Save a bundle when you buy a combination of energy upgrades
COMFORT UPGRADE
A Comfort Upgrade would aim to give you the best bang for your buck when it comes to heat retention. It prioritises a fabric first approach, meaning areas of your home such as attic insulation, cavity wall insulation, glazing upgrades or new windows and doors. Comparatively, they are quicker and easier to upgrade, and don’t cost a fortune or create huge upheaval. The impact is instant as your home should feel warmer, energy-efficient and, of course, more comfortable.
A Comfort Upgrade doesn’t produce any energy (instead it prioritises keeping in the heat you produce), so the SEAI grants are not as big but you can get up to €3,200. But you can choose to add Solar PV at this point as it will compliment those upgrades well – and there is an SEAI grant of up to €1,800 available.
ENERGY UPGRADE
An Energy Upgrade is for you if you already have a good standard of insulation via windows and doors and are looking to improve your Building Energy Rating (BER) and generate your own renewable energy. Installing Solar PV (electricity generation) is a huge step forward here. Due to the increasing cost of electricity and the introduction of the Micro-Generation Support Scheme (MSS) where your energy supplier can credit your account for excess electricity produced, the payback period has been greatly reduced. An air to water heat pump will get rid of any fossil fuel dependency and instead power your home with clean renewable energy. For a heat pump to be installed, a home must have a high BER, and usually the best way to achieve this is with external insulation (wrap). Installing external insulation and a heat pump will be more of a financial investment and will require more time to install. But the good news is there are SEAI grants totalling up to €18,000 for energy upgrades.
RETROFIT UPGRADE
A Retrofit Upgrade is a bespoke mix of home energy upgrades to suit your particular home and circumstances. It will involve a selection of comfort (heat-retention / insulation) and energy (solar / renewable) upgrades. If your home has a very low BER rating, multiple upgrades would be required to bring it up to a minimum B2 rating, as required by the SEAI. An expert Energy Consultant from Energlaze would be happy to chat to you about your specific requirements and help maximise any SEAI grants available.