€14m for energy-efficient building designs

IRELAND: The Irish government is offering grants worth €14m for energy-efficient building projects focusing on energy uses including heating, cooling and refrigeration.

It is aimed at those in the design phase of planning capital projects for new or existing buildings. In order to qualify for a grant, participants must follow the SEAI EXEED (Excellence in Energy Efficient Design) standard and embed energy efficiency in the design of their projects, focusing on energy uses such as heating, cooling, refrigeration, compressed air and business processes. 

The grant is open to public and private organisations that are planning an investment project of any scale or complexity.

“Buildings are a major source of CO2 emissions, so to meet our climate goals we need to be innovative in how we design, build and manage them for optimum energy efficiency. The SEAI’s EXEED grant scheme supports designers and builders to be ambitious, and put energy efficiency at the heart of their building and renovation projects. It makes both environmental and economic sense,” said Eamon Ryan TD, the minister for Environment, Climate and Communications.

SEAI EXEED ensures energy performance is considered at the earliest design stage of a building or process. SEAI has supported 135 projects through SEAI EXEED with CO2 savings averaging 46% for new build projects and 14% for upgrade projects. 

Recent recipients of SEAI EXEED support include: Aurivo Consumer Foods in Donegal for the installation of a milk pasteurisation heat recovery system which reduced CO2 emissions by 85%; Johnson & Johnson Vision Care in Co Limerick for a new gym and medical building, where improved insulation and air handling units with heat recovery were installed, making the facility 25% more efficient; Westpark Fitness in Dublin who installed new heating and cooling equipment as well as electric vehicle chargers, resulting in 40% savings in gas use and 10% in electricity.

Interested parties are invited to find out more about and register an interest here.