economy - passivehouseplus.co.uk

Leading environmental and green building charities have criticised the government’s lack of ambition on retrofit, upskilling and a green economic recovery in its latest budget.

New research published by the Passivhaus Trust has shown that the real-terms cost of building to the passive house standard has fallen since the previous study four years ago.

Leading green lender Ecology Building Society has welcomed the publication of the Green Finance Taskforce’s report to the UK government on boosting green finance, but warned that any measures to stimulate green lending must be long-term and sustainable.

This article, originally published in 2012, details the Irish building industry's history of opposition to higher standards.

The first delivery of the QualiBuild Foundation Energy Skills training will start later this month, and the course is open to all building construction workers to apply.

Dublin’s old city wall in Woodquay provided the backdrop on Wednesday 15 October to a conference, titled 'Better Than Best Practice', on the urgent need to upskill the Irish construction industry. 

Last week's Better Building conference in Dublin heard from experts speaker on the present and future of the construction industry in Ireland. Topics at this year’s conference pushed the building industry to think beyond energy efficiency and consider full life cycle costs of materials, transportation issues, and living buildings.

The UK’s Passivhaus Trust will hold a conference on large scale passive house developments on 30 April in Glasgow.

An Taoiseach Mr Enda Kenny has opened one of the world’s "most advanced research and development facilities for space and water heating technologies" at the Glen Dimplex site in Dunleer, Co Louth.

Bord Gáis has ceased offering home insulation products and boiler installations through its Home Team division due to a drop off in demand. The company will continue to offer boiler servicing and repair.

The move reflects the recent nationwide decline in home energy upgrades, a trend that is investigated in the new issue of Construct Ireland.

The government's cuts to its Better Energy grants will cost jobs and make it extremely difficult for Ireland to meet its retrofit and energy reduction targets, green building magazine Construct Ireland has warned.

Following the budget, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland reduced grants for cavity wall insulation from €320 to €350. Grants for internal and external wall insulation were also reduced — previously these were €2,000 and and €4,000 respectively, but now separate rates have been introduced for different house types, with the maximum being €1,800 for internal insulation and €3,600 for external.

The pioneering energy charity Energy Action is set to hold a two-day fuel poverty conference in Dublin Castle on 7-8 February.

“The introduction of the carbon tax on fuel costs in 2010 has further exacerbated the health and monetary problems for the fuel poor,” said Energy Action general manager Charles Roarty. “Due to low income and possibly debt these households will not have the funds needed to pay for retrofitting measures, even allowing for SEAI’s Home Energy Saving scheme grants.”

Renewable energy in Ireland grew by an average of 15% per annum from 2005 to 2009 driven largely by a significant growth in wind energy of 28% per annum in that period, according to SEAI's latest Energy in Ireland report. Last year also witnessed a steady trend towards lower energy prices in Ireland for both domestic and business energy users.

Richard Douthwaite proposes a new bank-free, debt-free way of financing property purchase and development to get the market working again and clear up the mess left by the bubble.

The ESB has launched Halo, the utility's new home energy upgrade and efficiency service. The Halo Installation Service is designed as a "one-stop solution" for home energy upgrades, the company said.

Every eurozone government has debt problems and is cutting its spending, Richard Douthwaite says. Defaults and a prolonged depression are inevitable unless countries inject money into their economies in an unconventional way. A prosperous low-carbon economy would be the result

With money leaving local economies across Ireland to service debt and significant drops in local authority revenues, towns such as Dundalk, Ennis and Kilkenny are investigating the possibility of bringing in electronic currencies to keep money circulating locally, as Richard Douthwaite reveals.

Why the Greenov project may be the key to success for Irish SMEs in energy upgrade market

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) today announced that it is inviting submissions from manufacturers and suppliers to the new Accelerated Capital Allowances (ACA) equipment categories announced by the government as part of the Finance Act.

Why Ireland may default on debts, & what to do next

A new coalition of Irish business leaders has issued an open letter urging the government to leverage the State’s €17bn annual procurement spend to develop the green economy.

The CEOs and managing directors of companies including Siemens Ireland, Airtricity, Ecocem, Glen Dimplex and Bord Gais have signed up to Green for Growth, a coalition calling for the state to commit to buying greener goods and services to keep Ireland competitive domestically and internationally.

Green for Growth, a coalition of leading Irish businesses set up to demand strong government leadership on green procurement, will be launched tomorrow, Friday 14 May 2010 in The Annesley Suite, Alexander Hotel, Merrion Square, Dublin 2 at 12pm. The coalition has been organised by Construct Ireland magazine.

Rising energy use in buildings contributed to an increase of 1.5% in overall energy demand in 2008, despite the economy contracting by 3% over the same period, a new report from Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) reveals today.

The worl­d has learned the hard way that our political leaders lacked the judgement and resolve to identify and address the problems which led to the recession. Richard Douthwaite argues that a similarly flawed judgement is evident in the assumption that the economy will recover, and advises on how to prepare for a future of global economic contraction.

Scottish-owned electricity supplier Airtricity has announced the creation of 200 new jobs as it embarks on a drive to win new customers.

The market for new residential build may have bottomed out, but compared to the rest of the construction industry the sustainable building sector appears buoyant. Changing market conditions, various government incentives and updated building regulations are all helping greener building companies - but with few houses likely to be built this year and capital restricted, challenges still lie ahead. Lenny Antonelli reports

ESB yesterday announced a series of initiatives to create up to 6,000 new jobs and training opportunities. Up to 3,700 new jobs will be created outside the company in Ireland in sectors such as smart networks and smart metering, wind energy, electric vehicles, home insulation and new sustainable technologies.

NEW PROJECTIONS for Ireland’s Kyoto targets published barely a fortnight ago may already be out of date, Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe has said.

The vast majority of Irish buildings are in need of substantial energy upgrade work. Given the difficult economic conditions and low public awareness of the cost, comfort and health benefits of a well-designed energy renovation, the notion of upgrading most Irish buildings is a considerable challenge. However, as Lenny Antonelli explains, new ideas are emerging that could stimulate energy upgrade work on an unprecedented scale.

MEETING MODERN energy-efficiency standards in Irish homes could generate €600 million a year and create 7,000 sustainable jobs, according to new research from DKM Economic Consultants.