Eoghan Murphy
Question:239. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding energy proposals. [7948/13]
View answerThursday, 14 February 2013
Questions (239)
Written answers
I intend to publish the second National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) in the coming weeks. This updated Action Plan reaffirms Ireland’s commitment to a 20% energy savings target by 2020 in pursuit of our EU obligations. This 20% saving is equivalent to 31,925 Gigawatt hours (GWh) or a reduction in annual CO2 emissions of around 7.7 Mega tonnes (Mt).
The actions outlined in the Plan are projected to realise more savings than the 20% target, i.e. 34,060GWh of energy savings in 2020, which is equivalent to a 21.1% saving on the baseline period; an overachievement of 1.1 percentage points. Should all measures detailed in the plan reach their full potential by 2020, it is estimated that a potential reduction in energy spend across all sectors of approximately €2.36 billion (at 2011 prices) will be realised. A very significant element of this will be savings in the public sector.
The Plan will contain 97 actions, each of which will play a part in securing a more sustainable energy future for Ireland. Of the 97 actions, the following five will play an integral role in the delivery of the national target: 1. In the Public sector, the introduction of a series of obligations on public sector bodies to address consumption, procurement and reporting of energy use; 2. the establishment of a national Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) process to deliver innovative models of retrofitting and financing of energy efficiency measures in the commercial and public sectors. This will be underpinned by an Energy Efficiency Fund to which Government has already committed €35 million in the 2013 Budget as seed capital; 3 the introduction of an appropriate Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS) model for Ireland to replace existing exchequer supports for domestic and non-domestic energy efficiency upgrade measures; 4 the Better Energy programme will deliver energy efficiency improvements across a number of sectors including energy saving targets for energy suppliers; and 5.a Cross-Departmental Implementation Group will be established to ensure that all the actions contained in the Plan are delivered.
A key focus of the Action Plan is the public sector, building upon the comprehensive suite of services and programmes provided by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). To date, 15 public sector bodies have signed partnership agreements with the SEAI, targeted at reducing energy consumption in the public sector by 33% in 2020. This year will also see the first public sector energy consumption report published by the SEAI.
The SEAI’s work in the public sector programme suggests that savings of 5-15% are possible with good structured energy management practices. The SEAI is promoting this through its energy management tools, Energy MAP and ISO 50001. To date, over 20 local authorities have undertaken Energy MAP training with an average saving of 5-10% after 6-12 months. Another 50 public bodies have also undertaken Energy MAP training with similar results, including the HSE, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann. A programme called Energy in Education promotes these principles to schools.
Additionally, SEAI’s partnership programme is now working with over 40 of the largest energy using public bodies. These organisations are committed at the highest level to excellent energy management and realising their energy saving potential. Through the partnership programme, good energy management practices and tailored supports, these public bodies are well established to deliver early, rapid and significant energy savings. From a pilot of 18 organisations trialling the methodology to track public bodies’ progress towards the 2020 target, over 50% of them were well in advance of the 3% per year target. The remaining public bodies will be served on a group basis and will achieve similar impacts.
My Department and the SEAI in 2010 began a 3 year project to develop a Monitoring and Reporting system to track public bodies’ progress towards the 33% and 3240GWh targets. To date, over 33,000 meter points have been collated on a database to source the consumption data direct from the meter operators. In 2013 a dedicated software system will be developed which will also integrate with the National Procurement Service (NPS) for procurement purposes and the Environmental Protection Agency for carbon reporting. In Q2 2013 the 2011 progress report will be issued for the top 135 energy using public bodies. In Q4 2013 the 2012 progress report will be issued by the SEAI. It is envisaged that the various initiatives and monitoring process will greatly encourage and motivate public bodies to increase their level of activity.