Deep Retrofit 2023: Show me the money, how to pay for it all
Home owners can access a great selection of grants through the SEAI to make improving your home's energy efficiency more affordable, covering 30% to 70% depending on the retrofitting work you choose to do.
Financing options for energy improvements include a combination of SEAI grant-aid (covering 30% to 70% of the work excluding any associated builders’ costs), savings, re-mortgaging (including green mortgage products), and green-loan mechanisms with a low-interest rate over three to five years from a credit union, building society, an Post or a bank.
With the One Stop Shop, your grant aid is awarded to your supplier. For independent grant aid, it is retroactive, paid to you – following commissioning and in most cases a BER.
A carefully considered installation with specialist help, will meet comfort expectations while taming the stratospheric energy bills so many of us are suffering.
In some cases, the cost of the work required as determined by an energy assessment will make for example, will make a single attempt at holistic deep retrofit, impossible in one financial leap.
This should not stop you taking steps where you can. Independent grant-aided insulation and improvement projects over a longer period can still progress in time to the snug land of a B2 BER or better.
That said, the selection of grants available through the SEAI is greater for the One Stop Shop than for individual grants. Research if your property has previously received any grants for energy upgrades. Supply your Eircode, or the SEAI can check for you through your Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) – the 11-digit number found at the top right-hand corner of your electricity bill.
Is going down the SEAI grant route more expensive than going it alone – a common assumption with homeowners unused to the benefits of grant aid and the SEAI register of contractors.
Susan Andrews responds: “It is important that homeowners compare like with like. Often, jobs quoted outside the grant scheme are not to the stringent standards SEAI require, and may not include VAT. While more expensive the SEAI standard of works makes far better sense for a homeowner.”
There are also fully funded energy improvements available to homeowners in receipt of certain welfare payments. The scheme targets the worst performing properties, by prioritising homes that were built and occupied before 1993 and have a pre-works BER of E, F or G. Apply to: The Warmer Homes Scheme, seai.ie
Deep-retrofit through the One Stop Shop brings the whole home to a high level of energy efficiency in one elastic bound. Various elements of SEAI managed grant aid are combined for full house insulation, air-tight-sealing, plus sustainable heating and renewable technologies trimmed out with exquisite, intelligent control. Traditional draught-proofing plays its part, and where needed, the addition of new A-rated doors and windows seals the house against any discreet heat-loss and cold-bridging.
Finally, with the building more tightly sealed - managed ventilation, mechanical and passive, ensures that the air is guarded against excess humidity, returning embodied heat to the house before being expelled and exchanged (MVHR, €1,500 of SEAI grant aid available).
The temperature is reliable, even and once set up on integrated control and married to MRHR – discreetly manages a new warm, fresh and healthy interior environment.
Many determined homeowners using One Stop Shop or individual self-managed grant aid with SEAI contracted help, are reaching the A1-A3 level BERs of new homes retrofitting their older home.
Part L of the building regulations demand that your home’s energy efficiency overall is raised to a B2 when altering more than 25% of the property’s envelope (even where you don’t need planning for that 40m2 extension). So, there are multiple scenarios which may coax you towards energy upgrades, where cost-optimal.
Keep in mind, you should not proceed with works, including buying any service, materials or equipment before your SEAI grant has been approved, step-by-step, according to the grant type you have elected for. Insulation measures are an excellent point of entry, always included in the One Stop Show mechanism and so easily accessed in individual the grant aid approach.
Apartment €800, Mid-terrace €1,200, Semi-D €1,300, Detached €1,500. BER to follow (grant aid €100). #
(One Stop Shop only): €1,500 to €3,000.
Grants will cover up to 70% of the total cost with attic insulation. If your attic insulation is less than 300mm or generally failing due to gaps in the batting, and a poor installation, this is a fantastic first-timer SEAI grant-aided upgrade for a home built and occupied before 2011.
SEAI grants of €700 – €8,000 available.
With your roof and walls well insulated you’re a long way towards the ideal of a snug “box” of B2 or better. A building contractor or architect will be able to tell you what type of wall your home has. They will also be able to advise you on the type of ventilation required. Remember, designing in adequate ventilation is a key element where we are tightening the house up against air-exchanges – and potentially creating condensation issues indoors.
- Cavity Wall insulation (has its detractors for heritage builds with “breathing” stone and lime-plaster walls): Apartment €700, Mid-terrace €800, Semi-D €1,200, Detached €1,700.
- Internal insulation (dry lining): Apartment €1,500, Mid-terrace €2,000, Semi-D €3,500, Detached €4,500.
