Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 July 2019
2203. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if an annual progress report on energy efficiency targets will be published by the end of 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32071/19]
View answerImproving Ireland's energy efficiency is a fundamental part of the Government's energy policy. In 2009 Ireland set a national target for 2020 to improve its energy efficiency by 20%. This requires energy savings of 31,925 GWh. The public sector has a more challenging target of improving its own energy efficiency by 33% by 2020. This will contribute to the national effort and will also play a leadership role for the private sector to follow.
Progress towards our energy targets is monitored and reported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The latest SEAI-published data on progress against the energy efficiency target is set out in the SEAI National Energy Projections to 2030 (published in November 2018). This Report states that the provisional figure achieved for year-end 2017 on energy efficiency was 12.9%. The report is available for download at: http://www.seai.ie/resources/publications/National-Energy-Projections-to-2030.pdf. A further report with updated data on progress against our energy efficiency target will be published later this year. Ireland also reports progress against the targets on an annual basis under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive.
Progress on our public sector energy efficiency target is also monitored annually. The most recent report, covering to end 2017, shows the sector had improved its energy efficiency by 24%. This improvement in efficiency has resulted in an avoided energy spend of over €1 billion and 3.56 million tonnes of avoided emissions. A copy of the most recent annual report is available at
https://www.seai.ie/resources/publications/Public-Sector-Annual-Report-2018.pdf.
