Are you entitled for Home Energy Grant Saving Scheme Aid?

If you are living in Ireland this is for you. As you are perhaps aware now the Irish Government is keen on encouraging the citizens to go for upgrades to critical building elements in their homes with a view to improve their energy efficiency, cut down on green house gas emissions and generally to have improved living conditions. Toward this end it grants specific financial aid for the initial investment cost through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, by implementing the HES or Home Energy Saving Scheme.

Can you apply?

This is a national scheme and therefore everyone (including landlords and multiple home owners) who put up houses before 2006 is entitled to apply. The year 2006 is made the latest limit because all houses built afterwards would have compulsorily followed the Building Regulations 2003 which generally make the building energy efficient anyway.

Note you must employ contractors who are registered with SEAI (for example Kinggroup.ie etc.), as one prime objective of the Authority is to improve the relevant construction standards, workmanship and techniques. Naturally all products and material used in the works for which grant is requested, must be new and unused before.

Only these upgrades are considered for grants

Currently only the following upgrade measures are considered. 

• Roof Insulation
• Wall Insulation including cavity wall, internal dry lining or external insulation.
• Installation/retrofitting of high efficiency (90% to 98%) seasonal energy efficiency gas or oil fired boilers (which necessarily make them high quality condensing type boilers such as for eg. Viessmann etc.) with heating control up grade.
• Heating control up grades only.
• Once for a BER document after work completion (which is currently Euro 100)

Ineligibility for HES grant aid

Due to a multitude of reasons (for example the scale and type of work undertaken) your building upgrading may not make you qualify for the grant aid. Make sure you do not have any of the following short comings, 

• Your proposed first grant application (and claim) for a measure on it's own, must be Euro 500 or more.
• Your boiler replacement must not be for a unit with efficiency 90% or lower.
• When you are only replacing your boiler but not the heating control upgrades to the specified minimum standards.
• If you have already received a grant aid previously from any one of SEAI aid schemes for the same measures.
• When you do not fully comply with the scheme Terms and Conditions and the requirements set out in the Application Guide and the application form.
• Applicant must be the home owner/land lord and must have full procession of the property.
• The HES application form must be fully completed with valid and accurate at the time of application.
• Applicant must provide Bank account and sort code details to enable electronic payment of the grant.
• Applicant must agree to be bound by the Terms and Conditions of the scheme.
• All contractors proposed to be employed must be registered with the SEAI between the dates of application completion.
• Adequate funding for that phase of the project (under which the application is made) must be available with SEAI at the time of approval.
• All the relevant conditions for the grant must be met by the applicant beforehand.

Whether it is Ireland or any other country, the conservation of the environment and the resources for the generations to come, optimization of fuel usage and other resources while providing comfortable and safe living conditions to ones dearest kin is a prime duty and right. In the years to come you will save enough to find better use for what you have been wasting up all this while. Failure to make use of the facilities made available by the State towards achieving these goals cannot be described as wise.

Sam Braidley is a author who writes about green environment and home improving subjects to get more ideas about Green environment please visit http://www.greentech.ie

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Braidley

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5288917

Building a House in Ireland

n 2006, the residential sector accounted for just under a quarter of all energy used in Ireland & was the second largest using sector after transport. Energy is consumed by the sector for the purposes of heating, cooking, cleaning, washing, drying, lighting, cooling & entertainment.

Due to the fact that our energy is largely imported from a rapidly-diminishing resource of fossil fuels, there is a huge onus of responsibility on home-owners & designers to reduce the amount of energy required to live comfortably in our homes as well as significantly increasing the amount of fuel domestically generated from renewable sources. Irish consumer spend €6 billion per annum on imported fossil fuels - if we can be more energy-efficient and/or use domestically generated fuels, then the economic & employment benefits are very significant. Also, the environmental benefits will be enormous for the country & the planet at large.

For example, a house builder looking to build an energy efficient house in Cork, or an existing home owner looking to perform energy saving updates should consult with a specialist builder of Eco homes and sustainable buildings. The savings made in long term heating costs will be far greater than the initial investment in green building materials.

With this in mind, the Irish Government has adopted & published "THE NATIONAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY ACTION PLAN 2009 - 2020", the primary tenets which are as follows:

• 20% reduction in energy demand across the economy
• 33% reduction in public sector energy usage
• 10% of our passenger & light commercial fleet to be electrically powered

The Action Plan also states that the two major energy efficiency challenges that face the residential building sector are:

• To create a generation of buildings that meet expectations of comfort & functionality while significantly reducing energy usage & CO2 emissions
• To address the legacy of older buildings with poor energy & CO2 performance

The primary driver for improved energy performance in new buildings is the Building Regulations which are regularly upgraded. Contrary to some popular belief, building standards have improved thru the boom period, particularly when measured in terms of energy demand: a typical 2007 house will require 70% less energy than a 1987 house for space & water heating purposes. However, there are many more energy-saving measures to be rolled out. The 2002 Building Regulations are now being used as the benchmark against which ongoing improvements are being the measured. The 2007 Building regulations deliver a 40% more energy efficient house than the 2002 version, while the upcoming 2010 Regulations will increase that margin to 60%. It is envisaged that in 2013, Low Carbon Homes will become the new standard, which will increase the margin of energy efficiency to 70% from 2002.