- External wall insulation (EWI or The Wrap – only suited to deeper-dive projects as you will kick off Part L stipulations of the building regulations altering more than 25% of the external envelope): Apartment €3,000, Mid-terrace €3,500, Semi-D €6,000, Detached €8,000.
(One Stop Shop only): SEAI grants capped at €3,500 per property for landlords or houseowners.
€700 SEAI grant available.
Not simply bluntly controlling but finessing the temperature in our homes over a 24-hour period is vital to wring the best performance from the heating system. Dedicated, digitally-calibrated controls to pre-set times and temperatures will make the best of zoned-heating and put manners on your family’s daily demand for heat and hot water whether your system is run on renewables or not. This is an excellent independent grant aided upgrade. The speed of payback in a time of soaring energy costs is potentially excellent.
Ask yourself the following. “Can you heat your domestic hot water without switching on your radiators or an electric immersion heater? Can you turn on the CH without heating your domestic hot water? Can you easily adjust the heat output from radiators in the rooms you use most often? Do you have temperature control on your boiler? Have you time control on your boiler that you can set for different days of the week?
Have you a separate temperature control for your hot water cylinder? Have you a separate time control on your hot water cylinder?” – SEAI If you’re answering “no” to two or more of those questions, investigate the installation of new controls. The components should include - thermostatic radiator valves (TRV), a 7-day programmable timber, a boiler interlock, and time and temperature controls for any immersion. Whether there is a clever little mobile-app to map your performance and tailor your schedule depends on your choice of brand and product. Ask for a quote that includes all associated build/plumbing costs following an on-site visit from SEAI registered suppliers.
SEAI grant capped at €2,400. €900 per kWp up to 2kWp (of array on the roof). €300 for every additional kWp up to 4kWp Over 46,500 Irish households are living in the light, with the passive, fuss-free energy gain of solar-voltaic (PV-solar).
Conall Bolger, CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA) reveals, “According to ESB Networks (ESBN), in the first eleven months of 2022, 16,946 systems were installed. We’re expecting a further increase in 2023 considering the tariff for selling power back to the grid (MSS) and the removal of planning restrictions for domestic arrays, only took effect in Q4 of 2022. ESBN are averaging over 300 new applications (NC6) every week.” (Now with this comes busy suppliers, and an increased wait to receive an array – be patient once you tender and find your ideal supplier from the SEAI Register).
Conall continues, “Solar can be an excellent entry point for people’s sustainability journey, often the starting point for their deeper retrofit. Not only do customers save money and contribute to the fight against climate change using solar, but PV can activate people to take that further action.”
PV-solar can be rolled into a deep retrofit One Stop Shop grant aid, but it is also an excellent stand-alone project if your roof is an appropriate size and aspect, is in structurally fit condition to take the weight of the and your wiring and meter us up to modern standards. Indoors, you will need room for an inverter (to change the DC gain off the roof into usable AC supply), and to accommodate the option of a battery and water diverter (small/wall-hung) to use excess solar energy to “boost” your immersion tank. It’s a relatively small foot-print in a utility room or taken to the attic or a suitable out-building. With actual (smart meter) or what is termed “deemed-usage”, you can join the MSS regardless of your meter type.
Has the MSS removed the 24 hour versatility of a domestic battery to store PV-solar and to bank low-cost T-of-u grid power? Conall Bolger advises, “The decision on whether a battery warrants the additional upfront cost is dependent on a range of factors including: customer’s budget, scale of the solar system, suitability of their home, and their electricity demand. A good installer (check our website) can work through your options. A battery is not mandatory, and many customers get value from solar panels alone, through the bill savings and payments under the MSS.”
Managing expectations is key. PV-solar can make a modest contribution to running your electrical heating (HP and IR) and can grab a little free range for a BEV or PHEV electric car on brighter days with the installation of a home charger (SEAI grant aided at €600 even if you are in apartment or use a company vehicle). Explore your demand through bi-monthly bills ranged over a full year.
With the rise in kWh unit prices from suppliers, the payback period for PV has contracted, often to 7-10 years for a moderately sized array of 3kWp - 4kWp. There are design and positioning considerations around the installation that are obligatory conditions to release SEAI grant aid, and the SEAI can (and do) carry out a site visit as an audit before the grant is released.
Ready-Steady-Heat-Pump: SEAI grant available of €6,000 for a house, €4,500 or an apartment pump. Extra awards for One-Stop-Shop of €2,000 for reaching B2, and €1,000 towards central heating system in an apartment, and €2,000 towards the same for a house.
