Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 598: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the works or measures that have taken place in 2007 to make his Departmental buildings more environmentally friendly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32394/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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In accordance with its Environmental Policy Statement, my Department is fully committed to the conservation and effective management of our consumption of resources, including energy, waste, paper, equipment and other consumables. This is a critical element of our ongoing accreditation to ISO 14001, which we achieved for our Headquarters in the Custom House.

My Department promotes conservation measures within the Department on an ongoing basis. Staff are encouraged to avail of all opportunities to reduce wastage within offices. A number of strategies guide our activities in this regard, including prevention and reduction in the amount of waste generated and maximising all opportunities for the re-use and recycling of waste arising. A contract is in place for the collection and recycling of paper and cardboard packaging from my Department's main offices. All paper used within the Department for photocopiers, printers etc is made from 100% post consumer waste based products. In relation to redundant electronic IT equipment, the Department arranges for the reuse of suitable equipment and where this is not possible avails of the take back facilities under the WEEE Regulations for the dismantling and recycling of such equipment. Arrangements are in place in the Custom House under which cans and bottles are collected and recycled by Dublin City Council. There are also arrangements in place for recycling glass and for the safe disposal of batteries. My Department is also availing of the recently introduced brown bin collection scheme being run by Dublin City Council, which provides for the segregation of organic kitchen waste for composting.

As regards energy consumption my Department's policy is to use a number of energy saving devices such as energy efficient lights, powersave function on electrical office equipment and photocopiers with duplex facilities. A Building Energy Management System is in place in the Custom House which is connected to the heating system, enabling more efficient heating management. Thermostatic valves were installed where possible on radiators. As regards water conservation, water efficient spring loaded taps have been installed in the Custom House and water saving devices have been installed in some of the cisterns.

My Department's office in Ballina has participated in a pilot project under the auspices of OPW during 2007 with a view to achieving reductions in energy consumption. At the end of July 2007 a reduction of 3% in electricity consumption had been achieved. It is intended that the lessons learned in the pilot project will be rolled out to all Government Departments shortly and my Department's Headquarters is included in the first phase of the roll out.

My Department has also committed to obtaining its electricity from renewable sources and, following a tender process under the auspices of the OPW, a contract is now in place with Energia for the supply of electricity from renewable sources to the Department's main offices.

Under the Government's decentralisation programme, the bulk of my Department's Dublin based operations are being decentralised to four locations in the South East. In collaboration with the OPW, my Department has set very high environmental specifications for its decentralised offices. It is intended that the new offices will incorporate many of the latest developments in sustainable construction, energy conservation and use of renewable energy sources.