Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 67: To ask the Minister for Finance, further to Parliamentary Question No. 177 of 7 July 2011, if he has communicated these initiatives to other Departments; and if he will keep indicators of their performance in this area. [20785/11]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works has involvement with energy conservation initiatives in the various buildings in its portfolio. A State-wide energy conservation campaign entitled "Optimising Power @ Work" was launched in January 2008. The aim of the initiative was to achieve a reduction of 15% in energy consumption in each of approximately 250 large buildings located throughout the country, which are owned/leased by the OPW for use by Government Departments and Agencies. The main focus of the project was the implementation of an intensive staff energy awareness campaign in each building, at the same time ensuring that the buildings were being operated in the most efficient manner possible with respect to all energy consuming processes, while maintaining or improving comfort conditions. The project also included basic energy audits of the buildings.

The initiative delivered average total savings of approximately 12%, €2.6 m annually, taking account of non-participating buildings. A second phase of the Optimising Power @ Work campaign was launched in late 2010 and the target for this programme is to achieve a 20% energy saving over a 2 year period. In general Phase 2 of the project involves intensively targeting buildings, which under-performed in the first phase. We continue to work with the established energy teams in all the buildings to optimise their energy performance and identify areas where further improvements can be made.

Savings to date of approximately 14% have been achieved. This figure however reflects additional buildings that have only recently joined the project and have not yet shown savings. It is expected that the savings will improve considerably over the coming months as the new energy teams in these buildings become established and proactive. Data for both electrical and heating fuel consumption is automatically collected from each building in the campaign, using a dedicated monitoring system. As part of Optimising Power @ Work, using this data, each building is provided with a monthly energy report, which provides information on their current energy performance compared to the target and recommendations on how it can be improved.