“Heat pump ready” – the clarion call of the government’s efforts to up-cycle our older housing stock into the 21st century in terms of comfort and energy efficiency. Whether or not you vouch for a heat pump (HP) – a heat-pump-ready home will be at Near Zero Energy Building standards (NZEB). To even apply, the home will have to have achieved a BER of B2, but this may not take you over the line for individual SEAI grant aid, if your home falls short in the eyes of the initial obligatory technical advisory report.
An NZEB level home is sealed for airtightness through the walls and floor junctures, has windows and doors with very low U-values, has next to no un-planned heat-loss (described in the terms of a technical assessor as the HLI). There will be superb levels of certified, seamless insulation throughout the external envelope including the roof, walls, floors and windows. In most cases the indoor air will be mechanically exchanged for fresh air, with any available heat returned to the atmosphere (MVHR). Now, stepping up to the most environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient heat system choice – enter the heat pump.
HPs are electrically powered devices that use a compressor and coolant similar to the technology used in a refrigerator (with the system reversed). They gather renewable solar gain stored in the earth, air or water (termed the collector) and using a vapour-compression cycle transform it into thermal energy we can use for indoor air and water. Heat is emitted using forced air, conventional under-floor-heating (UFH) and/or suitable water-fed radiators. An air source heat pump is the most familiar of the HP family in a retrofit situation (ASHP or A2W to describe air-to-water where the pump is heating your wet central heating system or underfloor-heating and/or radiators and domestic water).
At point-of-use all HPs have zero carbon emissions, and you can vouch for green electricity produced by wind or wave to improve on your sustainable record. In warmer months they utilise only a trace of electricity to run the pump, and any MVHR. In the depths of winter, the HP works harder, and your electricity bill will rise significantly (easily doubling on the national average of 350kWh per month depending on your personal household habits in heating your air and water).
An ASHP collector sits on an outside wall. They produce noise while running of 45-60dB – comparable to a relatively whisper quiet washing machine on the spin-cycle. Indoors, HP is less reactive indoors than oil or gas boilers, and typically run in the area of 35 - 45°C over long periods. Ensure you know how much room you need for any buffer tank and associated HP elements – enclosed neatly in a plant-room room or area in any new build. There are system choices integrating a hot water cylinder and the HP elements in one tall, ergonomic cabinet.
In the best scenario for every unit (kWh) of electricity used by a HP, 3-4 units of thermal energy (kWh) should be returned, raising their efficiency on paper to 200% or better (investigate the yearly Seasonal Coefficient of Performance or SCOP). The best SCOPs are taken from new builds or superb deep retrofits with vertical geothermal bores, extensive UFH and superb insulations. Many reputable suppliers will direct uncertain householders to the Technical Advisory mechanism of the SEAI grant application before they even schedule a site visit.
The size of your HP, measured in kWh, will depend on the size of your home and its BER rating (the SEAI report will drill down on the detail). Capital outlay is high. Expect grant aid to cover 30% of the cost or less without current associated builder’s costs. More than likely your entire heating system is getting upgraded. The SEAI grant aid for a HP is €4,500 (apartment) or €6,500 (for a house). The SEAI registered Technical Advisor will provide a crucial road map, based on a highly specific heat loss indicator (HLI). This is 2.0 Watts/Kelvin/m2 or in rare cases 2.3 Watts/Kelvin/m2.
There is retroactive grant aid for the Technical Assessment – released after recommended fabric upgrades. The assessor will be able to determine if elements of your existing system will suit HP, including the radiators, which must be over-sized to suit lower flow rates and temperatures. You won’t get a grant if you are using a HP for water alone or using a hybrid system to heat the house. “Grant funded systems must be designed to meet 100% of the dwelling space heating demand and at least 80% of the hot water demand.” – SEAI.
(Grant aided only via the One Stop Shop) Windows (complete upgrade): Apartment €1,500, Mid-terrace 1,800, Semi-D €3,000, Detached €4,000. External doors, €800 per door.
Responsible for as much as 20 -30% of your home’s heat loss, replacing windows and doors could add crucial comfort, weather and airtight sealing to our home environment. Thermal comfort of 1.4 W/m2K or better, air tightness, security and a view without a compromise on your energy bills - new windows or replacement units are a superb upgrade project.
Double-glazed units 15 years of older will not meet current standards for U values in doubles and triples. Gather some quotes on replacement with an entire replacement or by flipping out standard glazed units for old ones in structurally sound frames. The SEAI recommends homeowners get references and a minimum of three quotes when selecting their preferred registered contractor for this or any other project.
