The days of the open fireplace heating people’s homes are coming to an end, the Climate Change Advisory Council has said.

In its latest report the council has warned that Ireland urgently needs to phase out fossil fuels from our homes and workplaces.

It is warning that, since we import the vast majority of the fossil fuels we use, we are forced to pay international prices – even when they fluctuate wildly as seen in recent years.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) Chair Marie Donnelly said cutting out fossil fuels may be a contentious topic in Ireland – but its “something that we really need to do”.

Asked if the days of heating homes through open fireplaces are coming to an end, she said "For your own health, yes they are".

“Fortunately we have technologies that will heat your home more effectively and give you a warm, dry, and fresh air system in your home,” she said.

“I think that's the direction that we need to go; we need to support people to get to that point.”

Savings

Ms Donnelly noted that nobody is going to force people to stop burning fossil fuels – but Government must do all it can to encourage people towards more sustainable practices.

“What we're saying is that there is a better option available,” she said.

“So if I just go through, say, a heat pump, for example, if you look at the SEAI website, you can do your own calculations, but, you know, you can save about €500 a year, on average, by moving to a heat pump in terms of your running costs.

“That's not insignificant in terms of saving your money.

“You can get the grants for it that are there and now they've brought in a provision that if your house is built after 2007, you don't need any technical assessment in advance.

“The research we've done shows that more than 75% of homes in Ireland can effectively use a heat pump.”

Grants

Ms Donnelly said the CCAC is urging the Government to immediately increase the grants available for heat pumps.

The council is also calling for the social housing retrofit scheme to be significantly ramped up.

“The retrofit that has been rolled out in the country is very good,” she said. “We had 48,000 done last year – excellent.

“Of course, we need to double it going forward, but it's going in the right direction.

“The targets for the retrofit are social housing are about 3,000 a year, but you know, we have about 150,000 social houses in Ireland.

“We need to have a much higher level of ambition and rate of retrofit of social houses because otherwise, we won’t get them done fast enough.”

Emissions

The CCAC report finds that emissions from Irish buildings fell by 6% last year, while emissions from residential buildings fell by 7.1%.

It warns, however, that the fall may be due to high fuel prices and a relatively mild winter in addition to the new solid fuel laws and energy efficiency improvements.

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