Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 163: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will examine the level of grant assistance and other incentives in countries which are successfully harnessing renewable energy such as solar panels in house construction; and if he will use fiscal measures to incentivise renovation of existing buildings and the incorporation of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures in construction generally. [16060/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Sustainable Energy Ireland, which was established as a statutory agency in May 2002, implements renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives on behalf of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. Its officials attend regular meetings and seminars at EU and international level to keep Ireland benchmarked on best international practice in a range of renewable and sustainable energy areas, including the question of incentivising the deployment of renewable energy technologies. I will ask Sustainable Energy Ireland to consider the issues raised in the first part of the question.

Since 2002, Sustainable Energy Ireland's "House of Tomorrow" programme has provided funding to encourage developers in the private and social housing sectors to deliver improvements in the quality of energy features in Irish housing. The focus of the programme is to stimulate the widespread uptake of superior sustainable energy planning, design, specification and construction practices in the new home building and home improvement markets.

Funding of up to €5,000 per unit is provided for groups of five or more housing units. The level of funding is related to improvements in energy and carbon dioxide performance in a unit, relative to established norms such as building regulations. Under the programme, developers are required to incorporate a number of design and technology features from an extensive menu of options including heat generation, distribution and control and insulation. A total of 39 projects comprising 1,818 housing units have been approved to date, including 344 solar thermal units, 143 heat pump units and 35 solar PV units. No grant system is in place for the purposes of installing renewable energy in existing or individual housing units.

The EU energy performance in buildings directive will require all buildings offered for sale or rent to be accompanied by an energy rating certificate that will provide an energy rating for the building, as well as recommendations on measures which could improve the building's energy performance. The directive sets new energy performance standards for construction of new buildings and the renovation of existing larger buildings. It requires that renewable energy systems be considered in the construction of larger buildings. The purpose of the directive is to improve substantially energy performance in all buildings by establishing new construction standards and increasing the general level of awareness of energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. An action plan for implementation of the directive was published on 27 April last for public consultation. It is available on Sustainable Energy Ireland's website, www.sei.ie.