Vol. 516 No. 4
62 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the amount of Government expenditure on State and semi-State energy costs per annum for all fuels, including electricity, for all buildings, transport and fleet costs, including bunker fuels; and the number of tonnes of COf8>2 equivalents this represents in terms of point-source emissions since Ireland signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change. [8410/00]
The level of information requested by the Deputy is not currently available.
However, the Green Paper on Sustainable Energy published last September provided for a major expansion of the budget, staffing and programmes of the Irish Energy Centre. In this context, the centre will develop programmes and systems to collect and analyse the level of data referred to in the Deputy's question, and establish benchmarks and targets for individual organisations within the public sector.
The Green Paper recognises the potential for greater energy efficiency and consequent COf8>2 emission savings in the public sector. Chapter 5 points out the lack of coherence in the State promoting energy efficiency in other sectors if it does not maximise its own efforts in this regard. For example, Departments and agencies will be required to establish, monitor and report in their annual reports on progress towards achieving obligatory energy savings.
It is estimated that non-commercial public service buildings alone have an energy usage of at least £130 million per annum, representing COf8>2 emissions of 2.5 million tonnes approximately. I am convinced that there is significant scope for savings, in the medium to long-term, of the order of 20% of the energy bill of public sector buildings. Therefore, I have asked the Irish Energy Centre to report to me on potential measures to achieve such savings and have already provided £10 million in the Green Paper towards the implementation of these measures.
There are a number of existing measures already in place. For example, a building energy management system has been installed and commissioned in 40 public buildings on a pilot basis. It has met the expectations established and has contributed to the identification of significant energy savings.
The Green Paper also recognises the role of local energy agencies in promoting energy efficiency at local government level. In following up on this recognition, I have undertaken a joint initiative with the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, to strongly encourage local authorities to establish such agencies under the EU SAVE Programme, and to re-inforce their support for such agencies where they already exist. The initiative also provides for the long-term funding of local energy agencies.
