Over the past three weeks, as in all election cycles, we have become accustomed to the knock at the door from canvassers or candidates themselves are they vie for our number one at the ballot box.
We have asked leading
climate and biodiversity experts to tell us the key policy asks that they have raised
with candidates when they come a-knocking.
Next up is Paul Kenny, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Tipperary Energy Agency that has a proven track record over the past two decades in enabling people, communities and the public sector to become more sustainable in their energy use.
With Ireland’s building stock inefficient and highly carbon intensive (up to 60 per cent more than the average European home), Paul outlines the policy changes needed to change our buildings, their efficiency and their heating systems in line with our climate commitments.
Better integrated support for delivering deep
renovation
There are countless examples
of solutions from across Europe but fundamentally we need to change from shallow
single measure grants or annual stop-start grants for service providers to a
long term solution where utilities, intermediaries, equipment suppliers,
contractors, engineers can invest in their supply chains to deliver the
capacity needed to tackle this problem for householders. How many times have
you heard “can’t get a [insert trade of your choice here]”.
We will also need the skills development for the energy transition, the apprenticeships from Solas and the myriad of skills from the third-level sector. This will cost a significant amount of money, with the national development plan detailing almost €5 billion over the next seven years that I think will be insufficient. We need this to be deployed now in order to increase the service provision in this area, and if we get to the €5 billion mark, then we can consider increasing it.
Provide energy efficiency finance at low interest
rates
We need to tackle every
building, engage every householder and invest €50 billion over the next 30
years to do so and scale up retrofitting from 1,000 homes per annum to 50,000
homes to reach a B2 with a non-fossil heating system.
Energy efficiency finance
needs to be provided at low interest rates where a deep renovation can be paid
for over a 10 to 20 year period at low cost to the homeowner and where the
savings in energy bills can a long way to paying for the upgrades.
The Picardie region in France
has cracked this but, with a 2.25 per cent interest loan for 20 years on the non-grant
balance of energy upgrade finance. Interestingly, this form of financial
engineering is almost identical to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland’s
Brexit and Agri loan products. We need the government to give the SBCI the
mandate and funding to make this happen for retrofitting.
Enact a definite and policed energy related policy
framework
We also need to use regulations effectively to move from a light touch regulation to a more definite and policed energy related policy framework to include, for example, the phasing down of fossil fuel boiler sales, setting minimum standards for rental properties need to be set, and clear rules around the rising carbon tax and 100’s of other sensible regulations that will increase climate action in Ireland.
Roll-out a strategic energy transition communication
campaign
The Government needs to start
a strategic energy transition communication campaign that is multi-faceted.
People want, but don’t know how to, take the energy transition journey. We need
to help them make decisions and also to signal that the cost of carbon tax will
make fossil heating expensive and empower people to make the right choice when
they are renovating their homes.
The addition of over €8,000 in
carbon tax to the inflation adjusted €30,000 to €35,000 that the average
homeowner will spend on heating their home should be enough to encourage a
switch to an efficient home with low carbon heating.
We need to educate and
empower people to retrofit their homes – in tandem with the financial support
options raised above – on making better choices across a myriad of sustainable
energy topics including home, transport, electricity and anything else that is
needed to enhance the uptake of climate friendly behaviours.
All of the above is needed,
but with three staff focused on energy efficiency in the Department of
Communications, Climate Action and Environment, the first job of a new
government is to address the farcical resourcing of energy policy in Ireland.
The post What the Experts Want from GE2020 – Paul Kenny appeared first on Green News Ireland.
