Entire social housing schemes across Ireland are energy inefficient while some are in desperate need of being upgraded, a new survey has found.

A two-year project, entitled 'Advanced Ventilation Approaches for Social Housing' (AVASH), recently concluded the country's first energy performance audit of existing social housing stock.

Lead by Delap & Waller EcoCo Ltd, a leading Sustainable Design consultancy with offices in Dublin and Cork, the EU-funded project audited existing social housing schemes in counties Meath, Kildare and Dublin. The schemes featured include family dwellings and dwellings for the elderly and the disabled.

It is hoped the audit will establish best ventilation strategies for existing social housing in order to achieve occupant health and comfort, maximum energy efficiency and significant reductions in energy bills for householders.

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All data collected during the audit will be presented to social housing providers who are considering upgrading their social housing stock by performing energy intelligent retrofitting of individual dwellings and entire schemes.

Consultants and other construction professionals will also be provided with an insight into key issues they will be facing during retrofit projects and practical solutions for improvements in energy performance for old and new dwellings.

Half of Ireland's 1.5 million dwellings were built prior to the introduction of Building Regulations in Ireland in 1979. Energy consumption in Irish homes is about 40% higher than the European average and Irish homes are responsible for a staggering 11.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

"A dramatic improvement of the energy performance of the existing housing stock is therefore essential if we want to make any dent into our greenhouse gases emission targets," explained Jay Stuart, Managing Director of DWEcoCo Ltd.

Seminars will take place at the Lifetime Lab in Cork (2pm, 22 May) and at Cultivate in Dublin (7pm, 3 June).

(JM)