IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v55y2013icp139-151.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

State of the Irish housing stock—Modelling the heat losses of Ireland's existing detached rural housing stock & estimating the benefit of thermal retrofit measures on this stock

Author

Listed:
  • Ahern, Ciara
  • Griffiths, Philip
  • O'Flaherty, Micheál

Abstract

Ireland's housing stock has been identified as being amongst the least energy efficient in Northern Europe. Consequently, atmospheric emissions are greater than necessary. Government funded schemes have been introduced to incentivise the uptake of thermal retrofit measures in the domestic Irish market. A study of Ireland's housing highlights the dominance of detached houses (43%), 72% of which are rurally located and are predominantly heated with fuel oil. This paper investigates the economic and carbon case for thermal retrofit measures to the existing detached, oil centrally heated, rural housing stock. The study found the case for energy efficiency measures to be categorical and supports the Irish Government's focus on energy efficiency policy measures. Thermal retrofit measures in the detached housing stock have the potential to realise an averaged 65% theoretical reduction in heating costs and CO2 emissions for houses constructed prior to 1979 (coinciding with the introduction of building regulations) and around 26% for newer homes, thus offering a significant contribution (44%) to Ireland's residential carbon abatement projections and hence in meeting the EU's directives on energy and carbon. The greatest savings (36%) of Ireland's carbon abatement projections result from improving the energy efficiency of the pre 1979 stock.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahern, Ciara & Griffiths, Philip & O'Flaherty, Micheál, 2013. "State of the Irish housing stock—Modelling the heat losses of Ireland's existing detached rural housing stock & estimating the benefit of thermal retrofit measures on this stock," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 139-151.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:139-151
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.11.039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151201021X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.11.039?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Healy, John D. & Clinch, J. Peter, 2004. "Quantifying the severity of fuel poverty, its relationship with poor housing and reasons for non-investment in energy-saving measures in Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 207-220, January.
    2. Clinch, J. Peter & Healy, John D., 2000. "Domestic energy efficiency in Ireland: correcting market failure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 1-8, January.
    3. Rajat Gupta, 2009. "Moving towards low-carbon buildings and cities: experiences from Oxford, UK," International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 159-168, June.
    4. FitzGerald, John, 2005. "The Irish Housing Stock: Growth in Number of Vacant Dwellings," Quarterly Economic Commentary: Special Articles, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 2005(1-Spring), pages 1-22.
    5. Beddington, John, 2008. "Managing energy in the built environment: Rethinking the system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4299-4300, December.
    6. Clinch, J. Peter & Healy, John D., 2003. "Valuing improvements in comfort from domestic energy-efficiency retrofits using a trade-off simulation model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 565-583, September.
    7. Scott, Susan & Lyons, Sean & Keane, Claire & McCarthy, Donal & Tol, Richard S. J., 2008. "Fuel Poverty in Ireland: Extent, Affected Groups and Policy Issues," Papers WP262, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Colclough, Shane & Griffiths, Philip, 2016. "Financial analysis of an installed small scale seasonal thermal energy store," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 422-428.
    2. Matthew Collins & John Curtis, 2017. "Value for money in energy efficiency retrofits in Ireland: grant provider and grant recipients," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(51), pages 5245-5267, November.
    3. Cremer, Leo & Weber, Christine, 2022. "Deep energy retrofits: How effective and robust are policy instruments?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    4. Laura Carnieletto & Borja Badenes & Marco Belliardi & Adriana Bernardi & Samantha Graci & Giuseppe Emmi & Javier F. Urchueguía & Angelo Zarrella & Antonino Di Bella & Giorgia Dalla Santa & Antonio Gal, 2019. "A European Database of Building Energy Profiles to Support the Design of Ground Source Heat Pumps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-23, June.
    5. Amar Bennadji & Mohammed Seddiki & Jamal Alabid & Richard Laing & David Gray, 2022. "Predicting Energy Savings of the UK Housing Stock under a Step-by-Step Energy Retrofit Scenario towards Net-Zero," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Dineen, D. & Rogan, F. & Ó Gallachóir, B.P., 2015. "Improved modelling of thermal energy savings potential in the existing residential stock using a newly available data source," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 759-767.
    7. Ballarini, Ilaria & Corrado, Vincenzo & Madonna, Francesco & Paduos, Simona & Ravasio, Franco, 2017. "Energy refurbishment of the Italian residential building stock: energy and cost analysis through the application of the building typology," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 148-160.
