The Story:

The home before the retrofit was described as having a small amount of attic insulation with some windows not up to performance standards, which had resulted in a cold, drafty home. This 1950’s built home had a gas boiler as the previous heating system with concrete hollow wall blocks.  

Describing his motivations to transform his home through a heat pump led home retrofit, Greg explains ‘I wanted to do something for the planet and to change to a modern heating system’. Electric Ireland Superhomes aims to achieve a lower carbon footprint for homeowners and therefore changes an existing fossil fuel heating system such as gas or oil and installs a renewable heat pump heating system.  

The Measures:

Following a detailed home survey carried out by an Electric Ireland Superhomes engineer, the outcome was a report with specific retrofit measures to bring Greg’s home up to an A1 BER rating. 

The measures included:  

• Attic Insulation 

• External Wall insulation  

• Windows and a door  

• Airtightness 

• Air to water heat pump  

• Demand control ventilation 

• Solar PV panels and battery store system  

A fabric first approach is taken first, looking at the walls, attic, windows, doors and airtightness levels. When these measures are addressed, the heat pump will work most effectively and efficiently and work at a much lower cost.  Electric Ireland Superhomes approved contractor Martin O’Reilly from Greenwatt recommends installing a heat pump through the One Stop Shop route due to significant SEAI grant funding available. ‘It’s the way of the future, it eliminates gas. It’s very good for renewables and works very well with solar PV. The efficiency is much better than your old conventional gas or oil boilers.’

The Results:

Achieving an A1 BER rating on this 1950’s home has stunned Greg who says he was ‘surprised, amazed and astounded’ with the final result.  

The combination of installing both the new heat pump heating system with Solar PV panels really excited Greg ‘you can see the electricity being generated on your app. It’s fantastic!’ 

Regarding his energy usage, he has been tracking it ‘the energy I use is less than half the energy I used to use before’. Greg now has an ‘all- electric’ home – a heat pump, solar PV and an electric car charger.  

Speaking about his Electric Ireland Superhomes completed retrofit, Greg explains ‘having the new heat pump and retrofit has made the house so much more comfortable and I am using a lot less energy.’ 

Electric Ireland Superhomes Approved Contractor: Greenwatt 

Video provided courtesy of SEAI