House Warming

SEAI has announced a package of new and enhanced grants for homeowners across the country who are looking to benefit from home energy upgrades. In this bonus episode, Kim sits down with Tom Halpin, Head of Communications at SEAI, to get all the details on what this means and how the new grants will benefit homeowners all over Ireland. You can find out all the details on the grants  here  

It’s the final episode of this season of House Warming! To wrap things up, Kim is back with Dermot Bannon, to look to the future. How will sustainability and energy efficiency change how we live, and what does the home of the future look like?  Finally then, in our last homeowner visit, Kim travels to Blanchardstown in Dublin to meet Wayne Kavanagh. He had been living in his house for around ten y...

We are back this week with podcaster, broadcaster and sustainability influencer, Fionnuala Jones, who has been renovating the house she bought in Dublin. In this episode, Kim chats to her about her work in sustainability, upcycling, her design style and lots more.  Then it’s off to Portarlington to visit the home of Olof and Siobhan. They wanted a warm, comfortable and eco-friendly house and Kim t...

Interior designers and podcasters, Kate O’Driscoll and Jenny Sheahan, are back on the podcast this week. They are joined by SEAI’s Stephen Farrell to talk about traditional homes: houses with character and history, but plenty of challenges too. Stephen talks us through the Traditional Home Pilot Scheme, run by the SEAI, and there’s lots of advice for anyone living in an older home. Kim then travel...

We're back with James Kavanagh, for more on his fabulous new home in Kilkenny. Kim sits down with James to dive deeper into his renovation plans, to chat about his “squishy Irish” design style, and to see how he envisions life in his new home. Kim then travels to Sligo to meet Hilda O’Shea. She is in the middle of transforming her 300-year-old house into a warm, energy efficient haven for her grow...

On this week’s episode Kim is back chatting to building engineer and fountain of energy upgrade knowledge, Kieran McCarthy. He gives his advice on how to get the best value for money on your energy upgrades, as well as sharing his thoughts on sustainable living and what the home of the future will look like. Kim then heads out to Cabinteely, in Dublin, to have a chat in Deirdre De Burca’s home. Sh...

On this episode of House Warming , host Kim Buckley sits down with interior designers and podcasters Kate O’Driscoll and Jenny Sheahan. Kate and Jenny were both competitors on RTE’s Home of the Year,  but they went from competitors to collaborators and now co-host the interiors podcast Rip It Up . Kim gets the full story of how they both ended up working in interior design, despite starting out on...

On this episode of House Warming, Kim Buckley is talking all things design and architecture, and who better than Dermot Bannon to get some top tips on upgrading your home. Kim chats to Dermot about everything from heat pumps and solar panels to his famous glass box extensions! Kim then heads to Cork, to sit down with Jerome O’Donovan in his three-bedroom bungalow in Blackrock. With a deep retrofit...

On this episode of House Warming , Kim Buckley sits down with Leinster and Ireland rugby star Ryan Baird, and Kieran McCarthy, building engineer and regular on TV and radio.  Ryan has just bought a new house by the sea in Dublin, and has big plans for the design and energy upgrade of his home. He tells Kim about his vision for a house where he can cook and entertain, but can also switch off, conne...

 Welcome back to House Warming, where Kim Buckley is getting an inside look at two Irish homes. Fionnuala Jones, or Fionnuala Jay to her online followers, is a podcaster, broadcaster and sustainability influencer. Tired of living in a series of cold and draughty apartments, she’s bought a house in Dublin and has been renovating it to create a warm, cozy, and energy efficient home . Meanwhile, in C...

We all know a home energy upgrade isn’t cheap and is one of the main barriers to homeowners carrying out retrofit work. The Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme has been introduced to make a home energy upgrade more accessible and affordable for homeowners. The purpose of the government backed loan is to carry out home energy upgrade works that are also grant-aided through the Sustainable Energy Author...

On this, the first episode of House Warming , host Kim Buckley sits down with two homeowners who’ve moved out of the city to renovate a house in the countryside. James Kavanagh – social media personality, entrepreneur, television presenter, and podcaster – is currently renovating his house in Kilkenny. If you’ve been following him online, you’ll have heard all about his renovation project, and he...

