This morning.
Engineers Ireland published a report entitled ‘State of Ireland 2019 – A Review of Infrastructure in Ireland’ in which it found:
Building Energy Ratings (BER) are an indicator of the energy consumption of buildings. The majority of dwellings in each of the bands from 1961 until 2008 achieved a BER of D or C mid-range. There has been significant and measurable improvement in building quality for new homes with the introduction of new Building Regulations in 2005, 2008, 2011 etc.
According to the SEAI (2018), Ireland’s carbon emissions per household are 58% higher than the rest of Europe.
The average floor area of Irish homes increased by 15% between 2002 and 2016, which partially negated these gained energy efficiency benefits.
According to Eurostat (2017), 12.6% of the Irish population (approx. 600,000 people) lives in a dwelling with a leaking roof, damp walls, floors or foundation or rot in window frames or floors.
The 68-page report can be read in full here
Refurbished the house a few years ago, got BER done, achieved C1 , was told if we had curtains we would have achieved a B…. curtains!
Any grants for that?
There was, but the builder wouldnt sign off on the vat stuff, so missed out on that , but I did get the grant to upgrade the boiler 6months later https://www.seai.ie/grants/
Cheers for that, I’ll take a look.
They’re not just for keeping the light out, you know…
Hmmm… can I get a grant to put DPC into the old kitchen extension built in the 1960s, and fix (replace?) a damp roof?
I’ve had quotes for just a minimal fix, to a complete knock and rebuild and due to the houses’ age, built in the 1880s, and the fact it is a terrace, the quotes are prohibitive currently.
I’ve done plenty updates and fixes myself, but some things are best left to the professionals :)
Even just a little help.. energy grant… whatnot? I know there used to be one that stopped end of last year, I think… anyhooo… anyone?
nope
(even though what you’re saying makes perfect sense)
that’s remedial general building work afaik
old gaffs come with these kind of expensive issues, good luck with it, that particular one is hard to solve
that seai grant thing is a bit of a scam a go round btw
I looked into that whole game for a desired heat pump+underfloor about 5 years back..family friend is a top dog plumber, knows the whole HVAC show but usually works commercial jobs…so we picked out ideal heatpump & associated gear (he can get directly from Sweden) went for the famous grant….turns out though that you have to use an “approved registered contractor” so (eyeroll) took our gear quotation with exact part numbers to a couple of these seai approved operators to see the predictable outcome…over 2x price!? (I mean just the parts) these lads are basically taking your “grant” plus a bit…and then labour :)
so working the Irish seai scenario for heating gear made no financial sense for home heat plant..you’d have to own it for 20 years (and normally 10 years in if you’re lucky on plant before a replacement unit is needed..I don’t care what anyone claims) so we kept with the underfloor idea & installed a hyper efficient gas boiler/storage system from Germany that I can control from my iPhone for 1/3 that seai approved contractor price that’s already saving me €€€….and y’know the environment etc.
sounds like an insult. The state of Ireland.
It’s not tho, in fairness, so we can all rest easy :)
A state funded renovations finance scheme would do wonders for lots of poor/older people’s living standards, and for our electricity usage as a country. The grants as things stand don’t cover the full cost of renovation, and involve a substantial out of pocket expense that lots of people can’t afford.
If the state offered easy to get loans to fully cover the cost of approved renovations (windows, doors, the other big/easy BER improvements) with a low interest loan, thats paid back with say a flat 5% income/welfare tax, it would have huge take-up. Ideally it’d cover solar panel installation on suitable houses, too.
It’d be a relatively low-cost, easy, way to improve the living standards of huge numbers of people, and make a big dent in our carbon output.
A flat 5% income/welfare tax on the people availing of the loan until its paid back, I should clarify. Not population wide!
Sign me up :)
Loving the shade being thrown in that title.
I know I wasn’t the only one who read it like that. C’mon you did too!
I wonder if Engineers Ireland have anything to say about home built with pyrite or apartment blocks with little to no fire proofing?
…Engineers Ireland probably have plenty to say about shoddy standards. It is ultimately they who identify, diagnose and correct failings. Perhaps you should direct your question to Tom Parlon…it was rhetorical wasn’t it…
They’d probably say something like “No, that’s bad”.
Or “Adequately fireproof your homes and businesses”.
That’ the kind of thing they usually say.
This SEAI outfit has anyone done a energy audit on them and their carbon footprint
and there is a plethora of Government Bodies and Agencies what’s their current
profile on energy conservation and carbon mitigation.