Energy Saving Tips

Renewable Resources:

  • Solar collectors provide an ideal year-round renewable energy hot water backup solution. A solar collector system can provide around 60% of your annual hot water needs for free (80 to 90% in summer).
  • Simple Passive Solar Design techniques can make a big difference to energy consumption in the home. Facing a house south to capture the maximum daylight increases the effects of natural solar gain and natural daylighting, and overall energy bills can be reduced by up to 30%.
  • Adding an unheated conservatory or sunspace to the south face of your house increases passive solar gains and provides an insulating effect.
  • Space and water heating account for over 70% of energy used in the home, so incorporating renewable energy (e.g. wood fuel, solar energy or heat pump systems) can help reduce energy costs whilst at the same time reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Wood is a renewable fuel which can directly replace the need for fossil fuels. Instead of coal or peat, wood log gasification boilers or wood log stoves. Wood is a carbon neutral indigenous resource to Ireland.
  • Using renewable sources of energy like wood and solar energy to heat our homes reduces our reliance on polluting, imported fossil fuels like oil and coal.

Alternative Heating Systems:

  • Correctly designed and installed heat pump systems which collect heat energy from either ground, air or water, combined with underfloor heating or low temperature radiators, are ideally suited to the Irish climate and can provide year round space heating for the fraction of the costs of a conventional system.
  • A modern wood burning stove can achieve efficiencies of up to 80% compared to only 20-30% for a traditional open fire. Wood pellet stoves with integral back boilers for heating and hot water production are also available.
  • Wood pellet / chip boilers offer a convenient alternative to a gas or oil boiler and can be tied into an existing heating system without inconvenience.
  • Wood log gasification boilers are more efficient than standard log boilers. These boilers are very suitable in situations where a source of wood logs is available, e.g. forestry, agricultural.