Sir, – The newly announced national retrofitting scheme is an important step in Ireland’s journey toward decarbonisation. However, there are a number of areas in which the scheme falls short. Deep retrofitting is not the only way to reduce heating emissions and the Government should be examining all of the options, including incentivising the use of biofuels in home heating, in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Although the new grant covers up to 50 per cent of a deep retrofit, the average cost is €56,000, which leaves a large bill for the homeowner. Increased carbon taxes are intensifying the pressure on the 700,000 households who rely on liquid fuel, and many families nationwide are already battling with fuel poverty. Recent analysis by the AECOM engineering company showed that using biofuels in home heating could achieve similar emissions reductions to retrofitting, but at a much lower cost.
The disruption caused to families who undergo a deep retrofitting process is often overlooked. Houses need to be stripped, with residents having to move elsewhere while the work is carried out. With the average time from application to completion in 2021 being 26 months, a deep retrofit is likely to cause prolonged disruption to people. Again, alternative options are available. Biofuels can be used in existing boilers with only minor modifications needed, allowing families to cut their emissions without significant interruption to their daily lives.
There are also significant challenges in the construction sector that need to be addressed. With 75,000 retrofits required annually to meet the targets, the lack of skilled workers is already causing difficulties. Given the expertise which already exists in the heating sector, a transition to alternative fuels could be achieved quickly, bringing about emissions cuts while also easing the pressure on the sector.
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Any initiative that moves us closer to a zero-carbon economy is welcome, but it is a mistake to put all our eggs in the retrofitting basket.
The Government should examine every option available to it and take a multipronged approach to decarbonising Ireland’s home heating sector. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN McPARTLAN,
The Alliance
for Zero Carbon Heating,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – I suspect that one of the demographic groups to whom it is being suggested should fork out up to €25,000 from savings (or a loan) to augment a deep retrofit to their 40-year-old or 60-year-old houses would prefer to hold onto any such funds in the bank of mum and dad in case one of their offspring suddenly gets lucky in the increasingly hopeless pursuit of a home. The most sensible approach would be to nudge these and older houses up a few notches on the BER scale with simple, cheaper but effective interventions and divert the green billions to providing thousands of new A-rated houses without any further faffing about. – Yours, etc,
RORY E MacFLYNN,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.