7. ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RESIDENTIAL HEATING
Public procurement has a critical enabling role in helping public sector bodies achieve their energy efficiency objectives. Public bodies have explicitly requested additional support from the government in green procurement. The Environmental Protection Agency issued green public procurement guidance for the public sector in 2014 to respond to this request. The SEAI and the Office of Public Works are developing a procurement framework for medium to deep renovation, lighting upgrades and boiler replacements. The framework will be an important tool for aggregation of smaller-scale projects in publicly owned buildings.
A complementary initiative that focusses on capacity in small public bodies is the creation of a pipeline of medium to deep renovation projects by the Office of Public Works. This will be implemented as pilot projects to be replicated across the public sector. However, substantial capacity building across the public sector bodies and enhanced provision of energy services to the smallest public units (e.g. schools) will still be needed to ensure that the public sector energy efficiency potential is optimally exploited.
The National Public Lighting Upgrade Project is an inspiring example of the potential of project scaling. Ireland’s 31 local authorities are co-operating under the project to enhance the efficiency of public lighting, which is one of the largest energy consumers at the local authority level and which also contains significant upgrading opportunities. Successfully implementing this project may allow local authorities to meet their 33% efficiency target (DCCAE, 2017b).
The government is already looking towards the period beyond 2020 and contemplating measures to exploit the economic potential of a further 1 400 GWh of energy savings in the public sector (DCCAE, 2017c). As a first step, the government will review the Public Sector Strategy in 2019 and issue a reviewed strategy for the period after 2020.
Industry and commercial sector policies
The industry and commercial sectors jointly account for 39% of the total final energy consumption in Ireland in 2016. By the end of 2016, the energy efficiency measures implemented in the two sectors, including SMEs but excluding the service sector, resulted in savings of 3 744 GWh, equivalent to 887 ktCO2. By 2020, the savings are estimated to be 4 384 GWh and just over 1 Mt of CO2 (DCCAE, 2017a).
Energy-intensive industry is organised through the Large Industry Energy Network (LIEN), which dates back over two decades. LIEN members represented 58% of the total industry sector consumption in 2016, or 20% of the total primary energy demand in Ireland. Since its creation LIEN members have achieved efficiency improvements of about 30%. They achieved energy savings of EUR 25 million and 147 ktCO2 in 2015.
The Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme (EEOS) was introduced in 2014, in compliance with the EU 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive. This requires all energy suppliers with annual sales above 600 GWh to achieve collective energy savings of 550 GWh per annum. Over the first phase of the programme (2014-17), energy suppliers were projected to have delivered energy savings of 1 850 GWh, just short of the 2 200 GWh required.
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7. ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RESIDENTIAL HEATING
The EEOS was reviewed in 2016; the annual savings target was increased to 625 GWh for 2017 and to 700 GWh for 2018. The same target will also apply for 2019 and 2020. Obligated energy suppliers are required to achieve energy efficiency savings by a predetermined percentage in the non-residential (75%), residential (20%) and energy poverty (5%) sectors (see Box 7.1 for a definition of energy poverty).
Box 7.1 Fuel poverty and energy efficiency in social housing
About 28% of households in Ireland in 2015 were estimated to be living in energy poverty. A household is classed as energy poor when it spends more than 10% of its income on fuel. Energy poverty of households living in social housing was over 70% and they spent an average of 17% of their income on energy. Social housing made up 6.6% of the Irish buildings stock. However, in absolute numbers, homeowners accounted for most energy-poor households at over 250 000.
The energy efficiency rating of a house is a determining factor for energy poverty. Improving the building energy rating (BER) of a home from E1 to B2 can lead to energy savings of EUR 2 524 annually. A one-grade improvement in the BER is associated with a 4-10% change in household energy spending. People living in rented accommodation are twice as likely to live in a home that is rated E or lower than people in owneroccupied dwellings.
There is a significant level of untapped energy savings potential in the rental sector, particularly in the lower-cost accommodation sector that the Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty 2016-2019 aims to exploit.
Through the Better Energy Warmer Homes programme, a complement to the Better Energy Homes strand, the government provides free energy efficiency upgrades to homeowners who receive certain welfare payments and who live in, or are at risk of, energy poverty. The programme had upgraded over 135 000 energy-poor homes by the end of 2017. The grants were provided for improved insulation, ventilation, draught proofing, lagging jackets, energy efficiency light bulbs and energy advice.
The strategy also introduced a new grant programme for home renovations of those with chronic respiratory conditions, called the Warmth and Wellbeing Pilot Scheme. This was a joint initiative of the DCCAE and the Department of Health to provide insights into how energy improvements deliver tangible health and well-being gains. EUR 20 million was provided for the period 2016-18 to upgrade over 1 000 homes, either owner-occupied or social housing.
The Better Energy Communities (BEC) programme makes energy efficiency improvements available to those in energy poverty not captured by the Warmer Homes Programme (such as tenants) and to test the economies of scale by targeting clusters of homes in energy poverty. Furthermore, under the Residential Deep Retrofit programme, energy-poor households can receive grants of up to 95% of the capital costs of renovations.
Sources: Country Submission, DCCAE, A Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty 2016-2019, ESRI Working Paper 2014 – Changes in Household Fuel Expenditure Associated with Improvements in Building Energy Efficiency, John Curtis and Anne Pentecost, www.esri.ie/pubs/WP478.pdf.
The EEOS has contributed to the development of a market for energy efficiency services. The government launched the National Energy Service Framework in 2014. This was a guideline for undertaking energy performance contracting (EPC) that included a standard
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