ENERGY EFFICIENCY

With the new Government grants available to make your home more energy efficient as well as older grants for solar panels and the likelihood of the ESB buying back surplus energy produced from wind turbines, it has never been a better time to consider exploring alternative energies and how to make your home as cost-effective in terms of energy as possible. Building energy ratings assessment is a legal requirement if you plan to sell or rent you home, but it is also the best place to start to check what work needs to be done.

Build your own solar panels

Energy Audit Solutions
Gerry Kelly is friendly and approachable and likes to give a personalised service when Energy Assessing your new build or existing domestic property: “I like to meet prospective customers face to face, to make sure that are getting the best possible advice, in terms of reducing their home heating costs.” he explained.
“We all have to be careful with our money these days and simple actions, such as improving insulation, can make a big difference, in terms of reducing energy bills and future proofing the value of your property.”

Gerry’s expertise and understanding of energy solutions, along with his honest approach, means that his customers know where they stand. Locally based, in Burt, at the gateway to Inishowen, Energy Audit Solutions is accessible and Gerry is well placed to respond quickly to his customers needs. For more information call Gerry on 074 9386620

National Energy Assessors
National Energy Assessors (NEA) are one of the leading providers of energy efficient solutions in Ireland. They provide a comprehensive range of services for both home-owners and businesses. The fully registered, fully insured company will send a professional assessor to your home who will report on what energy measures your home needs, and the most cost effective solution for saving money and energy. NEA provide free thermal imaging as part of their service so customers can see exactly where heat is being lost from their home. After the improvements have been carried out, a second visit takes place, to give you your quality assured BER certificate.
NEA also provides free energy assessment for small to medium sized businesses such as offices, hotels and factories. Simply call Jim Duffy on 0857190000 to register. NEA undertakes air tightness tests, checking where a building might be losing energy through ‘holes’ such as ventilation. As hot air escapes, cold air gets in and little holes in your building can lead to a big hole in your profits. NEA is one of the ten companies nationally that is registered to assess large public buildings that require the new energy certificate, which legally needs to be displayed.

McGee Insulation Services
Once your home is assessed, one of the recommendations may be to get the attic or the cavity walls insulated. McGee Insulations are registered with Sustainable Energy Ireland to carry out this work. McGee insulations prides itself on using eco-friendly insulation, Warmcel. Warmcel is a high performance thermal insulation which can save you up to 40% off your heating bills and provides a complete seal, minimising heat loss, eliminating gaps, cracks and other cold bridges. To get efficient insulation, prevent energy loss and save money, contact McGee Insulation on 087 9320155

Solar Panel Installation
SOS Plumbing and Heating are registered with Sustainable Energy Ireland to install solar panels here in Inishowen. Grants are available from SEI for houses that have been lived in for the past twelve months. Solar panels work on daylight hours and so are highly effective for us here in Inishowen. The solar panels are so efficient, that between May and September, you get 100% free hot water. For the rest of the year, the solar panels provide on average about 40% of your domestic hot water for free. There are two types of panel, flat plated and evacuated tube systems. The evacuated tubes are 20% more efficient and the Government provide more of a grant for these. The grant is applied for and processed by SOS and they are happy to provide free advice and quotations. Contact SOS on 087 7607117.

Peninsula Renewable Energies
Renewable energy resources are abundantly available in Ireland and offer sustainable alternatives to our dependency on fossil fuels and reduce our reliance on imported fuels. Main sources of renewable energy include the sun (solar energy), the wind, heat from under the ground (geothermal energy) and biomass (wood, waste and energy crops). With all the options available, it is crucial to be aware of what system would work best for your house. Every home is different and you need to make sure you get the most suitable system for your property. Peninsula Renewable Energies offer a range of renewable energy options and will be happy to advise you on what is the most appropriate solution for your needs. They are registered by Sustainable Energy Ireland. Peninsula Renewable Energies supply Proven Wind Turbines. Peninsula Renewable Energies can be contacted on Tel 0749370533/Mobile 0866076301

Energy Cert Ireland
Energy Cert Ireland is a family run local business who offer Building Energy Rating Assessments. Paddy and Ronan McCole are a father and son partnership with a strong construction background and over fifty years experience between them. “The service we provide is more than just getting your certificate” Ronan explains. “We offer a personal service, pointing our customers in the right direction to make savings in their heating bills. We make recommendations on the most cost-effective way of implementing improvements.” With their local knowledge of reputable contractors they can price up the best way to improve your energy ratings and provide their customers with the choice of 3 or 4 options.

