For the past fifteen years the Planning and Building Unit of my Department have been using a process called the DART approach to develop sustainability and energy efficiency in educational buildings. This acronym focuses on four key areas, namely; Design, Awareness, Research and Technology. The policy is informed by the Building Unit Professional and Technical staff, driven by its technical guidance documents and updated by continued energy research and development. It has been demonstrated that all School's designed and built in line with the above policy and the technical guidance documents can have an energy performance that is more than twice as efficient as international best practice. Under my Department's Summer Works Scheme in excess of €182m has been spent since 2009 on improvements to mechanical and electrical installations, toilets, windows and roofs in both primary and post-primary schools across the country which is contributing to the energy efficiency of these buildings. In addition €15m has been spent under my Department's 2009 Energy Efficiency Scheme and further €7.4m under the 2010 Water Conversation Scheme. In total in excess of €204m has been provided to school to assist with energy efficiency and conversion since 2009 which represents 16% of the total overall capital spend on school building since 2009. My Department in conjunction with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has developed a website "Energy in Education" (www.energyineducation.ie) which is designed to help school boards of management, principals, teachers, administrators, caretaking staff, pupils and parents to improve energy use practices and to reduce school operating costs along with helping to protect the environment for future generations.
