Invest in insulation and start your journey to a fossil fuel free home

Invest in home insulation

Replacing your old fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump can transform the comfort levels of your home by providing constant comfortable heat, while reducing energy usage and harmful greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, by switching to a heat pump you no longer have oil or gas bills. 

Simply removing your old boiler and installing a heat pump without upgrading insulation levels of your home would be a bit like putting the cart before the horse. To get the most out of your heat pump in terms of a comfortable home and operating the heat pump efficiently, your home needs to be well insulated.  

To help guide you on your journey to a fossil fuel free home, here are three simple steps you can start today: 

1. Assess 
2. Insulate 
3. Install 

Assess

If you don’t know what upgrades your home needs, a good starting point is to get a BER carried out by an SEAI registered assessor. The assessor will prepare a personalised advisory report for your home, setting out the necessary energy upgrades to bring it up to the modern efficiency and comfort standards. You will know exactly what your home needs in terms of insulation, other upgrades, and the grants available to help fund the works. 

But if you have already decided that you want to switch to a heat pump, then the best place to start is with a technical assessment, which includes a BER and provides more technical detail on how to make your home suitable for a heat pump. This is a requirement for the SEAI heat pump grant for homes built before 2007 and is carried out by an SEAI registered Technical Advisor. 

If, however, you plan on carrying out multiple energy upgrades in one go, including the installation of a heat pump, then we recommend you look at the SEAI One Stop Shop Service . An SEAI registered One Stop Shop will carry out a Home Energy Assessment, which includes the BER, Technical Assessment for a heat pump and a detailed report on all the energy upgrades needed to bring your home to a minimum B2 BER rating. 

Insulate

Once you have completed the right assessment for your circumstances and know what you need to do, the next step, and probably the most important in preparing your home for the switch to a heat pump, is getting it well insulated.  

Investing in attic and wall insulation will greatly enhance your home’s comfort levels. Additionally, it will reduce your energy bills by keeping valuable heat inside, meaning you won't need to run your heating system as often. Roughly speaking, you are losing up to 30% of your home heat through uninsulated or poorly insulated attics and walls. Attic insulation can be carried out quickly, will little disruption to your home and is one of the more inexpensive upgrades you can carry out. There are significant grants available for both attic and wall insulation from SEAI. 

Install

Now that you have a well-insulated home, you are on your way to make that clean switch from your old boiler to a more energy efficient heat pump. In many cases, installing a heat pump often requires very little disruption, working well with radiators.  

Often homeowners wait until their old boiler has finally given up, making the replacement purchase a rushed decision with few options.  By ensuring your home is well insulated now before you need to replace your old oil or gas boiler, you’ll be in a great position to invest in a heating system that offers greater efficiency. Taking this approach not only provides the most effective way to heat your home but also future proofs your home compared to other options.  

Choosing the best grant route

SEAI offers a range of home energy upgrade grants to suit most budgets and circumstances. Some people might want to take a step-by-step approach, doing one or two energy upgrades over time. As well as individual grants of up to €6,500 for heat pumps, we also have grants for attic and wall insulation ranging from up to €1,500 for attic insulation and up to €8,000 for external wall insulation. The Individual Energy Upgrade grant route is a great option for homeowners looking to start upgrading their homes over time, giving them more flexibility to suit their budgets and needs.