Lateral thinking on home heat

Improving the energy efficiency of homes through retrofitting and installation heat pump systems could cost in excess of €2.9bn in Galway alone – according to a new report from Liquid Gas Ireland.

But the report also sets out how €2.7bn can be saved if the 52,403 homes in the county currently using high carbon fossil-based fuels – oil, coal and turf – switch to a lower carbon alternative such as LPG or BioLPG instead of retrofitting for installation of heat pump systems.

The savings were based on an average cost of €56,000 for a full scale retrofit including heat pump installation and an industry estimate of €5,000 for switching to a gas boiler with standard system upgrades.

The report, entitled the role of LPG and BioLPG in a ‘Just Transition’ for Co. Galway, was conducted using CSO census data. And it identifies Dangan, Barna, Athenry and Tuam Rural as the four electoral areas within the county which are most reliant on high carbon fossil-based fuels for home heating and energy.

Of the 12,361 dwellings in these areas, 78% (9,691) use oil, coal and turf while by contrast only 10% (1,220) have transitioned to heat pump technology. With no connection to the national gas grid and a proposed ban on gas boilers, households in these five rural areas alone will face a combined estimated cost of €542,696,000 to transition to heat pump technology, if this is the only lower carbon heating solution available to them.

LGI chairman Brian Derham said that if Government was serious about climate targets, it was critical that people living in both urban and rural communities are brought on the decarbonisation journey.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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