Canadian green building writer and architect Lloyd Alter has published a book to explain the importance of embodied carbon in simple terms.
Europe’s burgeoning green homes market is a multi-trillion euros opportunity – but lenders must be wary of facilitating greenwashing, a pan-European consortium has warned.
Gas cooking is killing 40,000 European people a year in Europe, a major new study has revealed, with an average of almost two years taken off their life in the EU and United Kingdom due to exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emitted during gas cooking.The countries with the highest burden were Italy, Poland, Romania, France and the UK.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has launched a home energy upgrade for traditional homes pilot.
Multi-award winning Belfast-based property developer, Fraser Millar, has launched Northern Ireland’s second large-scale residential passive house development – a 74-unit scheme of detached and semi-detached homes at a total project value of £30m.
Irish construction professionals seeking to upskill in sustainability can avail of 80% grants – through short courses on a wide range of subjects linked to energy efficiency, the circular economy and digital skills for sustainable building.
A number of Ireland’s largest house builders are turning to the passive house standard, to meet the need for proven approaches to delivering high performance sustainable buildings.
Irish homeowners can now borrow €5,000 to €75,000 at significantly lower interest rates to retrofit their homes, thanks to a new €500m government-backed scheme.
All new homes in Europe must meet binding embodied carbon reduction targets and produce zero on site emissions by 2030, due to changes led by Irish Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe.
Highly polluting cements are to be ruled out of public sector projects in Ireland from September, due to new government public procurement rules.
Aidan Doyle has joined insulation manufacturer, Unilin Insulation, as General Manager for both the Ireland and UK businesses.
Businesses involved in the supply chain for low energy building or retrofit in Ireland take note: there are a number of must see events at the Energy Show in Dublin.
Home buyers seeking sustainable luxury and energy income in a sought-after part of England have a rare opportunity with a newly launched passive house scheme in St Albans.
Increasing the use of timber in construction is central to the work of a new steering group appointed by the Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett.
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has announced the winners of the 2023 SEAI Energy Awards while celebrating 20 years of the event.
A quartet of passive house projects picked up awards at the Towards Net Zero Energy Awards 2023.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a national air quality forecast to provide greater information to the public regarding expected air quality in Ireland for up to three days.
The implications of planning on Ireland’s carbon emissions and the importance of building climate-safe homes were discussed at the Irish Green Building Council’s (IGBC) annual residential conference, Better Homes.
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A. Proctor Group has announced the promotion of Adam Salt to the position of head of global sales modular offsite, effective immediately.
06-12-2024 Marketplace
Ecological Building Systems technical specification advisor Dave Judd looks at airtightness, active moisture control and effective ventilation in passive house properties.
06-12-2024 Marketplace
Galway-based mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) manufacturer ProAir has achieved best in class energy performance levels on a new MVHR system.
20-11-2024 Marketplace
Ireland’s first 3D printed housing project has been delivered in Dundalk – integrating Firetite aerated clay cavity wall insulation.
20-11-2024 Marketplace
Sisk, in collaboration with a consortium of leading low carbon industry experts, has announced that it has been successful in securing £500,000 from Innovate UK funding as part of the…
Galway-based sustainable building product supplier Partel has launched two new paper-based membrane products, Izoperm Plus Eco and Vara Plus Eco.
Heating and ventilation specialists Hevac have launched a range of decentralised mechanical ventilation systems with recovery (MVHR) for schools onto the Irish market – including a certified passive house unit.
Carbon emissions originating from the construction and operation of buildings in Ireland constitute a significant portion of the country’s overall emissions, amounting to 37 per cent.
A private housing development in Co. Kildare has recently called upon leading heating technology manufacturer Grant to install its 6kW Grant Aerona³ R32 air source heat pump as part of a bespoke integrated heating package…
Leading insulation manufacturer Unilin has produced a report on calculating and reducing embodied carbon while using the company’s products.
Leading manufacturer of air and windtight systems Partel has announced the launch of the Kabseal line of airtight solutions for detail sealing, in addition to its new airtight electrical back…
Heat pump giant Daikin has sponsored a groundbreaking sustainable building in London, for the BBC Earth Experience.
Building materials supplier Cemex, and Ecocem, both European leadingedge companies in lower carbon construction technologies, today announced a new partnership, which will see the two companies work together from June…
Thermal bridges will most likely occur where one building element meets another, for example a wall meeting a window.
Coady Architects is conducting post occupancy evaluation (POE) of its Kilbride Court social housing scheme to gather hard data and occupant feedback on the real-world performance.
