Energy at DCU

Dublin City University is committed to responsible Energy Management and will strive to efficiently manage and reduce the consumption of Energy whilst providing an optimal learning and research environment. Our policy is to meet or exceed best practice in Energy Efficiency and to minimise Environmental impact as far as is practicable. To achieve our objectives DCU will practice responsible Energy Management throughout all our Campuses, in addition to it being a key element of our overall Sustainability Strategy.

To achieve our objectives we plan to:

• Use Energy in a prudent and responsible manner

• Procure Fuels at the most economic cost

• Reduce the Consumption of Fossil Fuels

• Utilise Energy from Sustainable sources where practical

• Monitor and Report Energy Performance

• Promote Energy Awareness amongst both Students and Staff

• Identify and implement Energy Efficiency measures throughout all of our Faculties

• Incorporate Energy Efficient and Sustainable Designs for both new Build and Refurbishment building projects

• Target a reduction in Energy Consumption and Pollution Emissions in line with Ireland’s National Energy Efficiency Action Plan

• Promote Sustainable Energy Management practices

Link to detailed energy policy document

EnMS Annual Cycle

The key features of how DCU manage energy are the combination of a structured, motivated, forward thinking, strategic and innovative management plan. It combines the crucial operational elements needed to manage energy on a daily basis, while ensuring the strategic side focuses on sustaining consumption, cost and carbon into the future, and through the use of government supports ensures quality delivery of these goals with economic prowess. A four-stage approach was devised to align utilities planning across all of our campuses; the implementation and full independent certification of the DCU energy management system, the implementation of a multi-campus energy and water conservation strategy, formalization and structuring of all energy operations, and setting up three energy management teams to manage the overall process; the estates office energy management team, the university energy management team and the senior energy management team.