Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 July 2008
171 Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Finance the position regarding the pilot scheme carried out by the Office of Public Works to try to audit and improve energy efficiency in public buildings; and if he will outline by building concerned the improvement in energy achieved under the scheme and the changes that were brought about in each building to achieve better energy efficiency. [25499/08]
View answerThe Office of Public Works carried out a pilot ‘Staff Energy Awareness' programme in two groups of five buildings between March and September 2007. The following outlines the buildings that were included and the savings achieved:
|
Building |
Electrical |
Heating Fuel (Gas/Oil) |
|
% |
% |
|
|
Áras Mhic Dhiarmada |
-2 |
-35 |
|
Ballyfermot SWO |
+3 |
-24 |
|
Finglas SWO |
-24 |
-23 |
|
Longford Government Office |
+7 |
-19 |
|
Townsend |
-7 |
-31 |
|
Building |
Electrical |
|
% |
|
|
Department of Defence, Renmore |
-6 |
|
Department of Education, Athlone |
+4 |
|
Department of Social Welfare, Sligo |
-2 |
|
Government Offices, Ballina |
-17 |
|
Government Offices, Sligo |
-22 |
Note: With this group of buildings, in order to compare like with like and to remove unknowns based on different operating conditions of the building between 2006 and 2007, a methodology was used to predict the electricity consumption for 2007 using a ‘Business as Usual' scenario (BAU) based on 2006 data. In this group of buildings only electrical savings were considered.
The energy awareness campaign in each building consisted of providing staff with a series of workshops and lectures on practical energy conservation. Staff were encouraged to switch off equipment when not in use and to identify areas of energy wastage. A key component of the campaign was providing staff with weekly energy reports detailing how their building was performing, compared to the same period in the previous year, and to the other buildings in the programme.
