Chapter 1: What impact does the energy crisis have on retrofitting decisions?
Now, the impact of the energy crisis triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran is being felt globally. Rising costs of fuel and home-eating oil has pushed many people to look and, in many cases, invest in alternatives. Purchases of rooftop solar panels by Irish homeowners have surged. with both the SEAI and the Trade Body Solar Ireland reporting sharp increases since the beginning of March.
The SEAI has said that it received nearly twice as many grant applications for photovoltaic solar panels in March as it did for the same month last year.
To share their knowledge on home energy upgrades and tell us all about the latest grants available to help with the costs involved, I'm joined by Ciarán Byrne, Director of National Retrofit at SEAI, and by Brian McIntyre, Programme Manager at SEAI.
Chapter 2: How have grant applications for solar panels changed recently?
You're both very welcome. Thanks a million for coming in. Ciarán, I suppose what's happening in the Gulf and the impacts of that, I mean, they've changed the calculation for a lot of people in terms of whether to go ahead and do something in terms of retrofitting.
Yeah, absolutely, Dave. And good morning to all your listeners. You said it right there in the intro, we're seeing a huge pivot towards solar PV. But actually, right across the board, we're seeing a massive interest in retrofit measures. We just had the Ideal Home show in Dublin at the weekend yesterday.
And it would be fair to say we were mobbed all weekend and people are coming and they're much more engaged. They're much more informed and they're really at the point where they're going to take the next step. They're going to go and get a grant, be it solar PV, windows and doors, attic and cavity grant. They realise, you know, we've had two bumps now. We had a bump at the Ukraine war.
We saw significant changes. We've had another one. I think people are really starting to pivot into it.
And the last time you were in with us, you were talking about the changes to the grant. So it's becoming a bit more user-friendly, is it?
Yes, it is. Well, you say that anyway. Of course we say that. But actually, no, in fairness, that's an ongoing journey because we're trying to scale up. So we start off relatively small. And year upon year upon year, we've seen exponential levels of growth. We're constantly looking at how we make it easier for homeowners. less complicated, less formed and things like that. So that's a journey.
That's not an event. That will continue. But the grants were improved. The Minister announced new grants in January, just before the current Iran situation. So we have higher grant levels and people are really buying into them en masse. But we need more. We have more money. We have more grants. If you haven't done it, now's the time. Okay, so you're here to give our listeners money.
Yeah, basically that's the bottom line, yeah.
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Chapter 3: What are the latest improvements in SEAI grants for homeowners?
Great, okay, we like these type of items. Okay, there's loads of questions that have come in, so put your hands up who wants to answer, Ciarán or Brian. So the first one is about windows and doors. My wife and I are retired and are pensioners. We would love to replace our windows and doors to make our home warmer. What grants are available for something like that? And are the grants tested?
I presume means tested.
Yeah, we have the new windows and doors grant that they can avail. So it's up to 4,000 euros for new windows and up to 1,600 euros for new doors. So 800 euros per door. So it's not means tested. They can just apply for it. There are certain conditions if the If they're looking at windows, I would also look at the walls and roof insulation.
You lose about two thirds of your heater, it goes out through your roof and your walls. So look at those first. And I would upgrade those. But yeah, we have a grant for windows and doors as well.
OK, so the advice would be to do the attic first, would you?
I'd always say to people to do the attic first because a lot of people, there's about probably several hundred thousand homes in the country that are insulated, but just not to a particularly good degree. So it's always worth doing because heat rises and you lose about a third of your heat out through the roof.
Okay, and for those listeners who are looking for the windows and doors, if they want to go ahead with that, so log on to seai.ie or presumably there's call-in centres as well?
Yep, we have a number there on the website, but seai.ie and there's a lot of detail there in the grants.
Okay, dorm or bungalow issue, right? Thank you very much. will be unsuitable for air to water because of the extra expense to run a heat to water system. So we will still have to burn fossil fuels, gas. We have a 13-year-old boiler and have been told that they only give grants for heat pumps now. Our home is not suitable for a heat pump. What can we do? There's a couple of things going on there.
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Chapter 4: What grants are available for replacing windows and doors?
So yeah, I mean, financially, environmentally, it makes sense there.
OK, and they have an oil stove in one room. Does that matter? Does that affect your overall calculations for getting a grant or anything?
