Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2019
839. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of the 420,000 homes that have availed of the range of home retrofit schemes administered by Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, that have changed their building energy rating as a result of work carried out under the retrofit scheme; the changes by BER rating in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44301/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraGovernment funded grant schemes for energy efficiency have supported upgrades to over 400,000 homes since 2000. Data in relation to the number of homes that have changed their BER following an upgrade under these schemes is not available. However, the SEAI has carried out analysis on a sample of the homes upgraded under the Better Energy Homes scheme. The findings are presented in Table 1. A similar analysis, again estimating the pre works BER was carried out on 2017 and 2018 completions under the Warmer Homes Scheme. The estimated pre works BERs and actual post works BERs are presented in Table 2
The Climate Action Plan has committed to increasing the scale and depth of retrofit activity in order to meet our emissions reduction targets from the Built Environment. This will involve 500,000 homes being upgraded to a BER B2 or the cost optimal or carbon equivalent by 2030. A Retrofit Taskforce, chaired by my Department, is driving the achievement of this target. A key part of the Taskforce’s work will be designing a national retrofit delivery model that groups homes together to achieve economies of scale and provides smart financing options and easy pay back methods. A €20 million pilot in the Midlands in 2020, funded with the revenues from the increased carbon tax and focussing on social housing as a core element of the project, will inform this model.
