Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2013
333. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to fully implement the national energy efficiency action plan; and the estimated savings should these measures be applied to all school buildings. [24020/13]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, Ireland's second National Energy Efficiency Action plan (NEEAP) was published by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources earlier this year. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) has responsibility for overall implementation of the plan and chairs the Cross-Departmental group tasked with ensuring that all the actions contained in the plan are delivered.
In terms of energy efficiency in educational buildings, 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. 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.
My Department is at the forefront of design with respect to sustainable energy efficiency (including water conservation and efficiency) in school buildings and this performance has been recognised at both national and international level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification. In conjunction with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), my Department has developed an "Energy in Education" website www.energyineducation.ie which I launched in October 2012. The website 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. The principles of NEEAP supports the energy efficiency programme and approach of the Department of Education & Skills both in new build and with existing schools that saw significant investment through the Energy Efficiency Insulation Scheme 2009, the Water Conservation Scheme 2010 and the Summer works schemes.
DCENR and SEAI have responsibility to collate all energy consumption data for the public sector and are presently testing the system that will facilitate this. The data obtained from this process will help formulate energy upgrades to existing building stocks. In parallel with this DCENR and SEAI are working on a National Energy Services Framework to be published shortly which will facilitate the development of an energy performance contracting (EPC) model for the upgrade of existing buildings; it is envisaged that this process will help identify the proposed models for delivery relating to schools.
