Dáíl energy wasters: the lights are on but nobody's home.

[He3]

Please tell me they are making it up. They seem to have no Off switch for the light and heat in the Dail.
How much is that Power of One campaign costing for them to lecture the rest of us on conserving energy?

Last August the bill for heat and light in the main part of Leinster House, including the Dail and Seanad chambers, was €13,715, even though TDs and senators were in the middle of a lengthy summer holiday.

In fact, heating and lighting are left on all year round in the Dail chamber, even though TDs sat for only 96 days last year. Night usage of electricity was found to be “extremely high”, in an audit carried out for the Office of Public Works.

and there's more. Much more.

The audit discovered that the heating was on in the Dail chamber from 9am to 8pm on Mondays, even though it doesn’t sit that day; 6am to 11.59pm from Tuesday to Thursday; and 6am to 8pm on Friday and Saturday, even though the Dail doesn’t sit then either.

Compiled by White Young Green, a Dublin-based environmental consultancy, the report recommends a new lighting system with dimmable lamps be introduced. Instead a “high level of lighting” suitable for television cameras is being maintained “all day throughout the year”.

The audit states: “[This] is not required at this level for occasional walk-through tours or when the Dail is adjourned. The present wiring arrangements and choice of lamp means that the chamber cannot be partially lit, and lamps cannot be turned off for short periods since they take a long time to re-strike.”


Revealed: how Dail burns cash - Times Online

[wombat]

I was going to suggest the installation of motion detector switches for the lighting - we use them in generally empty parts of the factory but it would probably contravene H&S regs. - the place would be in constant darkness

[He3]

Maybe now that it is out in the public domain, someone might take a bit of initiative (the lad who spent 150k on the car the Taoiseach did not want could redeem himself here) and get an electrician in over the holidays?

[He3]

I was going to suggest the installation of motion detector switches for the lighting - we use them in generally empty parts of the factory but it would probably contravene H&S regs. - the place would be in constant darkness

Joanna Tuffy of Labour says the government seems to be ''lagging behind.”

She has a wicked sense of humour.

[NM_123]

Oh, I thought you were talking about Mary Coughlan.

[He3]

Oh, I thought you were talking about Mary Coughlan.

As you mention her, the Min for Enterprise and Employment could show some enterprise and employ an electrician. They would have the job done in two weeks. Well before the day they all come back.

[BodyofEvidence]

Well, if only the Greens were in power, they would solve this.

[riven]

Other state institutions are guilty of these offenses.

A project compared energy usage of CIT UCC and Maynooth (others declined to get involved) and found that CIT baseline (i.e. midnight or other time of 0 activity) was 40% of its peak usage, UCC was approx 50% and Maynooth was 20%. This figure should be readinf 5%.

[sandar]

theres more than light wasted in that place I can tell ya.
And on environmental grounds, is hot air good or bad for the environment? cos the dail generates enough of that maybe the two things cancel each other out.

[joemomma]

Joanna Tuffy of Labour says the government seems to be ''lagging behind.”

She has a wicked sense of humour.

Especially as the Government doesn't run Leinster House - it's run by a commission on which Labour are represented.