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A leading energy expert has shed light on the alarmingly
poor energy performance of typical Irish new homes - which,
in some cases, produce up to 200% more environment-damaging
carbon dioxide emissions than their UK equivalents.
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Commenting on his research, which compares
Irish and UK minimum energy standards for new homes, Patrick
Daly, co-founder of the Research in Sustainable Environments
unit in DIT, explained - "Building standards in Ireland
have been substandard for far too long - leading to easily
avoidable environmental damage and high heating bills."
Mr. Daly, however, claimed that the changes in building
energy standards just announced by the Department of the
Environment could help greatly to address this problem.
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"As a result of the new regulations, we will be much
closer to the UK standards and some of the shockingly poor
performing house types will no longer be permitted" -
he said.
Mr. Daly continued - "The fact that renewable energy
is now to become mandatory for all new homes will undoubtedly
mainstream a technology which can contribute greatly to a
greener Irish future. I especially welcome the fact that national
standards have been inspired by local authority initiatives
led by Fingal, Wicklow and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown - to not
only drastically increase energy efficiency levels, but also
make renewable energy mandatory."
In his study, Mr. Daly compares the current Part L of Irish
Building Regulations - which sets standards for energy efficiency
in homes - to the UK equivalent. The detailed critique
demonstrates that a typical Irish minimum-compliant 3-bed
semi-detached can be 27% to 70% above UK carbon limits for
gas and oil-fired homes and up to 200% above for certain fuels
and systems.
In May 2006, Ireland implemented aspects of the EU Energy
Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) into its building
regulations, which required member states to integrate energy
consumption assessments into building regulations.
"Like the UK, Ireland also introduced calculations of
carbon emissions into the regulations. However, the Irish
method basically ensured there was no improvement off the
previous building regulations - and, in fact, allowed a 'flexible'
carbon threshold. Damaging environmental and market impacts
of this approach include the prospect of technology dumping
of redundant products into the lower regulated Irish market"
- concluded Mr. Daly.
Patrick Daly is the founder director of BESRAC (Built Environment
Sustainable Research and Consultancy), where he is engaged
in low-energy and environmental impact design/consultancy
to architects, developers, contractors and private clients.
He is also co-founder of the RiSE research unit (Research
in Sustainable Environments) in the School of Architecture
DIT.
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