SuperHomes Launches a call for Homes for it’s 5th Year

The Deep retrofit program SuperHomes Ireland run by the non profit Tipperary Energy Agency is open for 2019 retrofits

Home owners can benefit by up to 50% grants for deep retrofitting their home to an A3 rating, and the SuperHomes Ireland initiative aims to support homeowners through the challenging process of understanding, designing and delivering deep retrofit to Irelands high carbon, low comfort housing.

Now in it’s 5^th year the SuperHomes program has supported over 150 homeowners across Ireland to retrofit to A3 standard with a low carbon footprint and an even lower bill. The capital grants are funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s deep retrofit program and better energy communities programs. The levels of funding on offer vary from 35% up to 50% for the measures needed to get any home built prior to 2011 to an A3 rating. Most homes reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint by 60% – 80% and experience steady warm temperatures all year round.

SuperHomes is delivered by the engineering team in the Tipperary Energy Agency, a non profit public good social enterprise that celebrates it’s 20^th year this year. Their Chief Executive Paul Kenny said “The combination of insulation, air leakage improvements and an air source heat pump mean that homeowners transform their cold draughty home to a snug warm and healthy home. The feedback from homeowners on comfort and the low bills show us that this is the right method of retrofitting the vast majority of Irish homes. I am really delighted that we have got to see this grow from a handful in 2015 to over 80 this year.”

SuperHomes has got some big name supporters, with the European Investment Bank supporting it’s delivery, ESB group supporting the development of high quality retrofitting and the main capital funding coming from Government via the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s Deep Retrofit pilot program 2017-2019 which is designed to understand what is needed to deep retrofit Ireland’s building stock

SuperHomes has a sister project in Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), SuperHomes 2.0. This research project seeks to further optimise the performance of heat pumps but also to develop the next generation of control system to minimise energy costs through using energy when the sun is shining, the wind is blowing or electricity demand is low. Seamus Hoyne, Development Manager in LIT and principle researcher on the SuperHomes 2.0 said “These homes are performing exceptionally well and right on target as per the engineering design, using 60-80% less energy than an average home. The analysis of the SuperHomes 2.0 research tema is feeding into improving SuperHomes every year.

Home owners who wish to take part should log on to the SuperHomes.ie website and see case studies of homes, typical costs, expert knowledge and how to apply.

Key statistics:

• Paul Kenny, CEO of Tipperary Energy Agency spoke to the citizens Assembly on Climate change and the Dail committee on climate action on how Ireland needs to retrofit 1.5M homes to near zero energy building standard by 2050.
• Irish homes emit 58% more carbon and use 7% more energy than the European average.
• Superhomes Ireland retrofitted 150 homes to date, several of which have attained the A1 or A2 rating. Most homes achieve A3. Rating
• LIT Superhomes 2.0 project is funded by the international energy research centre and seeks to improve the roll out of air source heat pumps. http://www.lit.ie/RDI/Development/Energy/SuperHomes/default.aspx
• In 2017, just 37 per cent of new homes fitted heating systems which use renewable energy. A staggering 63 per cent used tradition fossil fuel boilers and Tipperary Energy Agency say that these homes will eventually need to be retro-fitted.
• Emissions in the country are on the rise by 2 million tonnes per year.

Tipperary Energy Agency is a non-profit social enterprise that has been leading the energy transition, locally and nationally, for 20 years. Together with their partners in Tipperary County Council and Limerick Institute of Technology the organisation are now widely recognised as leaders in the implementation of Ireland’s energy transition both in Ireland and the E.U.

About Tipperary Energy Agency: Tipperary Energy Agency is a non-profit social enterprise that has been leading the energy transition, locally and nationally, for 20 years. The organisation has been supporting Tipperary to reduce its energy demand through their social enterprise model that enables them to provide cost effective and practical solutions.

With vast experience in the areas of Community Energy, Renewable Energy, Energy Management and Energy Buildings the agency has a proven ability in supporting people, communities and the public sector to become more sustainable in their energy use. www.tippenergy.ie

Sources:

*Compared to 2016, Ireland is now in a worse position regarding climate targets – The Climate Change Advisory Council.

* SEAI’s report on residential energy use available from https://www.seai.ie/news-and-media/residential-energy-rise/