Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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192. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the specific actions he has undertaken under the the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 to contribute to the national mitigation plan. [25695/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The draft National Mitigation Plan 2017 recognises in measure BE 17 the particular challenges to the educational sector and also the existing cooperation between the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Department of Education and Skills in offering advice to schools to understand, manage and reduce their energy use.

My Department’s approach and openness to engage on the matter of energy efficiency has seen it advance to the forefront of design with respect to sustainable low energy school buildings. This performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification.

For the past twenty years my Department's Building Unit has been using a process called the DART approach to develop policy, sustainability and energy efficiency in educational buildings. This acronym focuses on four key areas, namely; Design, Awareness, Research and Technology.

My Department’s Building Unit Technical Guidance Documents set the benchmark for sustainable design in school buildings with a clear focus on energy efficiency and they are based on solid energy research projects. Schools that are designed and built in accordance with my Department’s Technical Guidance Documents for schools must achieve an A3 Building Energy Rating.

My Department’s policy is supported by a strong research programme with forty eight research strands at various stages. One of the research strands in the above programme is for the introduction of Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) Schools. This standard will be introduced for all new school buildings in line with the new Building Regulations. A nearly zero-energy building means a building that has a very high energy performance.

Another research strand is the Energy in Education Programme and energy website at www.energyineducation.ie

The Energy in Education Programme, a collaboration between the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and my Department, supports schools in delivering practical guidance in how to manage their energy use effectively and achieve savings. Providing a web-based energy management portal for schools was seen as a key aspect of the Energy in Education Programme.

The most recent research strand in response to the Draft Mitigation Plan 2017 involves my Department and SEAI embarking on a School Energy Efficiency Upgrade Pilot Programme for existing schools. During the first phase of the pilot, participating schools have been assigned an Energy Auditor who visited the school to identify specific opportunities to improve energy efficiency and provide a detailed report to the school.

Based on the auditor’s report a number of schools were selected to participate in the second phase of the pilot. These selected schools will have projects implemented to upgrade the school’s energy efficiency, while reducing costs. These improvement works are currently out to tender for completion this year and will be 100% funded under the pilot programme, which is supported by SEAI and my Department. The projects will be used to develop and demonstrate best practice models in energy efficiency upgrades in a range of typical school buildings.