South Dublin SEAP: Learning from our EU Partners
Paul Hogan, Senior Planner, SDCC
Energy Planning for Local Authorities: Irish & European experiences to date
Thursday 10th October 2013
Structure of Presentation
• Context
• About LEAP
• Covenant of Mayors
• South Dublin SEAP
• SDCC Capacity Building
• Milestones & Benefits to date
• Conclusions
Context
SDCC has a strong track record in environmental efficiency and
developing sustainable communities i.e. Adamstown & Clonburris
Significant experience in carrying out energy efficiency, awareness
programmes and building upgrading / refurbishment projects, based
on a strong policy structure
Recognised need for civic leadership & a consolidated, co-ordinated,
evidence based approach to energy policy development - move from
projects being undertaken in isolation
Assist in developing more meaningful engagement with wider energy
stakeholders and leveraging funding for energy projects
Sustainable Energy Communities conference in February 2010 –
better inform staff and elected members – invited to participate in
LEAP project
About LEAP
A European Partnership – 10
organisations from 7 EU Countries
75% support funding from Intelligent
Energy Europe (IEE)
Timescale – May 2011 to November
2013
Partner structure – combination of
‘experienced’ and ‘learner’ partners
SDCC recognised as a ‘learner’
partner
LEAP Project Partners
LEAP & South Dublin County
Bridge the gap between EU energy agenda (targets) and
essential local action
Institutionalise sustainable energy practice and
policy within Local Authority operations
Key Technical Output: Sustainable Energy Action Plan
(SEAP)
Assist in the creation of a more competitive and
energy efficient local economy
Empower local businesses and homeowners within
SDCC to take up the energy challenge
EU Context - Covenant of Mayors
The Covenant of Mayors is the mainstream
European movement committing authorities
to increasing energy efficiency and use of
renewable energy
Covenant signatories aim to voluntarily meet
and exceed the EU 20% CO2 reduction
target by 2020
A key requirement of the COM is the
preparation of a SEAP within a 12 month
period
Mayor Caitriona Jones signing the
Covenant of Mayors, June 2012
SEAP - Outline
SEAP prepared in response to EU and national
legislation and policy – including targets
2020 energy targets
1 Covenant of Mayors ˃20% CO2
2 Whole economy ˃ 20% energy demand
3 SDCC > 33% energy demand
4 16% of consumption from renewables
SDCC recognises need for a more co-ordinated,
evidence based, countywide approach building on
areas that SDCC has experience in
Three guiding principles: Record, Reduce & Replace
Baseline Emissions Inventory
Full 2006 inventory for energy consumption / CO2 emissions
in South Dublin County was undertaken
This baseline year was chosen due to the availability of
reliable data i.e. Census of Population and NTA household
survey etc
Data was collated under the residential, transport and
commercial sectors
Energy baseline for all Council buildings, facilities, public
lighting & fleet was also calculated based on 2010 data
BEI was completed in line with Covenant of Mayors
guidelines, assistance from CODEMA and Southampton
City Council
SEAP Targets
Final Consumption (TWh)
CO2 Emissions (Ktonnes)
Sector
2006
Projected 2020
(20% reduction)
2006
Projected 2020
(20% reduction)
Residential
1.32
1.06
607
486
Commercial
2.48
1.98
1,014
811
Transport
2.99
2.39
757
606
SDCC (2010)
0.05
0.03
(33% reduction)
18
12
(33% reduction)
Total
6.83
5.46
2,396
1,915
Scenarios to 2020…
7.50
7.00
TW h
6.50
6.00
5.50
5.00
2006
Baseline
2008*
2010*
2012
N EAP/ N REAP Scenario
2014
2016
Business as usual
2018
2020
SEAP target 2 0 20
2020 Scenarios – SEAI National Energy Efficiency Action Plan / National
Renewable Energy Action Plan Scenario – predicts a South Dublin shortfall in
energy efficiency target by 13% and CO2 reduction target by 11%
SEAP Actions
‘Record’ Actions - promote an evidence based
approach to energy management and focus on
streamlining energy data across sectors e.g.
