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1,000 home energy upgrade grants awarded each week
More than a thousand applications for Home Energy Savings (HES) scheme grants are being approved every week and 98.5% percent of recipients say they would recommend the scheme to others, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The survey also revealed that over 68,000 grants have been awarded since the scheme began in April 2009.
The survey findings were unveiled at a major conference on retrofit in Dublin today, organised by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) and supported by SEAI, ESB, Bord Gáis, CRH and Dalkia.
SEAI's report also found that families and older people are more likely to participate in the HES scheme, and that average household spend including the grant is €2,900. Comfort gains and energy savings were the main motivator for most applicants, and 65% believe their home increased in value after the upgrade.
Opening the event, IIEA chairman Brendan Halligan said that by virtue of its scale, the new national retrofit programme will be the biggest civil engineering project in the history of the state. “The magnitude of this task is a direct consequence of the colossal failure on the part of Ireland to build to the highest standards,” he said.
“The retrofit programme is one of the rare events which constitutes a win win all around. Upgrading the energy performance of our building stock will create a new building industry with significant enlargement potential, spawn a lengthy supply chain, generating more jobs, save home owners an average of 40% on their energy bills, improve the comfort of all buildings, reduce greenhouse has emissions, and reduce oil and gas imports by over a billion euro and, thereby, provide a much needed stimulus to the economy.”
The keynote address at the conference was given by energy minister Eamon Ryan, who said that over 5,000 people were now in employment because of the Home Energy Savings scheme. SEAI chief executive Professor Owen Lewis said that another significant finding of the survey was that 90% of participants had expressed satisfaction with the contractors who carried out their upgrade. “This is evidence that the competitive market is driving good quality, well-priced and well-delivered actions, and may help explain why the scheme’s popularity continues to grow."
Professor Lewis pointed out that a key issue raised in the survey responses was that of financing home energy upgrades. Most participants fund their share of the upgrade costs out of their own savings, rather than through loans or mortgage top-ups. “We need to reach sections of our population who are not currently participating and that means finding ways to finance their share of the costs,” he said.
“If people could raise funds more confidently through more accessible loan offerings, would we then see a rise in participation and a greater uptake of stronger measures such as external wall insulation?” he asked. “Driving the market to provide innovative financing solutions is an essential step to achieving these objectives of broadening the appeal of the programme and encouraging more significant and deeper investment.”
The ESB's Brian Dowd told the conference that the company will soon launch a home energy upgrade service, while Bord Gais's Tracy Kennedy outlined the utility's plans for a pay-as-you-save approach to financing retrofit.
Pat Gilroy, managing director of Dalkia Ireland, said that retrofit could play a significant part in enabling Ireland to position itself as an international leader in energy efficiency.
"The value of holding such a conference is that for the first time all stakeholders have been able to discuss in an open forum the implications of a programme like the National Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme announced by Minister Lenihan last year. The implications and potential are far reaching and will perhaps require us to re-look at how we approach energy efficiency in Ireland, from business models and finance packages to skills development," Gilroy said.
The full SEAI report can be downloaded here (at the bottom of the page), and Construct Ireland will have further reporting on the IIEA conference next week.