Run your home on energy that won't cost the earth
From January 1, 2009 all houses sold or let will have to have an energy efficiency rating. Catriona Murphy meets Duncan Stewart and environmental electrician Alan Duffy, to get their top tips . . .
How much does it cost to run your house? We all know how much we pay for heating oil or what the gas costs -- those bills arrive like clockwork every month. Yet there is another price we pay every day without even knowing it: the price of inefficiency.
That's all about to change because from January 1 next year, every building sold or let must have a Building Energy Rating (BER) so that buyers and tenants will know how efficient one building is compared to another.
The BER scale ranges from A1 for the most efficient building to G for the least efficient, not unlike the energy rating for your domestic refrigerator.
In a buyer's market, having an A rating could become a significant selling point and many homeowners are getting ahead of the posse by upgrading their homes to ensure a high rating.
So what can be done to improve the energy efficiency of existing houses?
To find out, I spoke to two experts: energy guru and About the House presenter Duncan Stewart and the recently awarded onlinetradesmen.com Trade Professional of the Year, Alan Duffy.
Duncan Stewart explains that most of the country's 1.7m existing houses will need to be upgraded in the coming years as the cost of energy continues to increase.
"Crude oil prices have increased from $20 a barrel to $120 a barrel in the past six years and, according to OPEC's recent announcement, we could see prices hitting $200 a barrel by the end of the year," he warns.
"The typical house is currently using five times the energy it should be," he goes on. "Around €30bn will need to be spent on the upgrade of all our existing housing stock."
In fact, the presenter is currently on the look out for people who are upgrading their houses this year to feature in the next series of About the House. If you have a suitable project, contact info@earthhorizon.ie.
To illustrate the work that may be needed, I asked him to assess my parents' house for its weak points. The 186sqm, two-storey house was built on the family farm 27 years ago and is heated by oil, a fact which immediately comes under fire.
"Why fit an oil burner that costs 8c per kilowatt hour, when you could have a wood pellet boiler that costs 4c per kilowatt hour or a solar panel that's free?" Duncan asks, before going on to explain some of the many other ways to save energy in the home.
"Insulation is by far the most critical way to make your home more energy efficient," he says.
"Using 400mm insulation in the attic gives a better return on investment than the SSIA scheme: you will save money within three years," he explains.
He also advises that owners of older double-leaf blockwork houses should look at having insulation injected into the cavities (not in 9" hollow block) and insulating the ground floor if possible.
Upgrading of the windows is a high priority: east- and west-facing windows should be upgraded to high performing double glazing or even triple glazing on the north.
The next task is to draught seal the house against wind and heat loss: checking window and door seals is essential. The existing porch at the front door of my parents' gets the thumbs up, although ventilation now becomes an important priority. Duncan suggests a heat recovery ventilation system costing between €3,000 and €5,000 and a solar collector system on the south-facing roof.
Alan Duffy of Allbrite Plumbing & Heating Solutions in Monaghan was recently chosen as Trade Professional of the Year by onlinestradesmen.com for his work on energy efficient systems, staving off stiff competition from the winners of the eight trade categories.
The 27-year-old BER assessor set up his own company three years ago and has invested considerable time in training and over €100,000 in specialist equipment since then.
Although he initially trained as an electrician, Alan's fascination with complicated heating and energy efficiency has led him to complete training courses on everything from solar panels and geothermal heating to heat pumps and gas burners.
Alan uses three specialist tests to assess both existing houses and new builds. Firstly the air blower test reveals any air leaks in the house, a clear waste of expensive home heating oil.
The second test is to take a photograph of your home with a thermal imaging camera which would show up any heat escaping -- for example through windows or walls where insulation is missing.
Thirdly, he completes a power consumption and quality analysis of the electricity supply.
"I can tell you if your power supply is healthy and if not, give you a report that the ESB cannot ignore," promises Alan.
Dedicated software programs using the weather reports of the last decade to assess the impact of the climate on any of Alan's home heating and plumbing systems ensure that he will "have your house singing like a song".
- Catriona Murphy