No, it doesn't affect the grant.
OK, well, that's good news. Oh, we have a text in about the chimney balloons. Can they be removed easily if you want to light a fire?
Yeah, you just pop it up, you inflate it, and then just turn the valve to let it back out.
Yeah, they don't go very far. Okay, wrap query. I own a detached two-storey house. I want to wrap it. However, one side is the start of my neighbour's passageway, so I have to adopt an internal solution for that side. What grants can I avail of, please?
Yeah, there's a grant available for that. That's the external insulation wrap grant for detached houses up to €8,000. And that would be a common enough situation where you might have three walls and you might have something like a brickwork at the front, things like that. The contractor will be able to work around that.
They'll do a different solution, probably internal for that wall and wrap the rest of them. So the majority of houses are wrapped so they qualify for the grant on up to €8,000.
OK, question about an upgrade. I've heard from one of my friends that his electricity bills have gone through the roof since he installed a heat pump. The house has gone through an extensive renovation, wrapped cavity walls, pumped underfloor heating, solar panels, etc. I thought heat pumps were the way to go. Also, does the internal unit make noise? Thanks. So two questions there, really.
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Chapter 5: How can homeowners maximize energy efficiency in their homes?
If I want a grant for one specific upgrade, can I get it or do I have to then get everything else upgraded in the package at much greater overall cost? I'm interested in solar. Well, I think you have good news for that.
Yeah, we do. It's a great question because there's a little segue in. The answer is yes, listener, you can. The second point is just think about your retrofit journeys like a train journey, little stations along the way.
...some people do the whole lot in one go... ...and get to the end point... ...other people go station by station by station... ...so if you get on our website... ...we have a list of the individual grants... ...that you can get... ...you're not obligated... ...you can get whichever one suits you... ...or your circumstance of your house... ...and you can go step by step by step... ...so if they want solar they can get solar...
We would always recommend, probably the quickest and one of the most effective to do is make sure your attic is well insulated. Just do that. But you're not obligated and you don't have to do a big package. So step by step on a journey. And this is all no regret stuff. So right now, some people are very frustrated they can't get to the end point in one go. Don't worry about it.
Do what you can because it'll all make a gradual improvement.
OK, a listener wants to know if they would be entitled to a retrofit grant for new windows and doors. We bought our house in 2001, changed some windows and front and back doors at the time. Front door very drafty, as are some of the windows. So 25 years old.
Yeah, I mean, it depends if that house was built in 2001, there's a pretty good chance that they'd be eligible for the windows and doors.
I'd say it's probably older than that because the implication is that they changed windows and doors.
Yeah, exactly. I'd say we have a list of BR assessors on our website to contact a BR assessor to look at your house and to identify if there are any areas that need to be upgraded. So again, like walls and roof insulation. It may be just that they don't need to do anything. They can get windows and doors in straight away.
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Chapter 6: What should you consider before installing a heat pump?
That's reasonably common as well.
Yeah, OK. So I suppose it's what the planning rules are for that in a particular area. Ooh. 300-year-old house that has 1970 heating piping. Do I need the underfloor pipes changed to larger to suit a heat pump? Okay, so... That's one worry.
Again, that would be the pilot. It would be... A heat pump might not be suitable for that house at this point in time. They probably need to look at some other areas where they might reduce the heat loss from the house again appropriately, even roof insulation, for example, in an older house.
So I'd look at those first before we'd be looking at a heat pump just to make sure it's the right fit for that house.
Okay, so we'll probably leave the questions. Oh no, here's another one in. Small house, no space for heat pump, water cylinder and boiler unit. Would have to build a pump room in very small backyard, all very costly. Any alternatives there or are you a bit goosed?
We are finding that the internal unit can be smaller. Like they typically would be quite big, kind of like a fridge. Yeah. Okay, but that's probably a smaller house. Yeah, exactly. So we're moving now towards, it's basically the size of what you need. If it's a small house, you probably have a small water demand.
And we're seeing technology evolve where you're probably halving that size to like a small cooker, like an under-counter cooker to generate the hot water that you need. It's just basically on your hot water demand dictates how big it is.
So basically there are lots of different solutions out there that people just kind of explore because they'll suit their own personal circumstances.
And actually more coming on stream because the times are in where people are looking to different technologies and things like that.
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