The A. Proctor Group factory in Blairgowrie has recently been upgraded with solar PV panels to provide a significant part of its energy from renewable sources and substantially reduce its…
Having joined Saint-Gobain in 2007, Holohan has spent the last nine years as Saint-Gobain Ireland’s marketing director. Prior to this, he held the positions of marketing manager with Moy Isover…
Leading heating technology manufacturer Grant has sparked the interest of many self-builders throughout Ireland, with its integrated heating packages for new builds, due to the high efficiencies and substantial long-term…
Medite Smartply has announced a donation of €250,000 to Technological University (TU) Dublin, to support the development of Design + Construct, a centre for collaborative, multidisciplinary education that will drive…
Partel, a leading manufacturer of airtight and windtight membranes, has developed two new fire-rated breather membranes that exceed current fire safety regulation levels for high-rise and high-risk buildings: Exoperm Duro…
As the grid gets greener and the case for heat pumps as a decarbonisation silver bullet becomes increasingly compelling, questions are starting to be asked about how far we need to go with retrofitting building fabric – or whether we need improve fabric at all. We ignore fabric at our peril, warns Toby Cambray.
Near the peak of the Celtic Tiger – at a time when developers were throwing up often sub-standard homes at a record pace, one self-build project pointed to a different approach, writes Dr Marc Ó Riain.
Recent analysis has suggested a slowdown in the property sector for 2024, but what impact might a drop in inflation have? Mel Reynolds runs the numbers.
It’s fair to say that green building wasn’t a thing in early 90s Ireland, which makes one extraordinary Dublin project from 1994 all the more remarkable, as Dr. Marc O Riain writes.
Shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2003, BedZed was a prominent example of architecture starting to pay attention to sustainability. But how well did it work? In the latest part of his series on the history of low energy architecture, Dr. Marc O Riain looks back at a landmark project.
In the face of an affordability crisis, first time buyers of new homes are being offered a cocktail of incentives to help them get on the property ladder, including the government’s Help to Buy and First Home schemes. Mel Reynolds asks: are these the solution to the affordability crisis?
Advances in building physics in recent years are leading to an ever-increasing understanding among experts of the risks that a litany of pollutants can pose to building occupants. But this has not stopped vulnerable people from living – and dying - in substandard buildings that exacerbate these risks. Urgent action is needed, Toby Cambray explains, to better communicate and decisively tackle the risks buildings can pose to their occupants.
Healthy Homes Ireland (HHI) has published a series of recommendations for the improvement of indoor environmental quality (IEQ), including the creation of a cross-disciplinary national leadership body that will advocate for change and set goals.
The scale of the retrofit challenge facing the UK and Ireland will require an army of tradespeople to upgrade homes – leading many to the conclusion that a new retrofit industry needs to be built from scratch. But is a more realistic answer staring us in the face – a thriving existing industry of trusted local tradespeople, asks Dr Catrin Maby OBE.
One zero carbon energy source has historically been vehemently opposed by environmentalists. But can nuclear power overcome the high-profile failures of its past, asks Dr. Marc O Riain, or has the technology missed the boat?
While significant progress continues to be made on reducing the carbon emissions associated with heating and powering buildings, the other part of whole life carbon calculation, embodied carbon, has proved more elusive. But that may be about to change, and quickly, as Stephen Barrett of the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) explains.
How flexible can heat pumps be to handle what may be inexactly defined heating demands, asks Toby Cambray?
Fuelled by the need to build quickly and to increasingly tight sustainability standards, the market for timber frame and mass timber construction is growing rapidly. This detailed guide covers many of the main established and emerging techniques, and looks at key issues to address if you’re considering a timber-based build.
05-07-2019 Guides
Cement is responsible for up to 8% of global carbon emissions, and in this guide, sustainable design expert Jay Stuart looks at ways to minimise its environmental impact through good design, and at some of the alternative, lower carbon cement and concrete products on the market.
30-07-2020 Guides
As electricity supply from renewable sources continues to grow, and electricity grids gradually decarbonise as dirtier fossil fuels are phased out, heating homes with electrical technologies like heat pumps starts to make more sense. And in the mild, temperate climate of Britain and Ireland, air source heat pumps are particularly suitable — especially as new build standards of energy efficiency continue to tighten, meaning new homes need less and less energy to achieve comfortable indoor temperatures. But how do air source heat pumps work, what types are there, and how much do they cost to run? Our in-depth guide attempts...
08-05-2018 Guides
Building physics take no prisoners. Anyone designing, constructing or upgrading the thermal envelope of a building to modern energy performance levels is duty bound to understand and minimise thermal bridging, or suffer the consequences. One-man thermal bridging encyclopaedia Andrew Lundberg of Passivate, who teaches thermal bridging analysis at Dublin Institute of Technology, gives some practical advice on why and how to tackle thermal bridging head on, and describes some of the leading innovations in thermally broken components.
19-04-2018 Guides