|
|
|
|
|
Energy savings for 1m homes
25 October 2009 By Nicola Cooke
More than a million homes could be made more energy-efficient at no upfront cost to their owners under a plan by Eamon Ryan, the Green Party energy minister.
Ryan is to bring a proposal to cabinet for the scheme to ‘retrofit’ homes, and it could feature in the budget in December. The preferred option for funding the scheme is for utility companies such as ESB and Bord Gáis to commission firms to retrofit homes.
Customers would then pay for the work over a period through a premium on their utility bills, rather than paying companies for the work upfront. Savings of around €1,000 a year are projected for householders who get a full retrofit of their homes.
The scheme may be part-financed by a €200million green fund established in AIB and Bank of Ireland to prioritise funding for engineering firms to become energy services companies. It may also involve government bonds ring-fenced for green projects through lenders involved in the National Asset Management Agency.
A spokeswoman for Ryan said that ‘‘a lot of work is being done’’ on the scheme, which she described as ‘‘a huge project’’.
She said that details - such as financing for the project and the number of houses in the first phase - still had to be finalised.
The proposal will be brought to cabinet before Christmas. Much of the work on the retrofit blueprint has already been done, and a consultation with utility companies on energy reduction targets is almost complete.
The scheme is expected to mirror much of the content of a report launched last week by the Irish Institute of International and European Affairs.
The report, which included input from Ryan’s department, predicted 1.2 million homes could be upgraded within 12 to 15 years.
|
|
|
