Back     Latest news from Green Building Press    Subscribe to our newsletter

The Emerald Isle Is Getting Greener

Posted: 03/04/2006

An eco-home at Shankill, Co Dublin, recently sold for over €1.3m. The auctioneers did not expect the house to make that price, which is seen as a sign of a growing trend in the Republic of Ireland for people to invest in contemporary, sustainable building.

The typical Irish household spends well over €1,000 a year on heating, but it should be possible to heat a house for €100, or €150, according to green builders such as John Goulding, who's more modestly priced eco-house was among the main attractions at the Spring House and Garden Show in the RDS, Dublin.

Goulding said he made particular use of solar energy to cater for most of the space heating and hot water heating through active systems.

“The form of the building and the orientation of the building are crucially important," he said “On the south facing side, there are large areas of glass. The building was designed in such a way to capture as much solar heat for free as possible, to retain that within the building and distribute it so that the house remains comfortably warm day and night.

“On the north side, the windows are quite a bit smaller and I took a deliberate decision to design the house with reference to Irish vernacular architecture, to emphasise the point that you can have these low-energy technologies in a house of any style. To make that point, I decided on this occasion to make it a very typically Irish house, unlike a lot of the houses that are coming in from abroad.”

Mr Goulding dismissed the notion that if people want to live in an ecological house, they have to accept some sacrifices in terms of lifestyles, comfort and so on.

“It’s quite the opposite,” he said. “The eco-house performs far better than most conventionally built houses. According to our calculations, it should be possible to heat the house for as little as €100 to €150 per year based on a typical family’s needs.”

And to build on the current trend, Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Mr Noel Dempsey has just launched a grant scheme of up to €27 million for domestic renewable heat technologies. This latest programme is part of a multi-annual finance package of e65m for renewable energy that will also include grants for a range of renewable heat, electricity and transport initiatives.

The Greener Homes scheme will give grants to individual householders, for the first time, to install renewable technologies including wood pellet stoves and boilers, solar panels and geothermal heat pumps. Grants of €1,100 to €6,500 will be given depending on the technology used.

Being rolled out over five years, the scheme will potentially support 10,100 homes to convert to renewable energy. By its final year, it is expected to save an energy equivalent to 54,000 barrels of oil per annum - equal to meeting heating needs of 7,100 homes from renewable energy, or removing 6,700 cars off the road.

Renewable systems have low running costs, but equipment and first-day installation costs are high. The grants scheme aims to tackle that problem. “There has been intense interest in the domestic grants scheme since it was first announced that a scheme was to be developed. Almost 1,200 enquiries have already been received,” Mr Dempsey said.

Green Building Press  
 

Back     Latest news from Green Building Press    Subscribe to our newsletter

1290