Minister announces €27m in grants for greener homes

Greenman

Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey has launched a new greener homes scheme.

A total of €27m will be available in grant aid for renewable home heating.

For the first time, householders will be able to get grants to install wood-pellet stoves and boilers, solar panels and geothermal heat pumps.

It is hoped that just over 10,000 homes will be able to convert to renewable energy over the next five years.

Minister Dempsey said that the grants will provide an incentive to switch over to environmentally-friendly power sources.

Taken from http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/03/26/story251136.html

full forward

Good news but no mention of wind turbines?

Cuauhtemoc

Doesn't mention them in the Irish Times..but heres the detailes..

According to the Irish times they are as follows...

€4200 - Wood chip or Pellet boiler.
€1100 - Wood Chip or Pellet Stoves.

€4000 - €6500 for Geothermal heat pumps (underground or air)

€300 per Square metre for solar panels up to 12 Square Metres

27 million over a five year period. i havn't done the math but doesn't seem like much per year. They could always increase it at a later date of course.

C.

css

Interesting stuff... has anyone any idea of the official documents on this? I checked environ.ie and no sign of it!! :rolleyes:

CJhaughey

Working out at 5 million per year for all the different types of renewables, solar-thermal (not PV) GSHP and wood pellet burners the overall effect will be quite small.
I think it is a great move but it should be made mandatory for ALL new houses to have at least Solar-thermal.

Boden

pdf application guide & application form http://www.sei.ie/index.asp?locID=761&docID=-1


pdf list of registered installers http://www.sei.ie/index.asp?locID=759&docID=-1

bonkey

Greenman wrote:

A total of €27m will be available in grant aid for renewable home heating.

While its better than nothing, less than €6 per person does not strike me as a significant investment on the government's part.

If you prefer to look at it from a "number of households" perspective: 10,000 homes over 5 years is 2,000 homes per year. This is a paltry number compared to the number of new residences built each year. So even ignoring the cost of converting existing houses to be more green, the government's investment doesn't even seem sufficient to make a significant difference to the green-ness of new houses being built within this 5-year timeframe.

My guess is that the government is banking on this scheme being an unmitigated disaster, and that there will be very little takeup on it. Then, when blamed for not doing enough, the government will point the same fingers back at the public along the lines of "why would we do more, when the public wasn't even interested in availing of this..."

jc

css

Thanks for the links..

Who knows what their motives are, I suppose they have to be 'seen' doing something.. irregardless of how miniscule it would seem!

Greenman

bonkey wrote:

My guess is that the government is banking on this scheme being an unmitigated disaster, and that there will be very little takeup on it. Then, when blamed for not doing enough, the government will point the same fingers back at the public along the lines of "why would we do more, when the public wasn't even interested in availing of this..."

jc

What are they doing in the land of knifes and clocks???

endplate

3 words "Election next year"

RuggieBear

Think my mother is going to try and use the grants to get solar panals on the roof...i'll keep ye informed on her progress if ye like?:)

The_Minister

bonkey wrote:

My guess is that the government is banking on this scheme being an unmitigated disaster, and that there will be very little takeup on it. Then, when blamed for not doing enough, the government will point the same fingers back at the public along the lines of "why would we do more, when the public wasn't even interested in availing of this..."

They have a point though. If people don't even want that, then obviously the average person just doesn't care.

jeffcolley

There is a strong view from a lot of companies in the renewable energy sector that introducing grants was the wrong type of incentive to introduce for renewables. I edit a sustainable building magazine called Construct Ireland, and we're constantly working with renewable energy companies. The fear is based on what has happened in other countries where grants have been introduced, leading to everyone involved--from the equipment supplier, to the installer--pushing up their own prices.

A wiser approach might have been to reduce or abolish VAT on solar panels, heat pumps, pellet stoves and boilers, and biomass pellets as well. Still, it's a clear sign of the times that this government has chosen to introduce grants at all. If anyone wants a free copy of the magazine just email me and, stocks pending, I'll be glad to send one out.

Jeff

www.constructireland.ie

Oldtree

I must agree with the above comments, that a limited grant such as the above is no more than a ploy by the government to get votes. It is not a pratical or longterm solution to the impending co2 crisis. I have seen figures stating that an average oil boiler puts out 13 tonnes of co2 per annum. I believe that 3-4 tonnes of wood could be enough to do the same job, with an output of 3-4 tonnes of co2 per annum. I am starting a home building project that will combine solar panels with a wood stove/back boiler. I am not going for a wood-pellet stove/boiler as wood-pellet is a commitment to someones product and subject to price fixing and price hiking in the future.