Two Galway organisations have been announced as winners in the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEAI) Energy Awards.
University of Galway was crowned winners of the Energy in Buildings category while Ahascragh Distillers won the Innovative Deployment of Renewable Energy award.
The University clinched the top honour for its outstanding work on the successful retrofit of the Áras de Brún Building utilising numerous sustainable technologies achieving energy reductions and serving as a live research platform.
This ‘Living Lab’ research platform promotes further exploration of decarbonisation strategies and offers the academic community valuable insights and data.
The building underwent a major refurbishment in 2014 to improve sustainability and energy efficiency.
Sustainable strategies used in the building include air to water heat pump, heating distribution system, solar photovoltaic system, upgraded LED lighting.
These strategies aimed to improve the building’s energy rating from D1 to A3, leading to a 77% reduction in gas usage and a 25% decrease in electricity usage.
The project also focuses on internal environmental quality, measuring and monitoring temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, and light to ensure comfort and efficiency.
Ahascragh Distillers Ltd came out on top in the Innovative Deployment of Renewable Energy category for exceptional work on decarbonising the traditional whiskey production process.
Using a detailed quarter-hour energy balance model of live heating and cooling over a standard production schedule, a high-temperature heat pump was installed, that includes capturing waste heat and its re-use.
The innovative design achieves temperatures above 100°C, a first in Ireland and the UK. The design process, utilised by the SEAI EXEED programme, achieves a saving of 706 tonnes of CO2 with a 40% reduction in cost and an expected lifetime of 20 years.
The project’s ground-breaking achievement, being the first distillery in the world to use a heat pump system for all its heat needs, sets it apart from its peers and showcases the potential of heat pump technology in decarbonisation efforts.
This year, there were 114 applications to the SEAI Awards, 40 finalists, who collectively reduced energy consumption by 16% saving €50 million in energy spend. The renewable energy produced by the 2023 entrants is equivalent to powering over 400,000 homes per year.
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