Conor Lenihan, TD, Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources this week officially launched the Greenloan Home Energy Savers Scheme which is a new nationwide scheme expected to generate jobs in the clean-tech sector over the coming months.
The main focus of the scheme is to group homeowners to avail of large discounts in upgrading their properties.
Over 250 clusters comprising thousands of homeowners in all 26 counties have already been created under the scheme, which was originally piloted in 2008 as part of the pilot phase of the SEI Home Energy Saving Scheme (HES).
€50 Million
Speaking on Tuesday, Minister Lenihan stated this his “Department has made available almost €50m to the HES Scheme for 2009. This is expected to fund in excess of 30,000 home energy upgrades this year alone and generate a large amount of much needed employment in the current economic circumstances.”
“The Home Energy Saving Scheme offers a very attractive commercial opportunity for businesses that assist homeowners with completing insulation and other works under the scheme and in particular those which add value to the transaction” said the Minister.
Aidan Burke of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) welcomed the launch of the scheme saying “CIF is delighted to see the launch of this innovative scheme and sees long term benefits in funding the retrofitting of buildings and creating construction employment. The cluster approach is unique and will create all sorts of synergies of benefit to the customer and contractor alike.”
The Greenloan Scheme enables homeowners to renovate their homes in an organised cluster, save money, help protect the environment, and support Irish employment and Irish manufacturers according to the scheme administrator, Mary Stewart.
BER assessor benefits
Installations like wood pellet boilers, solar hot water systems, and attic and cavity wall insulation are included in the HES scheme which requires a BER assessor to provide a report both before and after the installation. A grant of €200 is also available toward this BER cost under the HES scheme.
Ms Stewart continued “The Greenloan Scheme is different from the SEI Home Energy Saving Scheme in that groups of local residents can form clusters. By pooling together, the costs of works are substantially reduced as bulk works are organised at significant discounts of up to 40%. The only commitment that must be made by homeowners is to have a Building Energy Rating (BER) assessment carried out on their home.”
Cluster participants can include homeowners, Architects, Engineers, Construction Workers, BER Assessors, Gardeners, Plumbers and Electricians.
According to Ms. Stewart: “In advance of carbon taxes and payments to cover the cost of carbon emissions, the Greenloan scheme is providing businesses, homeowners and landlords the ideal opportunity to upgrade their cost base in advance of these additional taxes and reduce the financial burden over the long term.”
Any new scheme that promotes additional participation in the Home energy saving scheme is guaranteed to be welcomed by BER assessors throughout the country. One Cork BER assessor that I spoke to today said that the HES is currently a lifesaver in terms of providing work so a new scheme to further promote it is very welcome.
