Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 827: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way in which he will calculate the rating system required for homes and other buildings under the European Performance of Buildings Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28017/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to the May 2006 edition of Technical Guidance Document (TGD) L on how to comply with the amended Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Energy) Building Regulations 2005, a copy of which has been placed in the Oireachtas Library.

Section 1.1. of TGD L provides for the use of a revised energy performance assessment methodology for new dwellings — the Dwellings Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP). Full details of DEAP were published by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) on 29 June 2006 and can be viewed on the website for implementation of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive — www.sei.epbd.ie/deap.

Under DEAP, the energy performance of a dwelling will be expressed in terms of — (1) Carbon Dioxide emissions generated by space heating, ventilation, water heating and lighting- kgCO 2/m2 per annum; and (2) Energy required to provide space heating, ventilation, water heating and lighting — kWh/m 2 per annum.

New dwellings will, with effect from 1 January 2007, be required to have a building energy rating (BER) which will reflect the energy performance of the dwelling. The precise scale is still being developed. The proposed BER Certificate will be finalized and published by the end of August.

The Non-Domestic Energy Assessment Procedure (NEAP) to assess the energy performance and rating of more complex new Non-Domestic Buildings will be developed and published by the end of 2007.