performance indicators, heat mapping and BER data
collection
‘Reduce’ Actions – showcase SDCC experience in
energy efficiency projects across building stock,
facilities and operations, developing citizen
involvement campaigns and integrating land use and
transport planning
‘Replace’ Actions – set out both a strategic and local
approach to developing renewable alternatives –
LARES, site specific feasibility – aim to offer
encouragement to private sector
‘Record’ Actions
REC1
Recording and measuring SDCC large energy users in
building stock, public lighting, fleet, drainage and water
management
REC2
Identifying Energy Performance Indicators
REC3
Using Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) network to
evaluate performance of and share knowledge gained
through energy efficiency projects
REC4
Develop a Heat Mapping Tool to geographically represent
energy data for buildings across all sectors
REC5
Collection & Analysis of Building Energy Rating (BER)
Data
‘Reduce’ Actions
RED2
Improving efficiencies through South Dublin County
Council Energy Awareness campaigns for staff and
politicians
RED4
Continue refurbishment of housing stock across South
Dublin County through involvement in schemes such
as the ‘Warmer Homes Pilot Project’
RED5
Continuing energy upgrade of SDCC owned and
operated building stock
RED9
SME Energy Initiative
RED11
Schools Energy Initiative
RED12
Continue the development of sustainable communities
policy based on the integration of land use and
transport planning
RED13
Personalised Travel Planning projects in South Dublin
County
‘Replace’ Actions
REP1
Prepare a Local Authority Renewable
Energy Strategy (LARES)
REP2
Pilot renewable energy measures testing
renewable technologies and improved
fabric measures as part of major new build
capital projects
REP3
Feasibility Projects to assess large scale
renewable and low carbon
technologies/strategies
REP4
Renewable Energy Feasibility Studies in
conjunction with Institute of Technology
Tallaght
SDCC Capacity Building
Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA) Lead
Partner – significant EU project experience
SDCC attendance at Project Partner Committee meetings
and Seminars
Workshadowing and Mentoring relationship with
Southampton City Council – ‘experienced’ partner
Peer to Peer support group with Sofia Municipality and
Kaunas District Municipality – ‘learner’ partners
SDCC attendance at Hannover Training week in April
2012
Input from City of Dublin Energy Management Agency
(CODEMA)
Working with Southampton City Council
SCC had already undertaken the Southampton Low Carbon
City Strategy with significant political and stakeholder participation
Southampton has proven track record in delivering a local
district heating network – in operation since 1986
SDCC working relationship with SDCC focused on both technical
and stakeholder engagement aspects
A number of SDCC staff undertook work shadowing and attended
training workshops in Southampton in 2011 / 2012
SCC staff reviewed key stages in the development of the South
Dublin SEAP – technical ‘sounding board’
Peer to Peer working
3 LEAP ‘learning’ partners formed a peer to peer group: South
Dublin, Kaunas & Sofia
The peer to peer reviews provided a number of key recommendations
which were incorporated into the Draft South Dublin SEAP
Partners encouraged the development of good institutional structures to
ensure SEAP implementation
The review acknowledged barriers in engaging householders/
businesses in the SEAP process and the need to identify incentive
mechanisms to overcome this.
Partners had a wealth of information on renewables especially in the
area of mapping and the strategic approach to renewables which
SDCC could benefit from in future plans/strategies.
Stakeholder & Citizen
Involvement
LEAP requirement to engage the general public and key
stakeholders in SEAP development process.
Key components of the stakeholder network and citizen
involvement campaigns include:
• ‘Connect with Energy Initiative’ (11th-15th June 2012)
• Dedicated South Dublin Energy Website
www.southdublinenergy.ie
• Public Consultation promotional film/video
• School Workshops
• Business Engagement
• Media Articles & Press Releases
• Staff Survey
Milestones to date
SEAP approved at May Council meeting and was submitted to
Covenant of Mayors in June 2013 for EU verification
‘Connect with Energy’ initiative June 2012 – bringing energy
suppliers of goods / services and users together
Continue to leverage funding at national (SEAI, NTA etc) and EU
level (IEE, EEEF etc)
Following Tallaght SEC (Sustainable Energy Communities)
designation in 2011, the SEAP will continue to progress in
tandem with the SEC
Overlap with a new IEE funded project – SPECIAL – Spatial
Planning and Energy for Communities in All Landscapes
(SPECIAL)
Local Authority Up-Skilling
An SDCC Energy Action Team has been set up – cross Departmental and multi
disciplinary
Continuing to develop an evidence based approach to policy development –
Planners & Architects
Staff organised and facilitated a variety of energy related stakeholder
& citizen involvement campaigns, based on LEAP partner experiences
By participating in LEAP staff have been up-skilled
in energy data analysis, project & budget
management, peer to peer working and
plan preparation to EU standards
Developing greater integration between energy
and spatial planning - LARES, renewable feasibility
studies, SPECIAL
Conclusions
Energy planning in local authorities needs a
co-ordinated, cross-departmental approach
with commitment at senior management level
LEAP has proven that staff need to be up-skilled
in energy data collection and analysis
- in response to addressing EU targets
Sustainable Energy Action Plan – useful tool to integrate LA experience to date
and showcase opportunities to encourage private sector investment in energy
Developing links with other local authorities, energy agencies, EU partners –
leading towards a streamlined methodology to energy planning and its integration
with other skills / functions. i.e. planning
Local Authorities are well placed to lead the way and empower a change in
energy use and efficiency at the local level – bottom up approach
Thank you for your attention
Presented by:
Paul Hogan (phogan@sdublincoco.ie)
Senior Planner
South Dublin County Council