If all houses in the Republic were 20 per cent more energy efficient the result would be a saving of up to £180 million (€230 million) each year in energy costs and a reduction of 2.2 million tonnes in carbon-dioxide emissions, the Irish Energy Centre has said.
Speaking in Cork yesterday at the regional launch of the House of Tomorrow project, Mr Kevin O'Rourke, head of strategy and development at the centre, said the Irish housing sector had received a major boost with the provision of £16.6 million for research, development and demonstration projects for energy efficiency under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 and EU programmes.
The centre, he said, had started its House of Tomorrow project to encourage sustainable energy planning, design and construction practices in the home-building and home- improvement sectors.
A key part of the programme is to support the development of a nationwide network of 3,000 homes as models of superior energy planning, design and construction.
Some 2,000 of these homes will be in the social and private housing sectors.