BERindonegal
Whether you want to take advantage of the Home Energy Saving Scheme, or are selling or letting your property then you will need a BER. At BERindonegal we offer an independent, friendly and professional service to those needing a BER. Our customers include property professionals such as Estate / Letting Agents, Solicitors, Architects and of course the public.One of our trained assessors will inspect and report on your property and complete the appropriate registration with SEI.Why not visit our website http://www.berindonegal.ie/ Here you will find a host of information on BERs from Frequently Asked Questions to handy hints and tips on how to improve your BER. You will also find details of our competitive pricing. You can book online and there is an option to pay by credit card if you wish. Alternatively call us on 086 1729508.

Intelligent Heating with Evergreen
Evergreen are pleased to announce the arrival in Ireland of the solar vent wood pellet boiler. Manufactured under strict German quality control and designed with high efficiency operation as its sole task this boiler is an essential investment in any home. The solar vent boiler uses patented German technology and the “INTELLIGENT HEATING” system is only available from solar vent which makes this unit truly unique.

With current economic conditions and the need to reduce our monthly outgoings becoming a matter of urgency, householders across the land are examining ways they can save money. Heating our homes is one of the most costly outgoings and this cost will continue to rise in the not to distant future, as we have seen last year with the dramatic rise in oil prices. Compared to oil, wood pellets still offer considerable savings and with the solar vent boiler, your wood pellets stretch even more.

If a wood pellet boiler is not your thing then Evergreen can offer a number of alternatives. If you have access to your own supply of timber, then a log gasification boiler may be your ideal heating source or if you have a large area of ground surrounding your home one of our heat pumps could do the trick.

For the person who just wants a cheaper way to heat their water then we can design and fit a solar system specific to your needs. All the technologies mentioned are grant assisted for homes older than 12 months. We are able to provide full assistance with grant applications

So if you are planning to build, buy or renovate and are thinking renewable, then think Evergreen.

Get your grant before the banks get theirs!

Doherty Brothers Clonmany
Doherty Brothers Clonmany have been involved in all aspects of Insulation and Energy Conservation Measures for over 30 years. Their professionally qualified advisors (C.S.R.T. Surveyor and Building Energy Rating Assessors) will survey your property and advise you on all energy saving measures. To cut your heating costs call Doherty Brothers Clonmany on 074 9376182

REDUCING YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

“One of the big incentives for moving over to Bio-ethanol fuel is a 50 per cent reduction in VRT, saving you up to €5700 euro on a Saab. The other is the price per litre.” Jeremy Carr –Mulroy Motors

“Everyone loves a wood fire; it really turns a house into a home. Modern wood pellet boilers offer the warmth and comfort of wood heating and are highly efficient, clean burning and totally automatic, saving you time and money”. Darren Collins- Evergreen


“Solar panels can save you up to 70% on your domestic hot water and 30% on overall heating costs”. Chris Maasson.

ECO SUPPLIERS IN THE NORTH WEST (AD FOR THE INISHOWEN INDEPENDENT)
Until recently, finding suppliers of sustainable energy products such as solar panels and wind turbines meant travelling miles or even venturing into Europe. Thankfully now we can find all the eco-products we need in Inishowen and the North West, saving us valuable time and money.

Insulation

Comfort is paramount in our homes, which makes good insulation vitally important. The more heat and energy you retain in the house, the less your fuel bill will be. This saves money and has the added bonus of keeping the CO2 emissions down to an acceptable level.

Patrick Doherty from Insulation Services has been keeping local homes warm for thirty years and knows a few things about insulation. His company caters for both old and new properties. “New houses benefit from cavity wall insulation,” says Patrick. “Older houses might need damp proofing” As well as individual projects, Insulation Services also work for the Education and Health Authorities and have ten million pound sterling public and product liability, which gives the customer total peace of mind. Patrick and his team also treat timber problems ranging from eradicating dry rot to timber preservation.

