IRISH POLICIES

The Government of Ireland sets out in the 2007 Government White

Paper, Delivering a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland, a target
for a 20% improvement in energy efficiency across the whole economy
by 2020. The White Paper also states an ambition to surpass the EU
target of 20% with an indicative target of 30% energy efficiency by
2020. The public service is to take an exemplar role in energy
efficiency, with an energy savings target of 33% by 2020.
A draft National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) was
released for public consultation in October 2007 and the finalised
version is due in 2009. The plan details the current package of
energy-efficiency policies and measures that will contribute to both
the national 20% savings target for 2020, and the EU ESD 9%
energy-savings target for 2016.
In fulfilling its requirements under the ESD, the Irish Government
submitted its first Energy Efficiency Action Plan to the European
Commission in September 200723. Subsequent plans are due in 2011
and 2014 to further detail Irelands progress toward the ESD target of
9% savings by 2016.

New building regulations24 (Technical Guidance

Document L - Conservation of Fuel and Energy) came
into effect on the 1st July 2008. The goal of the new
standards is to reduce energy requirements by 40% in
new dwellings, depending on the type and size of the
dwelling.
In 2007 the Government introduced changes to
Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and annual motor
tax for new cars registered on or after 1st July 2008.
Both taxes for new registered cars are now calculated
on the basis of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from
vehicles.
The 2008 Finance Bill provides relief for hybrid,
electric and flexible-fuel vehicles of up to 2,500
for cars registered between 1st July 2008 and 31st
December 2010 on the VRT payable, in addition to the
benefit of the new VRT CO2 emission related system.

The Public Sector Programme promotes energyefficient design, technologies and services in new and
retrofit public-sector projects. These projects are
excellent examples of good practice and a demand
leader for the services and technologies involved. The
programme has three main elements:
A Design Study Support Scheme which provides
support for professional expertise to examine the technical
and economic feasibility of design and technology solutions;
A Model Solutions Investment Support Scheme which
supports energy management and technology solutions in
existing buildings and new build specifications;
An Energy Management Bureau which supports
outsourced energy management services to report on
energy usage and identify energy-related projects.

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IRELAND

PROGRAMMES

The subsequent full national Home Energy Saving

Scheme was launched on 8th February 2009, with a
budget of 50 million in 2009. The scheme is expected
to support the upgrade of at least 25,000 homes.
Sustainable Energy Ireland also operates a number of
key energy efficiency programmes for businesses,
including:

The Large Industry Energy Network (LIEN) :

The Energy Agreement programme for industry,;
SEIs service for small and medium enterprises
(SMEs),
The Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA)
The Combined Heat and Power Deployment Scheme
which provides grant support to assist the deployment of
small-scale (<1MWe) fossil fired CHP and biomass
(anaerobic digestion and wood residue) CHP systems.