Here is an interesting artcile from today’s Irish Times – for more information on our ProEnergy Loan, click here!
Three fifths of Irish homes need major retrofit to improve energy efficiency!
The potential cost of a national retrofitting programme has been laid bare, with 60% of Irish homeowners living in a place that requires major renovation to become more energy efficient.
According to the latest research, three in five homeowners say they are currently living somewhere that would require a deep retrofit in order to significantly improve its energy efficiency.
Retrofitting is defined as adding new technology or features to older systems, such as energy-efficient equipment to homes and businesses such as heat pumps, instead of traditional fossil fuel-based systems.
It is seen as an essential part of the Government’s plan to reduce emissions by retrofitting hundreds of thousands of homes in the coming decades.
The bank said there had been a “green wave” among its customers, with 41% upgrading windows, doors, or insulation in recent years or at the moment to improve energy efficiency, with another 10% planning to do so over the next three years.
Solar or heat pumps in homes are also becoming more popular, with 14% of homeowners having installed one, or in the process of doing so, and another fifth planning for it within three years.
According to non-profit Tipperary Energy Agency’s SuperHomes project, which aims to give homeowners the opportunity to retrofit their house to an A-grade building energy rating (BER), average costs prior to getting grant funding can range from €35,000 to €75,000.
Grants of up to 35% of the cost in a private home are available, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
A national retrofit programme aims to see 500,000 homes, or a third of Ireland’s housing stock, retrofitted to a B2 building energy rating by 2030.
According to SEAI data, some 2,000 homes were deep retrofitted in 2019. That figure was boosted to 4,000 in 2020 with support from the SEAI and local authorities.
The national target for this year is 13,000 home deep retrofits between SEAI and local authorities, but that figure may be compromised due to restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The SEAI said that in 2022 there will be a “step change to 30,000 homes per year and another step up to 50,000 homes per year in 2024”.
A Government retrofit taskforce is due to report on progress later this year on the national programme.