Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 985: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress and savings that have been made on reducing the energy bills of Departments and buildings through energy efficiency methods; the targets that have been set on this as a cost saving mechanism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39202/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Government has set a target of achieving 20% energy efficiency savings across the economy in 2020. Recognising the opportunity for the public sector to fulfil an exemplary role in this context, the Government has set a higher target of achieving 33% savings on energy use across this sector, in 2020.

On 8 May this year I published the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) which sets out 90 actions that Government are either already taking or will take in the period to 2020 to achieve the national energy efficiency targets. Importantly, the NEEAP contains a list of specific actions designed to improve the energy efficiency of the public sector, including all Government Departments.

I have provided some €6 million to Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) in 2009 for two new energy efficiency programmes which will assist the Public Sector, in achieving its targets, whilst demonstrating to the wider community the benefits of energy efficiency. €1 million of these funds is available for a new Public Sector Energy Efficiency Programme and €5 million for a new Scheme of Supports for Exemplar Energy Efficiency Projects.

The Public Sector Energy Efficiency Programme is designed as the main delivery mechanism for coordinating and encouraging energy efficiency actions by our public sector bodies. It is providing free energy assessments of up to 400 public buildings in 2009. It is providing professional advice on energy management and energy efficiency improvement measures and aims to train 150 public sector building managers this year. SEI is also developing best practice guidance materials and facilitating specialist workshops on matters such as public street lighting, water services, and ICT.

The new Scheme of Supports for Exemplar Energy Efficiency Projects provides grants to public bodies for specific retrofit energy efficiency projects. A similar parallel programme of the same name is available to the private sector. To be eligible for support, projects have had to demonstrate that they are innovative, lead to significant energy savings and have high value in terms of the showcasing of savings opportunities to the wider public sector. The scheme closed at the end of September and attracted some 49 applications from right across the public sector, including schools, Government offices, local authorities and hospitals. For the Exchequer's investment of €5 million in this Scheme, SEI estimates that the supported projects will deliver annual energy savings of €2.5 million.

In recognition of the ambitious target of 33% energy savings, the Office of Public Works (OPW) piloted an energy efficiency programme in 2007 and subsequently targeted all large buildings (<1000m2) throughout the State with an intensive staff energy awareness campaign (Optimising Power @ Work). Phase 1 of the campaign is now complete and savings of approximately 12% in CO2 emissions have been achieved. In my own Department, we have reduced our energy use and CO2 emissions in Adelaide Road by 19.9% and 16% respectively.Phase 2 of this programme will be rolled out next year to maintain these savings into the future, improving participation and ensuring further gains. A similar programme is envisaged for smaller buildings in 2010.Lighting is a major energy consuming process in office buildings. For this reason, the OPW has had a policy for many years of utilising energy efficient lighting solutions, wherever practicable, for all new buildings and in refits of existing buildings. In conjunction with this, the OPW also uses either intelligent lighting controls or lighting management systems, whenever possible. Incandescent lighting is only used in exceptional circumstances, and solely for technical reasons, where there are unavoidable circumstances.With regard to new buildings, the OPW utilises the latest design techniques including computer simulation, to ensure the most passive energy-efficient solutions possible for heating, cooling, and ventilation. The importance of air-tightness in buildings has also been recognised, and the specification for new buildings sets out minimum performance standards, to which they must be tested. This, combined with high standards of insulation and the energy-efficient heating systems, ensures that energy efficiency is a key element in the design of all new buildings.Regulations are currently being finalised in my Department that will include new energy efficient public procurement rules and these will be in place in the coming months. These new rules will require public bodies to purchase or lease only plant and equipment across a diverse range of technologies that are listed on SEI's database of highly energy efficient products. This database was developed as part of the Accelerated Capital Allowance Scheme for energy efficient technologies. It covers 29 different classes of technology, including lighting, boilers and information technology.SEI is also tasked in these regulations with producing general guidelines on energy efficient procurement and these will be progressed in conjunction with the new OPW National Public Procurement Office.>