Obviously, it will be a little more challenging to deliver energy efficiencies in the huge stock of existing housing, much of which was constructed to very low standards. It is estimated that 1 million houses approx require investment to improve their energy efficiency. As many as 300,000 houses built pre-1981 have little or no energy efficiency features & have very significant energy demand.

However, it is hoped that home-owners can be incentivised with a number of measures to improve the energy efficiency of their homes in order for the country as a whole to meet it's 2020 targets. In particular, homeowners are currently being encouraged as follows:

• Home Energy Saving Scheme: Grants are available for improvements such as cavity insulation, external wall insulation, attic insulation, condensing boilers, heating controls, etc
• Building Energy Ratings (BER): All houses or apartments for sale or rent now have to have a BER. As the rating will be likely to become a factor in the price or rent that can be commanded, it is hoped that homeowners/landlords will be motivated to improve their stock. This rating will also be critical for the incoming homeowner or tenant as it will indicate their annual energy costs.
• Smart Metering: The Programme for Government is committed to ensuring the installation of a smart meter in every household in Ireland. Smart meters support energy efficient behaviour in homes by offering consumers information on their energy usage and make clear the opportunities for change & improvement. They also include features such as net metering which allows users to sell micro-generated power to the national grid. International experience suggests that smart meters can prompt behaviour change, leading to electricity savings of at least 3%.
• Warmer Homes Scheme: This scheme addresses the problem of energy affordability by providing attic insulation, lagging jackets, draught-proofing, energy-efficient lighting, cavity wall insulation, etc at little or no cost to eligible households.
• Greener Homes Scheme: This scheme provides grants to home owners to install new renewable heating systems in their homes such as Biomass, Heat Pump & Solar Thermal.

The Government is also involved in other areas in their endeavour to deliver the target energy efficiencies, such as: better spatial & planning policies, consumer awareness campaigns, best practice design for social housing, etc.

The drive to low energy housing is a win:win situation for all stakeholders: energy costs are reduced, carbon taxes are reduced, huge economic & employment benefits, huge reductions in CO2 & Greenhouse gas emissions which will make it a healthier & more sustainable environment for all.

Submitted by Philip Hayes on behalf of Cork sustainable building specialists

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Hayes

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4869728

Green Housing and Real Wellness

If REAL wellness ever takes hold, it will affect all manner of environmentally friendly choices, not just decisions connected with physical and mental well-being. REAL wellness is about quality of life. Thus, REAL wellness enthusiasts are likely to be responsive to opportunities for acting responsibly and creatively toward the environment. The ethic of REAL wellness includes respect for The Commons.

My urban planning background makes me alert and responsive to that part of futurism that deals with the land use, open space, ecology and designs for living. An area of special interest is the evolution of the home in response to environmental crises, changes and challenges. In a REAL wellness world, the home of the future will have to be transformed into an environment created for sustainability, energy efficiency, optimal nutrition, family fitness organically attuned to nature. The trend in this direction is already evident: despite the weak economy and a stagnant building sector, green construction is already evident in the construction industry.

Our homes might not look like contemporary plant-friendly, glass-domed arboretums in our lifetimes, but they must become a great deal greener than they have been in centuries since the Industrial Age came about. It's time to rethink our living spaces, given the impact homes have on the ecosystem. The electricity, heating and water consumed by housing is enormous. One estimate (the U.S. Energy Department) puts the percentage of energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions for private housing at 39 percent. The size of our homes is also critical - all green thinking favors compact housing that is small (at least when compared with so many of the Mc Mansions of the urban wealthy) but does not feel small or constrained. Of course, other things (e.g., energy efficiency, resources used) must be equal or superior environmentally in the smaller unit, plus size will have to increase with additional occupants. In Key West, Florida, The Blue City Waves of Change initiative exemplifies many promising sustainability trends in housing. Given their location, these homes are specifically designed in disaster-resistant fashion. This is a vital consideration in coastal and other areas of the US and around the world, given the onset of climate change and rising disaster insurance costs. The Blue-Green building plans are rated by FEMA as near absolute protection.

