Costa Rica is said to be the world’s happiest country, perhaps this is due to the ever so high life expectancy, beautiful scenery, variety of wildlife or because of its biodiversity. We’d like to think it’s because the small nation have not burned any fossil fuels to generate electricity for over 400 days in the last couple of years. Instead their electricity is entirely generated from renewable energy sources and has been for over 76 consecutive days so far this year, with more still to come.
Cork County Council have recently been named Ireland’s first Local Authority to be accredited to ISO 50001, the global standard for energy management. In achieving this accreditation Cork have now reached their legislative requirements under the 2014 EU Energy Regulations prior to the schedule. These regulations follow all Public Sector bodies falling within particular specified criteria in order to become ISO 50001 compliant or to carry out comprehensive organisation wide energy by June 2016.
John Field is Director of Native-Hue Ltd, an energy management consultancy, and the new president of CIBSE. John studied physics at Cambridge University completing a BA Honours and MA. In 1981 John was involved, through design to commission, in a cutting edge project called the Ideal Home Solar House. He has been at the heart of UK energy management for 30 years and first started out in the nuclear power industry.
Ashridge Business School is a centre for organisational learning and management, famous for its dedication to sustainability and pursuing excellence in all aspects of its works. The school ensures its consulting, research works and education are consistent in regards to the principles of sustainable development, which has been assisted by the school’s recent work to achieve ISO 50001 certification.
Phillipa Coan is an expert in workplace environmental behaviour change and a leading figure in applying business psychology to the area. Her PhD broadly looked at different strategies for changing employee behaviour to be more environmentally sustainable and she won both university and national awards. Her consultancy work has spanned a variety of sectors and industries including oil and gas, manufacturing, engineering, healthcare, academia and financial services. Phillipa is also a Visiting Research Fellow at Leeds University Business School and a chartered member of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology.
