With the onset of winter close and carbon taxes soon to become a reality, its time to think about how to make your home more energy efficient. Help is at hand.
SEI (Sustainable Energy Ireland), is the national energy agency of Ireland. The aim of the agency is to promote sustainable energy in Ireland. For this purpose they have some grants for initial investments of sustainable energy related practices in both domestic and industrial scale.
They have three main schemes for domestic applications:
· Greener Homes Scheme
· Home Energy Saving Scheme
· Warmer Homes Scheme
Greener Homes Scheme
Those who are planning to make a change about the heating system in their homes and switching to renewable energy heating systems are eligible for the grant.
The objectives of the scheme can be listed as:
- Promote domestic use of renewable energy in Ireland;
- Help people choose among renewable energy sources for their homes;
- To contribute to development of renewable energy market;
- To reduce dependency on fossil fuels;
- Reduce CO2 emissions.
The following technologies are eligible for a grant:
Solar heating systems:
-
- Solar domestic hot water system and/or
- Solar space heating system
These systems use sunlight to heat water or your house.
Heat pump systems:
-
- Ground source heat pumps (horizontal and vertical collectors)
- Water (well) heat pumps
- Air source heat pumps
These systems simply “pump up” the heat stored in ground, water or air to your house. Systems take the heat at a lower temperature from the source and provide it to you at a higher temperature. So you can heat your house in a fuel-free way.
Wood Chip/Pellet stoves – with or without integral boiler
These stoves use wood chips or pellets with a special automated stove design providing clean burning and high efficiency.
Wood Chip/Pellet boilers
They work on the main principle as wood chip/pellet stoves and they provide heating for your whole house.
Wood Gasification Boilers
This type of boilers has a special technology to thermally transform wood fuel. The wood is converted to wood gas and this gas is used for combustion in the boiler.
Grants available for this scheme are as follows:
| Solar heating systems | Up to € 1800 |
| Heat pump systems | Up to € 3500 |
| Wood Chip/Pellet stoves | Up to € 1400 |
| Wood Chip/Pellet boilers | € 2500 |
| Wood Gasification Boilers | € 2000 |
Home Energy Saving Scheme
Owners of dwelling built before 2006, who are planning to invest in energy efficiency in their buildings, are eligible for this grant.
The grant is available for the followings:
Roof Insulation
A well insulated roof can save you up to 20% of your heating bills. The minimum roof insulation thickness recommended is 200 mm.
Wall Insulation
Wall insulation can be done in different ways. The ones mostly used are:
(i)
insulated dry lining,
(ii)
blown mineral or cellulose fibre or polystyrene beads into the cavity,
(iii)
rigid external insulation with render or brick finish.
Installation of High Efficiency (> 90%) Gas or Oil fired Boilers
Having a high efficiency boiler means that you can get at least 90% of the energy content of your fuel as heat output.
Building Energy Rating (BER)
A BER certificate gives solid figures about the energy efficiency of your building. Your house is labelled with a rating from A+ to G. It is also compulsory in Ireland if you plan to sell or let your house.
Grants available for this scheme are as follows:
| Roof Insulation | € 250 |
| Wall Insulation | Up to € 4000 |
| HE Boiler | Up to € 700 |
| BER assessment | € 200 |
Warmer Homes Scheme
The aim of this scheme is to improve energy efficiency and comfort conditions of homes that cannot be adequately heated because of low household income and/or poor energy efficiency of houses.
Eligibility criteria for this scheme depend on where you live.
The following measures are provided:
- Attic insulation
- Draught proofing
- Lagging jackets
- CFL bulbs
- Cavity wall insulation
Local non-profit organisations provide service within the scope of this scheme.
Thanks the Techstore Team
