Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if work has been done which lists the current BER rating of State-owned and semi-State owned buildings; if it is known which of these buildings have retrofitted; the number of same that have not; the cost of energy for these buildings; and if there is an estimate of what could be saved in energy costs if all public buildings and semi-State owned buildings were to be retrofitted [33810/12]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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The requirement for State buildings to have a BER certificate is limited to specific circumstances and so very few buildings in the State portfolio have them. There is a requirement for large public buildings, over 1000 square meters, to have a Display Energy Certificate (DEC). The DEC is similar to a BER but is based on the actual energy consumption. In the buildings owned or leased by the Office of Public Works approximately 270 buildings require a DEC certificate. DEC certificates have been produced for 165 of these buildings and work is on-going on the remainder.

Energy related works/refurbishment have been carried out in a number of buildings in the OPW portfolio in recent years. The work that has been completed varies considerably but has been mostly on mechanical and electrical plant and equipment. Departments and agencies are responsible for the payment of their own energy costs and so the information is not held centrally. OPW estimates it to be in the order of €40m. The larger buildings, requiring a DEC, are approximately 75% of this total. It is not possible to estimate the energy cost savings for the retrofitting of buildings without specifics on the actual improvements. Each building is different and may have very different potential for savings. Substantial refurbishment solely on energy efficiency basis would have a very long payback on investment and this may not be economic.

The Office of Public Works has a very successful energy conservation programme resulting in savings of approximately 19%. This has largely been achieved by a staff energy awareness programme and is part of Government policy to save 33% of energy by 2020 in the public sector. It is envisaged that some investment in the refurbishment of buildings will be necessary to achieve this target. Any investment shall be on an economic basis. The current policy in regard to energy saving is to reduce energy use by low cost measures in the first instance and then follow on with high return improvement/refurbishment works.