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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance. Summer is probably the perfect time to look at upgrading your home ahead of the colder months. So where do you start? Well, Brian McIntyre is here, Programme Manager at the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, the SEAI. Brian, you're very welcome.
Thanks Clare.
We've lots of questions to get to, so we'll get to those in a moment. Do you agree with me that now is the time to look at doing this?
Very much so.
Chapter 2: Why is summer the best time for home upgrades?
I think there's not as much focus on the cost of heating at the moment and with everything going on over in the Middle East and the price of oil in particular is still 40 or 50% higher than it was in the middle of February. So people aren't feeling that pinch now, but when it gets colder, you'll notice it in your pocket.
So now is the time to look at insulating and reducing the amount you need to spend on your heating.
And it's always easier to do a bit of work in the house when the weather's good, isn't it?
Yeah, exactly.
Okay, so if people were starting from scratch, what is the first thing you have to do?
I'd always suggest that getting a building energy rating assessment. So that's when someone comes out and assesses your house and gives you a certain performance of it between A and G. But what comes with that then is an advisory report that gives you much more detailed information
easier, user-friendly sheet that tells you like your roof, your walls, your windows, your heating system, if the insulation level is anywhere from very poor up to poor, fair, good or very good. So it's a very visual, going from green to red to green to tell you what you need to do. I'd always chat to the assessor as well and say like, where should I start?
But I'd say the vast majority of people could do it insulating their attics. So the vast majority of people have just insulation across the floor of their attic. And in most cases, or a lot of cases anyway, it's only about four inches up to the height of the joists, the wooden joists across the floor. The current standard would be about 12 inches.
So you're losing, if you don't insulate now, you're losing three times more heat through your roof than you would do if you insulated.
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Chapter 3: What is the first step in retrofitting your home?
And sometimes it's just a company offers a premium offering. It's the same. You can buy items in different supermarkets that vary in price for essentially the same thing. Sometimes they might be offering more kind of add-ons to the solar panels themselves.
But yeah, I'd definitely say shop around because the panels, the standard of panels has to be, that panels have to meet a certain standard under our guidance.
Okay, so you have to, the SEAI has to check those panels in order for the grant to be paid over.
Well, we set requirements that the panels have to meet, the standards and requirements that they have to meet. We do do inspections of solar panels as well. About 25% of our energy upgrades are inspected as well.
So how do I know if I'm getting solar panels, that they're up to scratch?
Anything that is listed on any of the installers that are working there are supplying products that meet the required standards, the SEI requirements.
So will they be listed on your website?
Yeah, we have a list of solar energy installers.
Okay, so that's a good way to protect yourself. Yes, exactly.
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Chapter 4: How can insulation reduce heating costs?
So they are saving, they're saving a lot. Yeah. That sounds good. Now, this listener is getting a BER assessment to see if I qualify for the grant for new windows and doors. Does the BER need to be excellent in the rest of the house in order to get the grant? So what's the relationship between the BER and the grant?
Okay, so there's two routes. For your window, to qualify for the windows, if your wall insulation is good or very good and your roof insulation is good or very good or the heat loss from the house is good or very good. So there's two different options. So the heat loss could be good or very good or separately the walls and roof have to be good or very good.
So like I said, that advisory report will tell you in green it's very good or good. If that's the case, you can get your window grant straight away. There's also the option if you want to do, say if your roof insulation wasn't good or very good, then you can get grants for the roof insulation as well and the windows at the same time.
What is the deal with the windows grant? What is available to people?
It's up to 4,000 euros to get new windows. It's the same as the one-stop shop scheme. We kind of left it for a long time because you lose about three quarters or two thirds of your heat is lost out through walls and windows. Maybe 10% is lost out through, or sorry, walls and roof and about 10% through your windows. So the priority will be addressing walls and roof.
But in the last few years, a lot more people have got insulation for their walls, insulation for the roof.
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Chapter 5: What financial incentives are available for home retrofitting?
So they're in a position now that the next step, the last step would be to do the windows. So that's why it's kind of tied in with the walls and the roof.
Okay, but the maximum grant available for that is 4,000. And do you have to replace a certain number of windows in order to access them?
The idea is that it should be all of the windows, but there are cases where people may have replaced windows in parts of the house or they may not want to replace certain windows. So it's a one-time offer. You can replace three-quarters of them now if some are there, but you can't come back for a grant for the rest of them if you want in time.
Okay, I get you. Now, this listener lives in an end terrace house with a narrow side entrance, so we're imagining that. It just about allows the passage of a bicycle or a wheelbarrow. They wouldn't want to lose six inches of its width. This is about insulation, obviously. They wouldn't even be able to put up a ladder at a safe angle to access the gutter or the fascia board.
We've been told that we wouldn't qualify for a grant for outside insulation if we don't include that wall. which could be insulated on the inside.
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Chapter 6: What are the benefits of solar energy for homeowners?
So what do they do then? So they won't get a grant unless they do the outside insulation?
If you say it's an end of terrace, so there's three external walls, the front and back and the side. So we've seen cases where they can't do the front of the house, might be a red brick front. So what happens there is they might wrap the other sides and do internal insulation on that wall.
So obviously there's a risk there that you won't let anything pass by if you add four to five inches of insulation on that side wall where there's the passage. So you could insulate that internally.
Okay, so you could do that internally, you could maybe do the back wall externally?
Yeah, do the walls externally and just do that one internally, so then you're not losing the space from the side passage.
Okay, and is that what the, that's the wrap, isn't it? Yeah. The insulation on the outside, is that what it adds on to the wall, about four to six inches, is it?
Typically, you would get about four inches of insulation, so the build-up then with the base coat and the render on the outside then would build up to maybe about five, five and a half inches.
We're talking about all the people who do have solar panels. There are some people who can't get them because, as this listener says, I don't have a south-facing roof.
Lots of people don't have that. You won't get as much, but it's still worth your while on looking at east-west configurations as well. They'll look at if a solar installer comes out and models where your house is and they'll find the best orientation for them. A lot of people don't necessarily have...
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Chapter 7: How do I choose a reliable solar panel installer?
All right. I've applied for a grant for the front and back door. Do I need to have the BOR done before and after I have those doors installed?
Not necessarily before, no. Definitely after all the grants you have to get the B.E.R. after, but sometimes it's just useful to get your starting point to make sure. If you've got a grant before for your walls or your roof, you'll know exactly that the starting point is good or very good. So there shouldn't be an issue there, but you will always have to get one after.
OK, and another quick one. So I've applied for the solo grant. I was wondering why I have to get a B.E.R. cert. My roof wasn't suitable, so I'm using a ground mounted system. You still have to have that B.E.R. certified, do you?
to be your sort after, I suppose it's demonstrating the impact it's made on the house as well, which is important for us.
Brian, lots of questions coming in. We'll have to have you back and do that again. As always, we get so many questions on this when we start. That's Brian McIntyre from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Thank you for all of your messages. We will do that again. We'll take a break. The Clare Byrne Show with Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at nine on Newstalk. Conversation that counts.
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