‘Vast majority’ of boilers installed under new scheme aren’t eco-friendly
Most retrof itted systems not energy-eff icient as ‘90% to 99%’ burn oil or gas
THE ‘vast majority’ of new boilers installed in homes across the country under a Government-funded scheme are not environmentally friendly, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme, which is funded by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan’s Department of Environment and Climate Action, and operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, was set up to deliver energy-efficient measures to lowincome households.
Over €118m has been allocated to the scheme for this year, with almost 150,000 households across the country availing of it so far.
However, the MoS has learned the vast majority of heaters being installed in homes under the scheme are oil and gas boilers, rather than the more climatefriendly air-to-water heat pumps.
The revelation comes after Mr Ryan was accused of destabilising the Government in pushing ahead with controversial proposals to ban the sale of turf.
In response to queries from the MoS, a spokesman for the SEAI confirmed: ‘Where heating systems are provided through the scheme, the vast majority are a gas or oil system at this point.’
The SEAI said ‘the estimated split of oil to gas is one to three’, but it could not confirm the divide between the oil and gas burners
‘Still dependent on carbon-high fossil fuels’
and the more climate-friendly airto-water pumps in the scheme.
Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice claimed that up to 95% of the installations are oil and gas boilers.
And a key figure involved in the scheme to make homes more energy-efficient told the MoS: ‘The SEAI are installing fossil fuel highefficiency oil and gas boilers in 90% to 99% of homes.
‘They have yet to put in an air-towater heat pump in this scheme. The reason is that the entire house must be up to a certain standard in relation to insulation to allow a heat pump to be installed.’
Homes eligible under the scheme are measured by a Heat Loss Indicator (HLI), which calculates the heat loss in properties.
The source added: ‘This assessment will detail the works required prior to installing a heat pump, so in a lot of cases the types of home that people qualifying for the Warmer Home Scheme live in will require a number of different and costly works to be carried out.
‘This means that, at the moment, they will be excluded from getting heat pumps on an economic basis and therefore they are still dependent on fossil fuel.
‘It is something of a contradiction in terms that we are paying carbon tax to fund a scheme where vulnerable poor people continue to be dependent on carbon-high fossil fuels whose price will only get higher.’
In order for more homes to be eligible for the more climate-friendly heat pump, the source said ‘the target figure’ for the HLI needs to be relaxed.
They added: ‘While the reasoning behind the HLI figure is to ensure the heat pump works at its maximum efficiency, the cost of upgrading some of these houses could run into the tens of thousands and the
payback on this extra expenditure could be 20 years.’
Mr Ryan previously announced ambitious targets ‘to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating of B2 and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings by the end of 2030’.
This includes retrofitting 36,500 local authority homes.
In response to parliamentary queries from Sinn Féin TD Darren O’Rourke, the Green leader said the Government ‘recently approved a package of enhanced supports to
make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades’. Mr Ryan said these included ‘a significant increase in the number of free energy upgrades for those at risk of energy poverty under the Warmer Homes Scheme.’ In response to queries from the MoS, the SEAI said ‘a variety of energy efficiency upgrades are available under the scheme [and] the type of upgrades that will be recommended for a home will depend on many things, including the age, size, type and condition of the property’.
A spokesman added: ‘We have commenced a pilot for the installation of heat pumps through the Warmer Homes programme. This will inform the potential to roll out to suitable homes across the scheme over the coming years.’
They added that a heat pump must be installed ‘in accordance with the SEAI Domestic Technical Specification. Therefore, a home must achieve the required level of insulation in order to be considered for a heat pump’.
However, Dr Paul Deane, a senior researcher in clean energy futures at University College Cork, said it does not make sense ‘environmentally or economically’ to continue installing oil and gas boilers.
Dr Deane told the MoS: ‘The installation of fossil-fuel boilers is not compatible at all with where Ireland needs to go towards our climate targets. Both the economics and the environmental credentials are very much tilted in favour of cleaner, non-fossil fuel systems.
‘The upfront cost for things like heat pumps and the insulation that needs to go with it is higher than for a fossil fuel boiler but the long-term running costs are much, much lower.’
He said a typical family of four in a semi-detached house might pay €1,400 a year if they are using oil but just €400 to run a heat pump. Fossil fuel boilers are also far less environmentally friendly.
Dr Deane added: ‘A typical Irish house using an oil-fired boiler will produce about four tonnes of CO2 per year and the same house will produce about one tonne of CO2 if using an electric heat pump.’
He also said the Government needs to ‘move away from incremental measures’ in the scheme.
‘By doing the whole retrofit of a house in one go you’re reducing the inconvenience for the customer. You’re reducing emissions and also you’re reducing the overall running cost particularly when you look at the price of oil and gas at the moment.’
The department defended the installation of oil and gas burners under the scheme.
A spokesman told the MoS: ‘In those instances where modern gas and oil boilers have been included as part of a retrofit, such installations delivered a marked improvement in the energy efficiency of those properties, given that such properties may have been starting from a comparatively low base.’
‘Not compatible with our climate targets’