Results 1,641-1,660 of 3,983 for speaker:Jennifer Whitmore

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: I note the figure of 637. I have a comment to make on the district heating scheme. Dr. Byrne spoke about the importance of data centres and how they could play a large part in the scheme. Data centres will account for 30% of our electricity use by 2030 so they are a major part of the jigsaw. I found it really interesting in his district heating report that Dr. Byrne did not know when...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: You are going to need to know where that energy use is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: There are a couple of issues I want to cove, the first of which is the scheme for solar installation for medically vulnerable users that was set up under the national energy security framework. That scheme was due to be in place by the second quarter but I am not sure if it is up and running yet. I do not think it is. Can the SEAI indicate when it will be up and running? Will batteries...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: This question probably follows on from that. It is about the level of resources that the SEAI has and the new programmes that are being put in place. There was an announcement just before the budget in respect of Solar Schools. It was thought that all schools - primary and secondary - would get free solar panels. I had assumed that these would be rolled out through the SEAI because it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: Has there been any discussion between the SEAI and the Department in respect of this programme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: The pathfinder programme has done 41 schools to date. It has been running for a number of years and has done an average of nine schools per year, so putting solar panels on every single school in the country seems very ambitious. I presume the SEAI would need additional resources to run a major programme like that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: If we are looking at outputs and outcomes in the context of energy use, as I said earlier there is quite a strong focus on retrofitting, but it is a lot more costly, more invasive and much slower than solar. One could install solar on a roof in a matter of one or two days and that can reduce energy use by up to 40%. In parallel, one could do a retrofit which could take months, cost an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: There is a huge disparity there. We seem to be putting a lot of investment into the slower and more resource-heavy end of things, rather than in solar which would give us a quicker win.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: Can I just say something on that? I do not know whether my thinking is correct here but if one is generating one's own electricity and one's own energy through solar, even if one is wasting some of it because one's home has a B or C BER, from an emissions perspective that does not matter. One is generating one's own electricity while not adding to our carbon emissions. In that context, is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: The issue is speed. Solar is not perfect, and people would also need to do retrofitting. If, however, we are trying to help people this winter and next, the quickest way to do that is through pushing the solar option, particularly for those who cannot afford it. I refer to people who would be eligible for the warmer homes scheme. That scheme does not include solar which is a missed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: I want to get down to the numbers and talk about the B2 and the target of 500,000 by 2030. The last time the authority was in I asked for a projection on the numbers, and I think Deputy O'Rourke did too, of how many B2s the authority expects to have installed by 2030. The question is whether that target will be met. I have not seen that projection, though the authority may have sent it and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: It is 5,500 this year. How many have been done to date in total?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: The officials do not have it. There is a target of 500,000 and a B2 is quite an intensive retrofit. There will be a ramp-up and we know the SEAI is in a capacity-building phase, so what happens next year will be much more than this year and it is to be hoped we see that progression.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: That is to date.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: That therefore includes the figure Dr. Byrne just gave me there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: The figure is 16,000. That leaves 484,000 to be done in eight years, which is a considerable number. In order that we can walk away from this meeting comforted the 500,000 target will be met, we need to see what the target is for next year. I assume the authority has projected this out on an annual or even a quarter-by-quarter basis. It needs to know what number it needs to be hitting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: It has changed. In the programme for Government, it was 500,000 B2s. Now it is 500,000 B2 equivalents. There could be two B3 homes that make up the B2 equivalent.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: Dr. Byrne made a point about district heating, but does it not also have to do with solar? If the ultimate target is emissions reductions and if we can cut a home's emissions by 30% within a day or two, should that not be where the focus lies? The figure for solar this year is €14 million, yet the figure for retrofitting is €250 million. It is way out of kilter. The focus is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: We are not looking at energy. Rather, we need to be considering emissions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Retrofitting Schemes: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (11 Oct 2022)

Jennifer Whitmore: If the metric is emissions and if we can reduce them quickly by 25% by spending two days installing something cheaply for €8,000 or whatever, should the focus not be on that?