Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)

This has been a good debate on energy efficiency and the management of energy resources. I welcome the opportunity to contribute. The Bill will place an obligation on suppliers and distributors to play their part in achieving energy efficiency targets that, in turn, will assist the Government in meeting its target to reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.

Good initiatives are in place. For example, many houses' attics and walls have been insulated. However, we must take it to the next step. Other initiatives mean to incentivise the installation of geothermal and solar heating elements in homes. We must examine our initiatives closely to maximise the return for individuals and the country and to achieve optimum efficiency.

The energy efficiency fund is to be welcomed and will sustain many of the programmes in question. We must constantly review them and how they will deliver for householders. It is important to acknowledge that, through the fund, the Government will prioritise low income, vulnerable households for energy upgrades.

I disagree with Deputy Boyd Barrett's denigration of smart meters. I encourage their installation in every home, but this will require that householders be educated on them to some extent in order that people might understand how best to make their electricity, gas and oil usage efficient.

I will focus on two areas. First, auto-production could lead to many efficiencies and reductions in emissions. A multinational company in an adjacent constituency to mine lies in an area with great access to renewable energy sources, namely, wind and water. However, our archaic legislation only allows the infrastructure that is necessary for auto-production to be installed on public roads by ESB Networks Limited. The problem lies in the fact that the renewable source is separated from the company in question by a public road. I hope the Minister of State's officials are listening, as numerous requests have been made to the Department to address this problem.

Legislation needs to be reviewed so that auto-production can be encouraged and renewable sources of energy can be incentivised and made more accessible to large companies, such as the one to which I referred. I am sure the officials know to which company I am referring. Access would assist the company in decreasing its energy bill and allow it to compete on the international stage. It would also reduce the carbon emissions of the company and the country. The legislation needs urgent attention. The provisions requested are already in place in respect of wind farms, but not in the case of auto-production. A balance is necessary.

Deputies referred to other sources of natural energy, for example, wind, tidal and wave. I encourage the incentivisation of new technologies in those areas.

I know of a case in which a local authority's swimming pool is separate from its head offices. The offices have a combined heat and power, CHP, plant but, for the same reasons I outlined earlier, this cannot be connected to the pool because crossing a public road would be required. These matters must be addressed.

Second, a basic heating process can be applied in every household. Various heating programmes incentivise the installation of solar, geothermal and wood pellet heating systems, but these can be expensive and technologically complicated to maintain and operate. Will the Minister and Department consider incentivising the installation of simple solid fuel wood stove burners, the likes of those made and distributed by Waterford Stanley? Each stove costs €400 and I am told by people in the IFA and the forestry sector that wood is a carbon neutral resource. It can be readily grown in Ireland and burned. Most of rural Ireland uses solid fuel. Open fires are 80% inefficient whereas solid fuel stoves are 80% efficient. For a great deal less money, the vulnerable households to which I referred - those of old people and others who have open fires - could be heated. By installing a stove for €400, someone could increase efficiency significantly and prevent heat from burning coal, turf and wood to go up the chimney.

Simple solutions are possible. I will be interested to listen to the contributions of other Deputies.

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