Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan TD was in County Tipperary today, to monitor the progress being made by the Tipperary Energy Association in the recently announced Home Energy Saving Scheme, to view the works being undertaken by Tipperary Institute and to experience first-hand one of the finest examples of sustainable living in the country – Cloughjordan eco-village.
Cloughjordan ecovillage (“The Village”) was created as part of the SERVE grant mechanism, funded under the EU CONCERTO Programme. The SERVE project aims to create a sustainable region in North Tipperary by implementing sustainable energy actions, such as the installation of renewable energy heating systems, and the development of a district heating system as well as the creation of an “ecovillage” at Cloughjordan.
Speaking in Cloughjordan, Minister Ryan said,
“Tipperary is steadily becoming one of the most energy efficient and eco friendly counties in Ireland and deservedly so. I am particularly impressed by the extent and quality of this project here in Cloughjordan, which is excellent example of how local innovation with European Union assistance, can be the instrument of change. Both the Tipperary Institute and Tipperary County Council must be commended for their involvement in this project.
Minister Ryan also noted the effective work carried out by the Tipperary Energy Agency in administering the Home Energy Saving Scheme, which was recently announced:
“The volume of applications that has been received under Home Energy Saving Scheme, after just one month running, is exceptional. 1300 applications in total have already been received from homeowners throughout North Tipperary, Limerick, Clare and Dundalk, as part of the regional strand of this Scheme. There are still up to 1000 places to fill, on a region-by-region cluster basis throughout Ireland in the second strand of this Scheme. These clusters will be spread throughout the country and interested parties will, in the coming weeks, be able to submit applications.
Clearly, there is eagerness and enthusiasm to move towards a more sustainable way of living and the people of Tipperary should be proud of what they have achieved to date. Local interest and participation is of the essence as we bid to become a more energy efficient nation.
If , on a national scale, we can mirror the action and adopt the practices seen here in Tipperary today, Ireland’s move towards cleaner and more sustainable living will soon be realised.’
ENDS
Note to Editors:
The pilot Home Energy Saving Scheme was launched by Eamon Ryan T.D. Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in April. The Minister has made available some €5 million for the scheme in 2008. The focus of the scheme is on older homes which exhibit the poorest energy efficiency standards.
Approximately 1,300 applications have been received for the regional strand of the scheme in North Tipperary, Limerick, Clare and Dundalk.
The regional strand of the scheme is being managed in the North Tipperary area by Tipperary Energy Agency and in Limerick / Clare by the Limerick Clare Energy Agency. Local management of the scheme in the Dundalk area is being handled by Sustainable Energy Ireland, which is also responsible for overall management of the scheme.
All of these applicants homes will be assessed by a qualified Building Energy Rating assessor as part of the scheme and an Advisory Report will be supplied to each homeowner to advise them what works are required to improve the energy efficiency of the home. They must then decide whether to proceed with their application.
All registered Building Energy Rating assessors were invited to tender to work on the scheme. That tender process has now closed and SEI has begun to make contract offers to successful applicants. Training of the successful applicants in assessing existing homes will commence in the next week. It is likely that BER assessments will begin before the end of June. Each homeowner will pre-pay €100 towards the cost of this assessment, with the scheme subsidising the balance.
The BER assessor may advise that a particular house requires such work as attic insulation, interior or exterior wall insulation, high efficiency double-glazing, heating controls or a range of other energy efficient measures. The scheme will then cover up to 30% of the cost of these works, to a maximum of €2,500. On completion of the works, a re-rating of the home will be done to assess the impact of the works carried out on the energy performance of the home.
There will be an additional national strand of the scheme, which will primarily involve clusters of housing throughout the country, though there will be some scope for individual applications in this strand also. This national strand will be managed by an energy services provider under a contract for services with SEI. The tender process for this strand has now closed and a contract is expected to be awarded shortly. This strand of the scheme may deliver up to a further 1,000 homes for the scheme.
Clusters of homes (such as a housing estate) with similar energy efficiency deficiencies, such as little or no insulation in walls or roof, old single glazed windows and outdated heating systems, can be offered as a single contract to building contractors and the economies of scale this brings can help to reduce prices for the participating homeowners.
SEI estimate that householders participating in the scheme may save up to €500 in their energy bills every year and that the 2008 pilot scheme alone will save 6,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The full €100 million scheme envisaged in the Programme for Government would yield estimated greenhouse gas savings of 175,000 tonnes per year.