Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 572: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if biomass heating was installed in eight schools in the summer of 2007 as announced in the national climate change strategy; if this heating has been installed in other schools since; and the plans in place to expand this programme on a wider national basis in the near future. [3709/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Planning & Building Unit of my Department is currently conducting a demonstration and research project to evaluate the suitable application and performance and compatibility of biomass systems with school heating requirements in terms of heating demand characteristics, controls, reliability, fuel storage and maintenance and operation.

This project comprises the design, installation and monitoring of Biomass heating systems in Primary and Post Primary Schools. Eleven systems are presently installed with a further number of schools at tender / design stage.

The project also includes the development of a good practice guide for the design and installation of biomass heating systems in schools specifically aimed at school design teams and managers and will lead to the development of a suite of case studies on the selected projects.

The objectives of the scheme may be summarised as follows:

to test and evaluate the suitable application and performance and compatibility of Biomass heating systems with school heating requirements in terms of heating demand characteristics, controls, reliability, fuel storage and maintenance and operation.

to reduce energy in use and CO2 savings in the selected schools.

to evaluate the appropriateness and benefits of combing solar hot water heating to biomass systems.

to develop a best practice design guide for the design and installation of biomass heating systems in schools specifically aimed at school design teams and managers.

to develop a suite of case studies on the selected projects which will be of benefit to the wider educational sector and other buildings sectors.

These case studies shall be in print format and will also be available on the Department of Education & Science Website.

to use automated monitoring to determine the performance of the installations for two heating seasons and to establish accurate energy in use figures.

to conduct an optimisation study using monitored results to establish data and design solutions for the appropriate ratio of boiler size/ hours of use and buffer storage tanks. This is a critical area for optimisation as oversized biomass boilers will not operate efficiently and result in higher capital costs.

The expansion of this programme will be reviewed based on the findings of the monitoring programme.