Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
2112. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the actions and engagements that his Department has taken to date to reduce carbon emissions and to increase energy efficiency in all buildings under his Department. [40905/22]
View answerThe Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has embedded energy efficiency into the culture of the organisation and continually progresses energy management initiatives across its locations.
As set out in the Public Service Energy Efficiency Strategy 2017, a staff member at senior management level (Assistant Secretary) has been appointed as the Energy Performance Officer (EPO) to lead and drive energy efficiency and sustainability throughout my Department and in partnership with the agencies that fall under the aegis of my Department.
DAFM's commitment to sustainability within its facilities has further led to the appointment of a full-time Green Governance team, who, with the expertise, support and training from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) partnership programme and the Office of Public Works (OPW) Optimising Power @ Work programme, identify and promote sustainable practices throughout all our locations; including offices, laboratories, farms and fishery harbours. It issues a quarterly Environmental/Sustainability Newsletters to all staff and has provided an awareness poster of Fuel Saving Tips to the Department's van drivers.
In order to drive sustainable practices on a local basis, my Department has also established a network of Green Teams throughout its own nationwide network of offices. The Green Teams consist of volunteer representatives at all grades who serve as green champions throughout the various locations. The Green Team's goals are to raise awareness and implement practices locally which reduce my Department’s energy and environmental footprint and support biodiversity projects.
My Department actively participates in the Public Sector Energy Reporting Programme, reporting all of its energy consumption through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's (SEAI) Monitoring and Reporting online system. Since 2009, energy efficiency has improved by almost 34.1% in my Department, avoiding consumption of 22.4M kWh of energy. This has been achieved mainly by measures such as behavioural changes by staff, better energy management by Services Division and lighting and heating retrofits.
To advance the decarbonisation agenda, my Department has engaged with the Office of Public Works to provide Electric Vehicle charging points to staff. EV charging points are available to staff at the Department's campus in Backweston, Co. Kildare. There are also EV charging points installed in my Department’s facilities in Dublin Port, Longtown Farm, Co. Kildare and Agriculture House, Dublin 2 which will be operational in the coming months. My Department will continue to engage with the Office of Public Works for further Electric Vehicle charging points to be provided for staff in additional locations.