Wood pellet boilers

Have you ever thought of installing a wood pellet boiler? Maybe now would be the time to make a decision, as there is still time to avail of the grants that are available for homeowners to save money on eco products.

Wood burning is clean, energy efficient and does not contribute to global warming. The boilers are over 25% more efficient than domestic oil and can cost up to 50% less to operate. EirTherm Ltd based in Carrigans, are agents for HERZ wood pellet and wood chip boilers locally and they can provide the complete range of biomass boilers.

Why choose wood?

Wood is environmentally friendly
The carbon dioxide that is released when pellets are burned is the same as the amount the tree consumed when it was growing so it does not contribute to climate change.

Easy and clean to use
Pellet boilers are lit and run automatically, and the modern pellet boilers are self-cleaning.

Safety
Good quality boilers are equipped with a number of safety features including back-burn protection against the risk of fire.

Buying a boiler

Darren Collins from the company Evergreen, based in Killygordon takes the mystery out of buying bio fuel boilers. “To calculate what type of boiler you need there is a simple mathematical calculation” he says. “Times the square footage of your house by 0.8. This will tell you what size Kilowatt boiler to go for” he says “If you have a house with 2000 feet of space then a 15-20 watt system will be ideal.” Darren tells us about the different types of wood:

What are wood pellets?
“Pellets are clean, dry fuels made from a mixture of sawdust and wood shavings. The pellets are smoke free and high in energy.

What are wood chips?
“These are fragments made up from the whole tree. It is similar to the mulch on a garden but a lot more uniform and totally dry”.

What are heat logs?
“Heat logs are like an oversized wood pellet. They are made from managed oak and mahogany.


Logs

Maassen wood log boilers differ from other solid fuel boilers because it burns normal logs. “We work on the basis that every country has the ability to grow their own fuel. This cuts down on transportation costs,” they advise. “An important fact is that timber can be stored outside on the sheltered side of a building and can be exposed to the elements and even with a 20% moisture content still burns efficiently, so no dry storage is required.”


Solar panels and wind turbines

Maassen Sustainable Energy has 25 years experience in alternative power and also do a comprehensive range of solar panels and wind turbines. “The different wind turbine systems we have can be fitted either in new build domestic, commercial or existing buildings. The domestic turbines are noise free,” says Chris Maassen. Wind turbines will play an important role in sustainable energy in the coming years and Inishowen is ideally located to make the most of the technology. “Solar panels can save you up to 70% on your domestic hot water and 30% on overall heating costs. They do not need constant sunshine to be effective and they can be linked in with the existing heating too.”


E85 Fuel

Callaghan’s Motorway stores supply the North West with the new Bio- fuel E85 made from whey or rapeseed oil. “We are seeing a sharp increase of cars using the fuel,” says Dermott Callaghan from Motorway stores. “Saab, Volvo and Ford are all doing the dual–fuel cars and it is easy to see why. The price of E85 fuel is 95 cent per litre compared to €1.25 for unleaded, this means a saving of 27 cent per litre when you drive a car that runs on Bio- fuel - a big saving over the year for the motorist!”

Bio-ethanol fuel –Saab

One of the big incentives for moving over to Bio-ethanol fuel is a 50 per cent reduction in VRT, saving you up to €5700 euro on a Saab. The other is the price per litre. Bio-ethanol fuel contains only 15% unleaded petrol, which makes the price less prone to sudden increases in the oil market.

Jeremy Carr from Mulroy Motors in Letterkenny is also very aware about the reduction in CO2 emissions “When running the Saab 9-3 or 9-5 on E85 Bio-ethanol, fossil CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 80 per cent,” he states

“There is an impressive 20 % gain in brake horse power and 16% growth in torque when the car runs on E85 compared to when running on regular petrol,” Jeremy tells us. “The car also has the ability to run purely on unleaded fuel as well. So if you are far away from a station where you can refill with E85, you will never be left stranded. Changing from one fuel to another doesn’t require any flicking of switches either, you just put the fuel in the tank and go”.