Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 February 2017
261. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government when the technical guidelines for near zero energy buildings will be published; the detail of these guidelines and their implications for public buildings and in particular, all new social housing in terms of energy efficiency requirements. [8401/17]
View answerDirective 2010/31/EU on the Energy Performance of Buildings requires that by 31 December 2020 all new buildings are nearly zero-energy buildings. Furthermore, it requires that after 31 December 2018 new buildings occupied and owned by public authorities are nearly zero-energy buildings. However, new social housing is not subject to the earlier 31 December 2018 date as social housing is not “occupied by public authorities”.
The Directive defines a Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) as a building that has a very high energy performance and that the nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources, including energy from renewable sources produced on-site or nearby.
My Department is responsible for transposing the Directive into national law and for making necessary amendments to the Building Regulations to ensure that they are in compliance with the Directive. The definition of NZEB was transposed into the Building Regulations in January of this year in the Building Regulations (Amendment) Regulations 2017 and Technical Guidance Document L Dwellings was amended to specify the numerical indicator for NZEB Dwellings in Ireland.
In addition, my Department will publish draft Building Regulations to amend Part L of the Building Regulations (Conservation of Fuel and Energy) in respect of Buildings other than dwellings and a draft Technical Guidance Document in the coming weeks to set the specific NZEB performance requirements for Buildings other than Dwellings in Ireland. A full review will take place after the period of public consultation has closed and it is planned that the Regulations will be finalised in Q 3 of 2017 and come into force on 1 January 2019. This process will be replicated to amend Part L of the Building Regulations in respect of Dwellings during 2018.
To comply with the requirement for the public sector to introduce NZEB from 31 December 2018, an interim NZEB performance specification was published in December 2016 after consultation with relevant public sector agencies and an NZEB seminar for the public sector was held jointly by my Department and the SEAI on 31 January 2017.
