From the Construct Ireland archives

Richard Douthwaite explores the best options available to solve the intermittency problem of wind energy and help Ireland to harness its famously abundant natural resources

Much of the housing built around Dublin over the last forty years has been built of single-leaf nine-inch hollow block construction – which are both notoriously energy inefficient and extremely difficult to insulate effectively without causing damp problems. Lenny Antonelli visited a hollow block house which has been ecologically renovated to protect occupant health whilst shooting to the top of the energy rating scale.

Duncan Stewart demands an energy revolution

Sustainable Urban Drainage System by Padraig Doyle, Brian Hennelly and Don McEntee.

As more and more people upgrade their homes to make them more energy efficient, it’s crucial for them to consider installing some sort of ventilation system to keep them healthy. Astrid Madsen compares heat recovery ventilation to a relative newbie on the Irish market, demand controlled ventilation.

Patrick Daly, co-founder of the RiSE (Research in Sustainable Environments) research unit in the DIT has undertaken an in depth study and critique of the current Irish Part L for energy efficiency in dwellings, comparing it in detail to the UK equivalent. The findings raise challenging questions about the Irish standards and methodology and highlight serious shortcomings in comparison to our UK neighbours, permitting substantially higher levels of CO2 emissions from new homes in Ireland than in the UK.

‘Interest in sustainable construction, both from private sector individuals and businesses and from the public sector has grown rapidly in the last couple of years. Unfortunately the ability of the industry to respond to this interest is under developed’ – Tom Woolley.

Based on past form, the Department of the Environment officials could be forgiven for bracing themselves for a construction industry backlash in response to the proposed changes for Part L of the building regulations which aim to both improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions by 40%, whilst also introducing mandatory renewable energy and air tightness requirements. Jeff Colley outlines why, for reasons of self interest alone it’s very much in the industry’s interests to embrace the new regulations rather than attempt to resist change.

In issue 2 we reported on an innovative new energy bike scheme being implemented in Sligo. Its instigator, Wilhelm Bodewigs, got in touch to tell us about an interesting Tram system proposal for the county

A recent study instigated by the American Environmental Protection Agency has identified indoor air quality as one of the top five urgent environmental risks to public health.