In Ireland energy use in buildings accounts for over 40% of the total final energy consumption. Various programmes aimed at reducing energy consumption levels have been introduced across the public/commercial sector since the inception of the National Energy Conservation Programme in the early 1980s. These programmes included various studies, training workshops, seminars and sectoral audits.
Design Study Support Scheme
Financial support will be provided through this scheme to non-commercial public sector bodies for the purposes of procuring external professional expertise to examine and report on the technical and economic feasibility of energy efficient design and technology solutions in new building and refurbishment projects.
Ideally studies should be completed at the earliest stage of the design consultation process with the public sector body.
The main aim of the Design Study Support Scheme is to stimulate public bodies to include improved energy efficiency design specification in new public sector building construction and major refurbishment projects.
The study results should provide additional information on aspects of energy efficient design and technologies which would lead to an improvement in the building’s performance, when it is completed and occupied, over and above that required by present building regulation standards.
Intending applicants should read the application guide carefully before submitting the relevant forms.
Model Solutions Investment Support Scheme
The Model Solutions Investment Support Scheme provides selective investment assistance to public sector organisations who propose to include building energy efficiency technologies or energy saving solutions in new or existing buildings.
The support will underwrite risk or offset the additional costs of the energy saving features incorporated in public sector buildings.
Solutions considered for support will include those designed to achieve significantly improved building performance in excess of commonly accepted norms — in terms of improved specifications for building fabric, mechanical and electrical building services and equipment, fuel systems and use of renewable energy. Support of up to 50% of the cost (excluding VAT) of implementing energy efficiency solutions will be made available.
The main aims of the Model Solutions Investment Support Scheme are to demonstrate the use of energy efficient solutions in new and existing public sector buildings and to support the public sector in its role as an exemplar of good practice in energy use in buildings.
Intending applicants should read the application guide carefully before submitting the relevant forms.
Energy Management Bureau Service
Concept
Sustainable Energy Ireland proposes to establish up to four energy management bureaux in partnership with interested public sector organisations. The intention is to encourage the development of energy management service companies to provide off-site energy control and management for groups of buildings, which when considered individually, may not justify such a service. Recognising that there is a need to perform some level of energy management service in terms of collecting data, analysing, monitoring, reporting and surveying — and being aware that most public sector organisations do not have such an in-house capacity — Sustainable Energy Ireland proposes to support the outsourcing of these services to external resources in partnership with a number of interested non-commercial public sector organisations.
Background
Energy use and associated costs in the public sector are distributed over a large building stock and at the level of the individual building the necessary motivation, skills and economies of scale to manage the use of energy are generally not available. In this environment, the technology provided by Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) offers a solution, particularly as applied to logical clusters of buildings of a reasonably homogenous nature to achieve the necessary critical mass in terms of economies of scale.
Call for Expressions of Interest
Under this latest call, Sustainable Energy Ireland will seek applications from suitably qualified public sector service providers stating their interest in operating one of the Energy Management Bureaux. Details will follow shortly.