Stronghouse

MaREI Symposium & made-to-fit retrofit

15 June 2020 - Published by Deirdre Buist
One upside to the current limitations regarding international travel is that we can now attend more transnational exchanges than ever…online. By choosing on theme and relevance from the events being offered in our ever-expanding energy-efficiency network, some (at home) Stronghouse representatives joined the MaRei Symposium on 11th June.

The MaREI Retrofitting Homes Symposium delivered six inspiring speakers from various EU countries, all dealing with effectively retrofitting residential building stock. Researchers from the MaREI Centre (Energy, Climate and Marine research institute) shared their insights into the challenges and opportunities faced in deep retrofitting Ireland’s building stock.

Fuel poverty & retrofit

Ireland’s building stock emits almost 60% more CO2 than other EU countries and exhibits some of the highest rates of fuel poverty and excess winter mortality in northern Europe. Despite some 23,000 homes being retrofitted in Ireland per annum since 2013, only about one in ten of these homes were retrofitted to the current requirement of a BER of B2 or better.

Same goals, but different

From a European perspective we all have the same goals in terms of the reduction of C02 emissions, yet it is quite evident that there are great differences in challenges, approach and social-economics in our corner of the world. We also recognize these differences within Stronghouse. Partners in the Orkneys and Aberdeen have a different housing stock to that of Denmark, Germany or the Netherlands, for example, so the energy-renovation challenges are diverse too. Ihis variance provides us with a greater opportunity to learn more and to exchange widescale experience.

Cooperation

Through cooperation- on all levels - we ultimately aim for the most suitable approach and measures being implemented in each partner region to reach those shared European targets.

Made-to-fit retrofit!

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You can access the recording of the MaRei Symposium here:

https://www.marei.ie/retrofitting-homes-symposium/

(2 hours, 6 speakers, 500 attendees…great interaction!)