City Council project providing free hot water to elderly wins award

Cork City Council was the recipient of an award recently for an innovative project that uses surplus renewable energy to provide free hot water to older people in Cork city.

The Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government award, now in its 22nd year, was awarded for the council’s EnergyCloud Age Friendly project.

The project, which was the brainchild of former Bord Gáis chief executive and Age Friendly Ambassador for Cork, the late John Mullins, was established as a way to reuse some of the estimated €450 million worth of wasted renewable energy every year.

It involved fitting devices to immersion tanks in private and local authority homes of 40 older people over the age of 65 to redirect surplus renewable energy from wind farms to power the immersion heater overnight.

Last Thursday’s win was the second such national recognition for the project – it won the environment category of the National Age Friendly Recognition and Achievement Awards in October.

Cork City Council’s Age Friendly Co-ordinator, Siubhán McCarthy said it has been “a real delight to see some of our older residents engage with and benefit from this innovative technology”.

Valerie O’Sullivan, Cork City Council’s Chief Executive said that the achievement reflected the council’s commitment to delivering for old people.

“It underpins our commitment to sustainability and supporting older people in our community,” she said.

Cork City Council also had a number of projects shortlisted in the Celebrating Irish language and culture, the Supporting Sustainable Communities, and the Sustaining the Arts categories.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.