This means they are tornado proof, insect proof, fire proof, earthquake proof and capable of withstanding hurricanes up to 300 mph. (Let's hope the builders used the equivalent of #4 rivets, not those cheap #3 rivets that Harland and Wolff of Belfast, Northern Ireland used to build the Titanic quickly and at reasonable cost, which fatally compromised quality and is now seen as the cause of the rapid sinking of the Titanic.) To learn more about Key West's Waves of Change, click here.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal asked architects to participate in a futurism exercise to design an energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable house without regard to cost, technology, aesthetics or the way we are used to living. What a neat idea. Designing for REAL wellness-oriented inhabitants to live in such housing was not a criterion, but the criteria that were assigned made resident health a key factor for participating architects and students. (See Alex Frangos, The Green House of the Future, The Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2009, P. R1.) The results of the brainstorming provide a sense for what might well evolve as new norms for housing come into play. Imagine homes with some of the following features:

* A garden façade. Plants that give shade and cooling and special housing surfaces that capture condensation for water use, decreasing reliance on wells that drain aquifers or municipal systems that lower lakes and other reservoirs.

* Spatial layouts conducive to work. This is key to energy efficiency in that work at home reduces, if not eliminates, driving - a huge energy-consuming custom.

* A rooftop reservoir that collects water and keeps the building cool and windmills that generate energy.

* Homes that emulate a characteristic of trees, wherein the surface contains a photosynthetic layer woven into the fabric of the exterior that captures sunlight.

* Design features that heat water and generate electricity, create oxygen and thereby offset any carbon produced elsewhere in the home.

* Gardens on walls. The plants not only nourish inhabitants; they offer shade and cooling and absorb heat more effectively than wood, brick, stucco or glass.

* Prefabricated stacked containers that allow uniformity of quality control and mobility for the homeowner.

* Ponds stocked with fish - the kind of fish people consume (e.g., tilapia), not just look at (e.g., goldfish).

* Structural features that convert sunlight into energy and carbon dioxide into oxygen. One striking possibility is a "biomorphic" outer surface material designed to function like reptile skin. It adapts to conditions - in bright sun, it turns dark and insulates; on dark days it allows light to absorb maximum radiance and heat.

* Attractive and functional design features (e.g., curved roofing) that facilitate shade in order to reduce the need for such energy drains as air-conditioning.

* Self-cleaning glass with special coating that uses ultraviolet sunlight to break down organic dirt which is washed away by rainwater.

* Self-repairing paints, glass and cladding - all infused with microscopic capsules of color that break open and automatically repair scratches and other damage.

* In lieu of wood or metals for upright framing, lightweight, environmentally friendly carbon tubes are utilized.

One of the most striking changes will be in heating and cooling sources. The homes of REAL wellness-oriented homeowners are likely be warmed by ground-source, heat-pump exchange systems. The temperature of the soil is relatively constant, so heat can be drawn in winter, cooled in summer.

As with most of the changes noted above, these systems exist, but technology advances are needed to bring costs within practical levels. One of the designs using new green technologies foresees a construction industry able to produce homes wherein nearly everything used therein is reconstituted and recycled. The illustration noted is a home like a tree. In the forest, a fallen tree biodegrades. In the home, as with the tree in the forest, building materials could be reused or, capturing the green spirit, returned to the Earth.

These features only begin to describe possibilities based on current uses and expanded technologies within range of feasibility. Our REAL wellness lifestyle passion does not operate in a vacuum. Those of us with a commitment to a cleaner environment, to safeguarding natural resources, to mitigating climate change, to protecting endangered and other species (including our own), to planetary citizenship, to saving the oceans and to all that is needed for restoration, sustainability and preservation will welcome the kind of advances described. It does not take a great stretch of the imagination to connect such awareness to our prospects for continued and expanded happiness, meaning and purpose and all the rest associated with quality of life for all people, everywhere.

Publisher of the ARDELL WELLNESS REPORT - an electronic newsletter devoted to weekly commentaries on current issues that affect personal and social well being from a quality of life perspective. The emphasis is on REAL wellness. REAL stands for the key issues embraced and advanced in Don's philosophy, namely, Reason, Exuberance, Athleticism and Liberty. Sample copy of latest edition by request. If you like it, you can sign up - the price is right - free. awr.realwellness@gmail.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donald_Ardell

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5859682

Death is nothing at all

Death is nothing at all

I have only slipped away into the next room

I am I and you are you

Whatever we were to each other

That we are still

Call me by my old familiar name

Speak to me in the easy way you always used

Put no difference into your tone

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow

Laugh as we always laughed

At the little jokes we always enjoyed together

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was

Let it be spoken without effort

Without the ghost of a shadow in it

Life means all that it ever meant

It is the same as it ever was

There is absolute unbroken continuity

What is death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind

Because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you for an interval

Somewhere very near

Just around the corner

All is well.

Nothing is past; nothing is lost

One brief moment and all will be as it was before 

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Death is nothing at all

Canon Henry Scott-Holland

1910

The Fields of Athenry