A number of Ireland’s largest house builders are turning to the passive house standard, to meet the need for proven approaches to delivering high performance sustainable buildings.
Irish homeowners can now borrow €5,000 to €75,000 at significantly lower interest rates to retrofit their homes, thanks to a new €500m government-backed scheme.
All new homes in Europe must meet binding embodied carbon reduction targets and produce zero on site emissions by 2030, due to changes led by Irish Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe.
Highly polluting cements are to be ruled out of public sector projects in Ireland from September, due to new government public procurement rules.
Aidan Doyle has joined insulation manufacturer, Unilin Insulation, as General Manager for both the Ireland and UK businesses.
Businesses involved in the supply chain for low energy building or retrofit in Ireland take note: there are a number of must see events at the Energy Show in Dublin.
Home buyers seeking sustainable luxury and energy income in a sought-after part of England have a rare opportunity with a newly launched passive house scheme in St Albans.
Increasing the use of timber in construction is central to the work of a new steering group appointed by the Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has announced the winners of the 2023 SEAI Energy Awards while celebrating 20 years of the event.
A quartet of passive house projects picked up awards at the Towards Net Zero Energy Awards 2023.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a national air quality forecast to provide greater information to the public regarding expected air quality in Ireland for up to three days.
The implications of planning on Ireland’s carbon emissions and the importance of building climate-safe homes were discussed at the Irish Green Building Council’s (IGBC) annual residential conference, Better Homes.
The next version of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) has been provisionally agreed – including proposals for zero emission buildings, building renovation passports, a phase out of fossil fuel boilers and the introduction of whole life carbon calculation for buildings.
In this #BuildingLife Ambassador Spotlight Series, Passive House Plus is profiling leaders who have endorsed the Irish Green Building Council’s (IGBC) call to address the environmental impacts of buildings across their lifecycle.
Ireland and the European Investment Bank (EIB) today reached an agreement that paves the way for government-backed, low-interest home energy upgrade loans. The agreement marks a major milestone in the development of the loan scheme which will be underpinned by resources from the EIB Group.
The Irish government has been called on to overhaul VAT structure in order to incentivise reuse and refurbishment, by construction industry body The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), who say urgent action is needed to reduce the number of Ireland’s buildings being demolished if the country is to meet net zero targets.
Research, led by Technological University of the Shannon, has identified significant skills and labour shortages in the built environment sector. The study highlights how this challenges Ireland in reaching its climate targets and points out possible solutions.
The real estate industry faces a ‘triple threat’ of climate related issues unless it takes action now, a senior sustainability expert has warned.
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Galway-based sustainable building product supplier Partel has launched two new paper-based membrane products, Izoperm Plus Eco and Vara Plus Eco.
05-01-2024 Marketplace
Heating and ventilation specialists Hevac have launched a range of decentralised mechanical ventilation systems with recovery (MVHR) for schools onto the Irish market – including a certified passive house unit.
05-01-2024 Marketplace
Carbon emissions originating from the construction and operation of buildings in Ireland constitute a significant portion of the country’s overall emissions, amounting to 37 per cent.
05-01-2024 Marketplace
A private housing development in Co. Kildare has recently called upon leading heating technology manufacturer Grant to install its 6kW Grant Aerona³ R32 air source heat pump as part of a bespoke integrated heating package, within twenty-two homes – with a further fifteen more to be built in the next year.
05-01-2024 Marketplace
Leading insulation manufacturer Unilin has produced a report on calculating and reducing embodied carbon while using the company’s products.
Leading manufacturer of air and windtight systems Partel has announced the launch of the Kabseal line of airtight solutions for detail sealing, in addition to its new airtight electrical back…
Heat pump giant Daikin has sponsored a groundbreaking sustainable building in London, for the BBC Earth Experience.
Building materials supplier Cemex, and Ecocem, both European leadingedge companies in lower carbon construction technologies, today announced a new partnership, which will see the two companies work together from June…
Thermal bridges will most likely occur where one building element meets another, for example a wall meeting a window.
Coady Architects is conducting post occupancy evaluation (POE) of its Kilbride Court social housing scheme to gather hard data and occupant feedback on the real-world performance.
The A. Proctor Group factory in Blairgowrie has recently been upgraded with solar PV panels to provide a significant part of its energy from renewable sources and substantially reduce its…
Having joined Saint-Gobain in 2007, Holohan has spent the last nine years as Saint-Gobain Ireland’s marketing director. Prior to this, he held the positions of marketing manager with Moy Isover…
Leading heating technology manufacturer Grant has sparked the interest of many self-builders throughout Ireland, with its integrated heating packages for new builds, due to the high efficiencies and substantial long-term…
Medite Smartply has announced a donation of €250,000 to Technological University (TU) Dublin, to support the development of Design + Construct, a centre for collaborative, multidisciplinary education that will drive…
Partel, a leading manufacturer of airtight and windtight membranes, has developed two new fire-rated breather membranes that exceed current fire safety regulation levels for high-rise and high-risk buildings: Exoperm Duro…
BaseTherm, a liquid floor insulation system produced and installed using a mobile floor insulation factory, has gained NSAI Agrément certification.
