In 2006 Fingal County Council was lauded by prominent Irish construction industry figures, politicians and EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs for becoming the first local authority in Ireland to introduce mandatory sustainable building requirements. The policy, which relates to all construction in 8 parts of the county—including roughly 13,000 new homes—stipulates that the amount of energy and CO2 emissions associated with the heating and hot water of all buildings must be reduced by at least 60% compared to Irish Building Regulations, with at least 30% of the energy used for heating and hot water coming from renewable sources such as solar, geothermal or biomass.