Welcome to Housewarming, a brand new series, brought to you by SEAI, all about helping you to make your home a warmer, more energy efficient, and beautiful place to live. We travelled across Ireland to chat with homeowners about their energy upgrades, interiors and sustainable habits. And we have design tips from Home of the Year winners and expert builders, advice on grants, finance and planning,...

The evidence is clear. Climate change is happening. We need to pick up the pace and take further action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions before it’s too late.   In January this year, the EPA launched Ireland's Climate Change Assessment report (ICCA). The report provides a comprehensive assessment of our understanding of climate change in Ireland and our response to this global crisis - the f...

In this episode of 180 Degrees we zoom in on the growing number of ‘Sustainable Energy Community' groups across the country, who are working towards reducing their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and making their communities more sustainable.  180 Degrees Season 5 host Sinead Ryan is joined in the studio with Ruth Buggie of SEAI, Ger O'Halloran of the 'Connecting Cabra' Sustainable Energy...

In recent years, we are seeing more community groups coming together to take climate action in their local areas. Tackling everything from recycling and biodiversity, to renewable energy projects, ambitious and important climate work is happening locally, and forming the backbone of what it means to be part of an Irish community.   In this episode of 180 Degrees we will zoom in on the growing numb...

In this mini-episode, we enter the realm of Smart Grids and Smart Networks: a technological landscape where the smart grid, an advanced electricity network, facilitates seamless communication between electricity generators and users. Picture this: wind turbines engaging in a sophisticated dialogue with everyday appliances, turning your home into a synchronized hub of energy efficiency.  Fergus Sha...

We've heard of ‘smart products’ for our homes and the concept of the ‘Internet of Things’ - where our home appliances and apps can communicate to find the right product or play the ideal music in our living rooms – but are we soon going to have the same options for our home energy use?  Enter the realm of Smart Grids and Smart Networks: a technological landscape where the smart grid, an advanced e...

In this mini-episode, Fergus Sharkey of SEAI and Tina Dowling, CEO at 'The Watershed' sport and leisure centre in Kilkenny, answer questions on how SEAI is supporting businesses to decarbonise and save on energy costs and what choices Tina made to start the The Watershed's energy journey.

In this episode we discuss how SEAI is supporting businesses to decarbonise and save on energy costs with Fergus Sharkey of SEAI and Tina Dowling, CEO at the Watershed, home of sport and Leisure in Kilkenny. The Watershed, who provide a host of indoor and outdoor sporting facilities and swimming, were finalists in the SME category at the SEAI Energy Awards. Tina discusses how they got started on t...

Data centres are adding more demand onto Ireland’s electrical grid, but can our grid keep up with the scale of the demand, or do we need to add more capacity?  In this mini-episode we discuss how increased demand on our data centres impacts Ireland's climate targets.  Can we reach our 2030 goals while increasing capacity, and what does that mean for Ireland’s energy future. 

Saving to the ‘cloud’ frees up storage on our devices, but despite the name, our data doesn’t disappear into the sky, it’s stored in a data centre.  Data centres are adding more demand onto Ireland’s electrical grid, but can our grid keep up with the scale of the demand, or do we need to add more capacity?  In this episode we discuss how increased demand on our data centres impacts our Climate Act...

District Heating currently delivers 9% of Europe's total heating demands.  So how does it work and how can it be developed in Ireland?  In this mini-episode we answer your questions on District Heating.

One of the oldest methods of heating buildings, District Heating has played a key role in making cities like Denmark and Copenhagen some of the most sustainable in the world, while also lowering costs for customers. District heating currently delivers 9% of Europe's total heating demands.  So how does it work and how can it be developed in Ireland?  In this episode we talk about the plans to devel...

Renewable energy projects are key to helping Ireland reach net-zero.  In this episode, we explore how we can make the most of our natural resources, like wind, sea and sun to create our own energy in Ireland. Discover how we can reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels and learn about the government's investments in this critical transition.