Two Partel airtight systems, Exoperm Mono SA 250 and Vara Fluid Spray, have been evaluated and certified as Passive House Components by the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt, Germany. Both…
Leading insulation manufacturer Xtratherm is to be renamed Unilin Insulation from the start of 2023 onwards.
Ecocem, Europe’s leader in low carbon cement technologies, has announced a major step in enabling the global cement industry to decarbonise on a trajectory compliant with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5…
Irish mechanical ventilation manufacturer ProAir has become one of the first companies in the world to gain Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for mechanical ventilation systems.
Recent analysis has suggested a slowdown in the property sector for 2024, but what impact might a drop in inflation have? Mel Reynolds runs the numbers.
It’s fair to say that green building wasn’t a thing in early 90s Ireland, which makes one extraordinary Dublin project from 1994 all the more remarkable, as Dr. Marc O Riain writes.
Shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2003, BedZed was a prominent example of architecture starting to pay attention to sustainability. But how well did it work? In the latest part of his series on the history of low energy architecture, Dr. Marc O Riain looks back at a landmark project.
In the face of an affordability crisis, first time buyers of new homes are being offered a cocktail of incentives to help them get on the property ladder, including the government’s Help to Buy and First Home schemes. Mel Reynolds asks: are these the solution to the affordability crisis?
Advances in building physics in recent years are leading to an ever-increasing understanding among experts of the risks that a litany of pollutants can pose to building occupants. But this has not stopped vulnerable people from living – and dying - in substandard buildings that exacerbate these risks. Urgent action is needed, Toby Cambray explains, to better communicate and decisively tackle the risks buildings can pose to their occupants.
Healthy Homes Ireland (HHI) has published a series of recommendations for the improvement of indoor environmental quality (IEQ), including the creation of a cross-disciplinary national leadership body that will advocate for change and set goals.
The scale of the retrofit challenge facing the UK and Ireland will require an army of tradespeople to upgrade homes – leading many to the conclusion that a new retrofit industry needs to be built from scratch. But is a more realistic answer staring us in the face – a thriving existing industry of trusted local tradespeople, asks Dr Catrin Maby OBE.
One zero carbon energy source has historically been vehemently opposed by environmentalists. But can nuclear power overcome the high-profile failures of its past, asks Dr. Marc O Riain, or has the technology missed the boat?
While significant progress continues to be made on reducing the carbon emissions associated with heating and powering buildings, the other part of whole life carbon calculation, embodied carbon, has proved more elusive. But that may be about to change, and quickly, as Stephen Barrett of the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) explains.
How flexible can heat pumps be to handle what may be inexactly defined heating demands, asks Toby Cambray?
Mass timber comes into its own in terms of decarbonising tall buildings, which tend to rely on high embodied carbon materials such as steel and reinforced concrete. But regulatory change is needed to enable mass timber to fulfil its potential, as IGBC head of policy and advocacy Marion Jammet explains.
The passive house camp recently took place from 26-29 September at South West College's passive house premium-certified Erne Campus and the Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies (CREST).
In the first in a new series of technical articles on some of the key technologies in sustainable building, John Hearne makes the case for wrapping buildings in an external insulation layer, and describes some of the main issues to watch out for.
07-02-2018 Guides
Once poorly understood by the mainstream building industry, airtightness is now increasingly seen as one of the most crucial objectives on any building project. Not only is it vital for energy efficiency, it’s also key for thermal comfort and for protecting a building’s structure from dampness and mould. In this comprehensive guide to airtightness, we look at why it’s so important, how exactly it’s measured, and most importantly, how to achieve it on site.
04-02-2019 Guides
Building physics take no prisoners. Anyone designing, constructing or upgrading the thermal envelope of a building to modern energy performance levels is duty bound to understand and minimise thermal bridging, or suffer the consequences. One-man thermal bridging encyclopaedia Andrew Lundberg of Passivate, who teaches thermal bridging analysis at Dublin Institute of Technology, gives some practical advice on why and how to tackle thermal bridging head on, and describes some of the leading innovations in thermally broken components.
19-04-2018 Guides
As demand for super-insulated and airtight building structures grows, insulating concrete formwork (ICF) is rapidly gaining popularity as a method of construction. But what exactly is ICF, what are its key advantages, and why is it so well suited to passive house and low energy construction?
16-10-2018 Guides