Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Energy Conservation.
- Building insulation grants 2 speeches
The Minister will review a possible grant scheme for insulating buildings, considering administrative costs; he notes that basic insulation can repay its cost through energy savings.
Neil T.C. Blaney, George Colley
- Solid-fuel conversion grants 4 speeches
The Minister says he will consider alternative conservation proposals after reviewing the former grants, which shifted fuel use but did not reduce energy consumption and sometimes encouraged imported coal. He expects funding for any proposals deemed necessary to make them effective.
Jim O'Keeffe, George Colley
asked the Minister for Energy if as an immediate means of conserving energy he will introduce a scheme of grants for insulation of domestic and commercial buildings.
Comment on this
I will be carrying out a very early review of the possible elements to be included in future energy conservation programmes and I propose to give particular consideration to the question of a scheme covering insulation.
There are a number of questions, including the methods and costs of administration, which must be reviewed before a decision can be taken.
I might add that, at least in the case of "first-phase" insulation, that is, where there is no existing insulation, the cost of providing a reasonable degree of lagging and so on can be recovered through energy saving in a short period of time. The case for incentives of a financial nature is, therefore, in certain categories not compelling. Information on the savings that can be achieved by insulation is readily available from a number of sources including my Department and the IIRS.
Comment on this
In relation to the grant scheme for conversions to solid fuel central heating, does the Minister think that was a failure? Has he thought of reintroducing that grant scheme in the future?
Comment on this
I dealt with this matter yesterday when I said it will be my intention, when I have reviewed the conservation methods being used and the possibility of changes and improvements in that regard, to bring forward proposals which might be viewed as a substitution for the grants to which the Deputy refers. I also pointed out that, while these grants had the effect of switching demand from imported oil to solid fuel, they did not have the effect of reducing the amount of energy consumed and in fact in many cases people were switching from oil—which is desirable—to imported coal. For that reason I have never been fully convinced of the efficacy of these schemes and would hope to produce proposals which would be more effective so far as energy savings are concerned.