Across the EU, on average, almost 23 per cent of heating and cooling is powered by renewable energy. But in Ireland that figure was a meagre 5.2 per cent in 2021 — and it’s getting worse.
Fossil fuels dominate heat supply in Ireland. And heat makes up the largest share of our energy-related carbon emissions at 37 per cent.
Electrifying our heat offers domestic customers, commercial entities and Irish industry an opportunity to move away from these imported fuels – saving tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
Ireland may be the worst in the EU for developing renewable heat but there are immense electrification possibilities for our homes and businesses. To achieve a Net-Zero future and to move away from fossil fuels we need to electrify.
Domestic Heat
The technology to use electricity to heat our homes is available now and its rollout is well advanced in other countries. This is one way to make huge strides towards our emissions targets – electrification of domestic heat must be adopted at scale in Ireland.
The National Retrofit Plan aims to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes by 2030 and the Climate Action Plan calls for 280,000 new homes using heat pumps by the same year. “while the number of heat pumps supported in 2023 was up 65% on the 2022 figure this number will need to dramatically increase in the coming years” – SEAI National Retrofit Plan 2023
Photo by Dan LeFebvre on Unsplash