    8. Goggins, Gary & Rau, Henrike & Moran, Paul & Fahy, Frances & Goggins, Jamie, 2022. "The role of culture in advancing sustainable energy policy and practice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    9. Ballarini, Ilaria & Corgnati, Stefano Paolo & Corrado, Vincenzo, 2014. "Use of reference buildings to assess the energy saving potentials of the residential building stock: The experience of TABULA project," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 273-284.
    10. Galatioto, A. & Ciulla, G. & Ricciu, R., 2017. "An overview of energy retrofit actions feasibility on Italian historical buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 991-1000.
    11. George M. Stavrakakis & Panagiotis L. Zervas & Konstantinos Terzis & Panagiotis Langouranis & Panagiota Saranti & Yorgos J. Stephanedes, 2023. "Exploitation of Mediterranean Cooperation Projects’ Tools for the Development of Public Buildings’ Energy Efficiency Plans at Local Level: A Case Study in Greece," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-33, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kelly, J. Andrew & Clinch, J. Peter & Kelleher, L. & Shahab, S., 2020. "Enabling a just transition: A composite indicator for assessing home-heating energy-poverty risk and the impact of environmental policy measures," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Dineen, D. & Rogan, F. & Ó Gallachóir, B.P., 2015. "Improved modelling of thermal energy savings potential in the existing residential stock using a newly available data source," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 759-767.
    3. Chaton, Corinne & Lacroix, Elie, 2018. "Does France have a fuel poverty trap?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 258-268.
    4. O'Doherty, Joe & Lyons, Sean & Tol, Richard S.J., 2008. "Energy-using appliances and energy-saving features: Determinants of ownership in Ireland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(7), pages 650-662, July.
    5. Kelly, J. Andrew & Fu, Miao & Clinch, J. Peter, 2016. "Residential home heating: The potential for air source heat pump technologies as an alternative to solid and liquid fuels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 431-442.
    6. Camprubí, Lluís & Malmusi, Davide & Mehdipanah, Roshanak & Palència, Laia & Molnar, Agnes & Muntaner, Carles & Borrell, Carme, 2016. "Façade insulation retrofitting policy implementation process and its effects on health equity determinants: A realist review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 304-314.
    7. Healy, John D. & Clinch, J. Peter, 2002. "Fuel poverty, thermal comfort and occupancy: results of a national household-survey in Ireland," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(3-4), pages 329-343, November.
    8. Kahouli, Sondès & Okushima, Shinichiro, 2021. "Regional energy poverty reevaluated: A direct measurement approach applied to France and Japan," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    9. Sang-Hyeon Jin, 2020. "Fuel poverty and rebound effect in South Korea: An estimation for home appliances using the modified regression model," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(7), pages 1147-1166, November.
    10. Burholt, Vanessa & Windle, Gill, 2006. "Keeping warm? Self-reported housing and home energy efficiency factors impacting on older people heating homes in North Wales," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1198-1208, July.
    11. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2022. "Energy poverty, temperature and climate change," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Aristondo, Oihana & Onaindia, Eneritz, 2018. "Inequality of energy poverty between groups in Spain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 431-442.
    13. Zhang, Shaohui & Guo, Qinxin & Smyth, Russell & Yao, Yao, 2022. "Extreme temperatures and residential electricity consumption: Evidence from Chinese households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    14. Ouyang, Jinlong & Long, Enshen & Hokao, Kazunori, 2010. "Rebound effect in Chinese household energy efficiency and solution for mitigating it," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5269-5276.
    15. Paloma Taltavull de la Paz & Francisco Juárez & Paloma Monllor, 2016. "Fuel Poverty: Evidence from housing perspective," Working Papers 2016/20, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    16. Hamza, Neveen & Gilroy, Rose, 2011. "The challenge to UK energy policy: An ageing population perspective on energy saving measures and consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 782-789, February.
    17. McGinnity, Frances & Russell, Helen & Privalko, Ivan & Enright, Shannen & O'Brien, Doireann, 2021. "Monitoring adequate housing in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT413.
    18. George E. Halkos & Panagiotis-Stavros C. Aslanidis, 2023. "Addressing Multidimensional Energy Poverty Implications on Achieving Sustainable Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-30, April.
    19. Bienvenido-Huertas, David & Sánchez-García, Daniel & Rubio-Bellido, Carlos & Marín-García, David, 2024. "Holistic analysis to reduce energy poverty in social dwellings in southern Spain considering envelope, systems, operational pattern, and income levels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    20. Collins, Matthew & Curtis, John, 2017. "An examination of the abandonment of applications for energy efficiency retrofit grants in Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 260-270.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Domestic; Detached; Retrofit;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:139-151. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.