In the latest piece in his series on the development of low energy building, Dr Marc Ó Riain describes the evolution and Impact of EPCs in Ireland and the UK.

The Irish government has announced significant new grants designed to make it “easier and more affordable” for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades.

The winners of the international Passive House Award will be announced on Friday 10 September as part of the 25th International Passive House Conference, which is fully available online. Tickets to the conference are still available.

Heating technology manufacturer Grant has launched its new eLearning Academy for those working in the plumbing and heating, architectural and construction sectors in Ireland.

The UN’s Scott Foster says deep retrofit of our building stock, and a sustainable built environment, should be at the heart of our recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

For anyone interested in climate action, the government’s commitment to halve Ireland’s emissions by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 was one of the highlights of the year. But we won’t reach this objective focusing exclusively on energy efficiency — we must turn our attention to cutting embodied carbon too, and this wil be a major focus of the Irish Green Building Council's Better Homes conference next Friday, 27 November. 

Viessmann has introduced the new Vitocal 100-A air source heat pump, the most compact and affordable model in its range. Designed for ease of installation in the standard British heating system – and therefore ideal for the replacement of gas and oil boilers – the monobloc unit’s tight dimensions are perfect for homes where space is at a premium. Its A+++ rated energy efficiency will benefit end-users with low running costs, Viessmann said.

The new issue of Passive House Plus is out now, and to ensure anyone who wants to read the magazine can do so easily during this time of disruption, we are once again making this edition free to read digitally.

Saint-Gobain Technical Academy has announced the launch of its new online academy, which the company says will “continue its commitment to equipping building professionals with key knowledge about the sustainable building agenda as well as the vital skills needed to deliver it”.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has launched its annual SEAI Energy Awards and is calling on climate action champions to showcase their achievements. Now in their 17th year, the SEAI Energy Awards recognise and reward excellence in sustainable energy in business, community, research, buildings, renewables and public sector.

An Post has announced the launch of a new "green hub" providing end-to-end project management and money-saving advice for all levels of home retrofitting, along with a low-cost loan rate. The state-owned company said that this one-stop-shop approach will cover loan-only or full retrofit services, from initial home assessments to completed works, along with SEAI grant application and payment process.

In the latest instalment of his series on the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the 20th century, Dr Marc Ó Riain reports on the seismic impact caused by the 1973 oil crisis.

A family Bed & Breakfast in Glenties, Co Donegal built during the last boom has lowered its energy bills and improved comfort thanks to a suite of upgrade measures that included a new Daikin air source heat pump.

Applications are now open for 2020 for SuperHomes, the ‘one-stop shop’ scheme for home retrofit projects in Ireland.

The Irish Green Building Council launched a zero-carbon standard for new homes at its Better Homes conference in Dublin today, Thursday November 7. The new standard will enable Irish home builders to offer certified zero carbon homes to home buyers.

A new property development company in the north-west is putting the passive house standard at the heart of its business. Leeds-based Pure Haus is currently embarking on its very first project, a scheme of two high-specification houses in Oakenshaw, Bradford that will be built to the passive house standard, and is designed by architects ArkleBoyce.

Richard Tibenham of Greenlite Energy Assessors says a case of two highly energy-inefficient and ‘hard-to-treat’ buildings, built in 2013, should serve as a warning to the whole construction sector.

Researchers from the School of Physics at NUI Galway are seeking to recruit 100 households to measure indoor environmental air quality within Irish homes that have been built to be highly energy efficient, by deploying remote sensors within the homes.

Simply Architecture, and their new build residential project ‘The Fairways’ in Cork, has been named the winner of the 2019 Overall ISOVER Award, as well as being named Designer of the Year 2019, at the third ISOVER Awards.

Achieving NZEB, a one-day event that aims to make it easy for the building industry to understand how to achieve nearly zero energy building (NZEB) standards, will take place this Thursday, 30 May in Youghal, County Cork.

A series of nationwide forums designed to help housing and construction professionals improve home energy efficiency across the UK has secured support from regional low carbon champions.

The German-Irish Chamber of Commerce hosted a study group to Germany last month to examine the energy efficiency of buildings there.

The SuperHomes Ireland retrofit scheme is open for applications for 2017. The scheme is designed to help homeowners retrofit their properties to an A3 BER standard.

The construction industry is unwittingly facing the prospect of immediate, dramatic changes to how buildings are designed and constructed to comply with imminent EU energy efficiency deadlines. In the first article in our new Dispatches section – where we’ll attempt to probe and investigate in detail the burning issues arising from Ireland’s transition to sustainable building – Passive House Plus investigates.

Words: Jeff Colley & Lenny Antonelli

Ten years ago Brussels had some of the most energy inefficient building stock in Europe — now it boasts a groundbreaking policy that means all new buildings in the region must be passive. How did the city do it? 

The University of Nottingham has developed a “novel and easy-to-use test for measuring the airtightness of buildings” in order to help eliminate draughts, improve energy efficiency and reduce heating bills.

International Passive House Association to make presentations at Paris climate talks 

Six years after it was completed, Passive House Plus takes a look at a pioneering low energy upgrade that went on to become the UK’s first certified Enerphit project, to find out how it has performed — and what lessons have been learned.

Low energy building isn’t complicated, but it’s easy to get wrong. Since Irish house builders downed tools en masse when the last boom ended, energy efficiency standards for new homes have seen unprecedented rises of 40% in 2008 and 60% in 2011, shooting far ahead of the UK. But with signs of a new boom emerging, can the industry get to grips with this brave new world of insulation, airtightness and thermal bridging and deliver healthy low-energy homes — or are damp and mould set to become the norm in new build?