Month: July 2023

Empowering Homeowners Towards a Sustainable Future: A Visit from Minister Eamon Ryan

We were delighted to have had the honour of hosting Minister Eamon Ryan on-site at one of Electric Ireland Superhomes retrofit projects in Galway. As a registered One Stop Shop under the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), our mission is crystal clear: to empower our customers in achieving warmer, healthier, and low-carbon homes. This vision is at the heart of everything we do.

At Electric Ireland, we are committed to making a positive impact on the environment and the lives of homeowners. Our whole house solution is a testament to that commitment. Our approach is simple yet revolutionary: we embrace fossil fuel-free, renewable energy technologies with a primary focus on heat pumps. This way, we can significantly reduce carbon emissions while providing the utmost comfort for our valued customers.

Being a SEAI-registered One Stop Shop is not just a label; it represents a seal of trust and quality. It demonstrates our dedication to meeting the highest standards set forth by the authority. When homeowners choose Electric Ireland for their retrofit project, they can rest assured that they are in capable hands.

Retrofitting a home is more than just an upgrade; it is a journey towards a brighter, eco-friendly future. Our team of experts is passionate about making this journey an enjoyable one for homeowners. From the initial assessment to the final installation, we are with you every step of the way. Your satisfaction and comfort are our top priorities.

We want to extend our gratitude to Minister Eamon Ryan for honouring us with his presence. His dedication to promoting sustainable energy aligns perfectly with our values at Electric Ireland Superhomes.

If you are considering a home retrofit or simply want to learn more about how you can make your home more sustainable, get in touch with us today! Together, we can build a greener, healthier, and more sustainable Ireland for generations to come.

Retrofitting your home: ‘The heat is retained for up to three days’

Credit: Irish Times, Journalist Colette Sheridan

 

Whether basic or more elaborate, getting work done on your house such as insulation, solar panels, a heat pump and an energy-efficient zoned heating boiler is environmental and cosy

Daniel Wyse and his partner live in a four-bed bungalow in Crosshaven, Co Cork. The house was built by Wyse’s partner’s father in 1999. It was always a cold house but, now that the attic and cavity walls have been insulated, the building energy rating (BER) has gone from D2 to B3. A new boiler with energy-efficient zoned heating was also installed.

The basic retrofit cost €2,750. Wyse says a grant of €300 was given for the attic and another €300 for the insulation of the walls. This work was done last August by Envirobead, an insulation contractor in Cork. Now, grants covering 80 per cent of the cost of minor works such as those carried out in his house are available. The new boiler cost €2,500 after a grant of €700 was awarded.

Wyse was spending a lot of money on coal for the back boiler. The new boiler uses oil. Ultimately, Wyse and his partner, who plan to move at sometime in the future, want a self-sufficient house. “But that won’t happen until there’s better technology. I’d love to have solar panels fuelling a heat pump, keeping the house warm at all times. We’ll see in years to come how much electricity the panels can gather.”

Describing himself as very environmentally conscious, Wyse studied environmental engineering at the former Cork Institute of Technology. He works in a pharmaceutical company.

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How to stop expensive heat leaking out your walls, windows and roof

Credit: Irish Times, Journalist Joanne Hunt

 

“If you’ve got savings, the SEAI’s One Stop Shop service brings bigger grants than if you were to complete upgrades one by one over time. Take the example of a semi-detached house built in 1981 with a Ber rating of E2. Using the SEAI’s One Stop Shop service, works including roof insulation, external wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, new double-glazed windows, high performing doors, a heat pump, new radiators, solar PV and mechanical ventilation will bring it up to a B2 energy rating. The approximate cost would be €50,000-€69,000 depending on the size of the house, according to SEAI estimates. The One Stop Shop grant will cover about €27,300. If the homeowner had gone the individual energy upgrade grant route, the total value of the grant would be much less at €15,600. Bringing a E2-rated home up to a B2 could cut annual energy usage by about a third.”

“For anyone looking for that generational change or transformational change, the One Stop Shop, whole-house approach is going to suit them best. It isn’t cheap. It’s an investment, but that payback will last decades,” says Flannery.

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A retrofit one stop shop for AHBs and local authorities

Credit: Eolas Magazine,

Electric Ireland Superhomes is an SEAI registered one stop shop looking after all the key stages of a home energy retrofit, from design, contractor selection, project completion and management of SEAI grant funding to bring houses and apartments to a minimum of a B2 BER standard.

Electric Ireland Superhomes is a joint venture between Tipperary Energy Agency and ESB (Electric Ireland) established in 2021, with a vision ‘to empower our customers to achieve warmer, healthier, low-carbon homes with a renewable energy focused approach’. We are currently on track to achieve our target of retrofitting 35,000 homes by 2030.

Electric Ireland Superhomes delivers retrofit solutions with the support of a multi-disciplined staff of over 40 people comprising of retrofit advisors, energy engineers, surveyors, and BER assessors. We now have a dedicated team that specifically focuses on the multiples sector including housing owned and managed by local authorities, approved housing bodies, and non-corporate landlords. This team is led by Mike O’Rourke, who has over 28 years’ experience in building services engineering, with the last six years in the housing retrofit sector.

Electric Ireland Superhomes is currently involved in the retrofit of homes up to a minimum B2 BER rating for Carlow County Council, helping to achieve their targets as part of the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme. Stage one is near completion with 22 homes retrofitted, while stage two with 37 homes is scheduled to commence shortly.

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