Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 11 October 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland
Ms Margie McCarthy:
I will respond to that and my colleague, Mr. O'Mahony, might like to respond too. It is definitely a question of balance. The heat study spoke to the shift in focus to decarbonisation in buildings, leading to the elimination of fossil fuels. We talked earlier about the heat loss indicator playing its part in the installation of heat pumps and getting that to the right level so that houses can still run their heating systems cost effectively. It comes down to what part solar can play in terms of its effect on energy use. As Dr. Byrne mentioned, it will not play as big a part in heating which is a big energy use in the home. What we are trying to do, on the back of the heat study and in the context of a cost-optimal approach, is to encourage people to get their homes to a fabric level that allows them to decarbonise to non-fossil-fuel use. Does Mr. O'Mahony want to come in on the solar piece?
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