display is sited in a prominent location like the canteen, staff can view and adjust operating times, monitor alarms and make modifications to controller parameters. IQ View8 can display schematics that provide realtime information such as temperature, humidity and setpoints from the system — enabling users to directly adapt their environment and avoid taking alternative action. What’s more, it can also reset everything to a pre-defined state at a certain point in time.
With a growing number of companies taking their corporate social responsibilities (CSR) seriously, those that want to increase stakeholder engagement can also use their BEMS to demonstrate their commitment to CO2 reduction and show the impact of their energy-saving measures. Having a prominent visual reminder about energy use also reminds employees that their actions have environmental consequences and should, therefore, in turn encourage better behaviour.
One way of doing this is through products such as Trend’s EnergyEye, a software application that can be shown on a large-format monitor. Often located in reception areas and other similar high-traffic locations, it provides a view of a building’s energy performance and presents a continually updated record of its consumption and carbon emissions — showing at a glance whether they are on, below or above performance targets.
Wasting energy is like pouring money down the drain and with much of a building’s energy consumption influenced by its occupants, their actions play a large part in dealing with this issue. The first step is to minimise the likelihood of bad human behaviour by optimising a BEMS and ensuring that the building-services infrastructure is working correctly. The second is to provide employees with the necessary tools to control the conditions that they have to work in. This will require effort, but the results will be well worth the hard work.

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Through further development of the trend energy monitoring and targeting system for metering of Significant Energy Users, they were able to identify two main areas for improvement, Lighting and HVAC.

Some key improvements included:

Operational Control of the HVAC included optimising both operating settings as well as schedules

• Implementation of CO2 monitoring to regulate supply to various locations around the premises depending on the volume of CO2 (i.e. people) at any given time.
• Training of key personnel on BMS System
• Commissioning of VSD motors and reduction of fan speeds across all AHU’s
• Upgrade of Chilled water system controls to minimum requirement of 20%
• CHW System switched off for Winter period
• Boilers switched off for Summer period
• Optimisation of all AHU schedules to minimum requirements
• Installation of full lighting control from the BMS System

Lighting is also a significant energy user and has been upgraded as follows:

• Motion Sensors to low occupancy areas
• Lux Sensors to appropriate lighting systems
• Commissioning of lighting control on the BMS
• Optimisation of lighting schedules (internal and external)
• Optimisation of maintenance to improve efficient operation of equipment

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Through investment in Control Upgrades and careful programming of their Building Energy Management System, they were able to optimise plant operation, and reduce running times resulting in significant savings.

Having saved 3.5 years’ worth of energy over a 5 year period Tyndall National Institute have already met their 2020 targets, eight years ahead of schedule.

Click here to see presentation slides from Energy Cork DSM Learning Event

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Situated at 2 Ballymount Road Upper, Dublin 24.

Telephone Number: 01 4408610

Email: andrew@intouchcontrols.ie

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Trend Energy Manager helps building owners to:

• Easily compare and monitor energy consumption against BEMS control behaviours
• Automatically receive alerts of energy overuse and probable causes
• Easily demonstrate savings and energy efficiencies to stakeholders within an organization
• Fulfil legislative requirements

For more information, click here.

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