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Energy Conservation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 October 2018

Wednesday, 17 October 2018

Questions (190)

Thomas Pringle

Question:

190. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the details of the roadmap for the retrofitting of the public and private housing stock to comply with the housing and heating portion of Ireland's EU renewable energy directive targets for 2020 and 2030. [42711/18]

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Written answers

Since 2013 Government investment of over €325m has been provided by my Department to drive demand and increase the depth of retrofit being carried out through home energy grant schemes operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. To date 375,000 homes across Ireland have carried out energy efficiency upgrades under these schemes.

  A number of actions which are outlined in the National Mitigation Plan and Long Term Renovation Strategy are already underway to achieve the levels of retrofit outlined in the National Development Plan and to further promote deep retrofit of buildings across all building types and tenure. Those actions which relate specifically to homes are as follows:

- The Better Energy Homes Scheme provides grant aid to homeowners who wish to improve the energy performance of their home.

- The Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to low income households vulnerable to energy poverty.

- The Better Energy Communities scheme allows groups of buildings to apply for funding to improve their energy efficiency.

To build on what has been achieved through these schemes, and understand how we make the step change necessary to achieve the NDP ambition, we are already gathering additional evidence through two pilot projects, both of which follow international best practice:

- The Deep Retrofit Pilot Scheme, which began in 2017 and will conclude at the end of 2019, is investigating how to create a scalable offering for the deep retrofit of Ireland’s housing stock to an A3 Building Energy Rating (BER), while building consumer demand and contractor capacity for deep retrofit. Under the scheme Government is funding up to 50% of the total capital and project management costs for homes that achieve an A3 Building Energy Rating post retrofit. This will inform a model that can make deep retrofit available to individual homeowners on a larger scale post 2020, and critically will help Ireland move away from fossil fuels to clean renewable heating systems, such as solar and heat pumps.

- The Warmth and Wellbeing Pilot Scheme, funded by my Department, is a joint policy initiative with the Department of Health, and is operated by SEAI and the HSE. It began in 2016 and this first phase will conclude at the end of this year. It is measuring the health and wellbeing impacts associated with improved energy efficiency. Not only is this evidence needed to make a robust business case for further public investment, it is critical for how we communicate the benefits of climate action. Increasing public understanding of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency is critical to motivate people to invest in, and make their contribution to, action on climate change.

Government funding of approximately €116 million was also provided, by my colleague the Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government, from 2013 to the end of 2017 to improve energy efficiency and comfort levels in almost 64,000 local authority homes. This was Phase 1 of the social housing retrofit programme and focused on the lower-cost improvements such as cavity wall and attic insulation. In addition, energy efficiency measures have been carried out in over 9,000 vacant houses that have been returned to use since 2014. This effectively means that approximately 50% of the social housing stock has already undergone a level of energy retrofit. Phase 2 will commence shortly and will target higher-cost and higher impact measures such as external insulation and replacement of single-glazed windows. Approximately 30% of the social housing stock, or 40,000 homes are more than 40 years old and will be the main priority for phase 2. The ambition is to achieve a BER B standard for these homes. The timeline will be determined by the funding available over the coming years.

These measures continue to build demand for energy efficiency and grow the supply chain. In parallel, Ireland's building regulations continue to strengthen energy performance requirements in buildings.

The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, as required by the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU), have introduced new requirements for home renovation which are proposed to come into force on 1 April 2019.  This will mean that where buildings are undergoing a renovation of more than 25% of the surface of the building envelope, the entire building will have to be brought up to a higher energy performance standard. The Directive also requires that all new buildings are nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB) by 31 December 2020.

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