Triple SEC Connecting Communities

Background:

Triple SEC is a collaboration between three neighbouring sustainable energy communities (SEC) in north Dublin city. Volunteers representing each of the three SEC’s; Connecting Cabra SEC, Phibsboro Village SEC and Cosybatter SEC came together to promote and enable sustainable change in their local area..

These communities share similar demographic and housing characteristics, and similar challenges, such as homes with the lowest average BERs in the country. With strong interpersonal connections across the communities, it made sense to join forces to face these challenges together. The cost of heating a home has had significant impacts on their residents, and the cost of upgrading a home is a significant challenge for them. These communities are at risk of flooding, heat stress and increasing fuel poverty, with the climate crisis amplifying these challenges. 

Triple SEC is leading innovation by jointly securing EU and National Level project support funding and combining resources to run events and provide information that will  empower residents to upgrade their homes using locally sourced expertise, including engineers and architects to achieve this. 

Results and key achievements:

Funding and Research

1. Lead partner on EU Commission's Citizen-Led Renovation (CLR): Triple SEC is a lead partner in this EU project. The outcome of this project will be the successful retrofit of 3 homes with energy-saving features, effective dissemination of knowledge about available grants and the promotion of active community participation in sustainability initiatives. Other objectives include motivating homeowners/tenants through collaboration with academic experts and the distribution of incentive kits, organising a virtual event tailored to meet their needs, and providing educational brochures at all related events.
2. Spark Creative Climate Action Fund project, funded and supported by Creative Ireland: Triple SEC are working with Context Studio to design a process of progression and eventually realising these projects for communities.
    

Partnerships and Collaboration

1. Bohemians Spark project: This is another Triple SEC project where they share knowledge on events and technical aspects of design challenges of local housing in the community to better inform and support their energy retrofitting projects.
2. Third Level research project: They are also supporting a local design-based master's student who is collaborating with Connecting Cabra on an energy focused issue with Technological University Dublin (TUD) & Dublin City University (DCU).

Citizen Engagement and Reach

1. Collective Social Media accounts across the three SECs: Twitter (2625+ followers); Facebook (2504+ followers) and Instagram (2484+ followers)
2. Events and Webinars: At a recent event, they shared experience of Solar PV installation and information on the SEAI grant. Over 100 people attended in person and the recording was shared on the website and viewed by many on YouTube.
3. Guided Retrofit walking tour: As part of the Stoneybatter festival, the SEC carried out tours of typical houses in Dublin 7 and institutions such as the local parish Church and the Grangegorman campus.
4. Grant application support day: Members of the SECs assisted residents to apply for the SEAI Fully Funded grant scheme and ran a workshop on how to complete the form. 

Next steps

• They plan to draft a more detailed Retrofit Guidebook around key challenges for local housing types: continuous insulation, breathability of materials and ventilation/ air quality, inspired by EU Citizen Led Renovation colleagues in Ghent, Belgium.
• They will continue to run retrofitting guided tours alongside open home events will run in Autumn/Winter 2024.
• The plan to secure further EU funding for a full-time coordinator to enable events to be run across the three communities simultaneously and to help identify funding opportunities.