Tricky Home Energy Terms Demystified

House 4 min read

07 May 2021

House2GreenerHome – Your Complete Guide to Energy Efficient Home Improvements 

Whether you’re planning a major overhaul of your home, or you’re just considering something more straight forward like attic insulation or replacing your windows and doors, it can be helpful to understand some of the trickier terms from the world of energy efficiency.

As part of our House2GreenerHome series, we asked Roisin Murphy, architect and interior designer and presenter of RTE’s Home Rescue, to demystify some of the more cryptic energy terms for us.

 

Deep Retrofits

"Deep retrofits - now there is a mouthful. And what it basically means is you are  doing a lot of work to your house in one goal - major surgery to make your home more energy efficient, whether it means you're changing your heating system or adding solar panels".

You can read more about deep retrofits here.
 

Building Energy Rating (BER) or Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

"These are measures they use to describe how much energy your home uses and holds. So you can have a very good energy efficient home, which is rated A or a very poorly energy efficient home, which is rated G. The good news is you can turn those Gs into As by doing some deep retrofit".

You can read more about how to find out the energy rating of your home here.
 

U Values

"U values - the rate of heat loss through the material. You're going to hear this term for things like windows, roofs,  walls. It's the figure that measures how efficient the material is. Glass, for instance, has a much higher U value than say a brick - a brick holds the heat better. You want your numbers in U values to be as low as possible".
 

Solar PV

"The PV here stands for photovoltaic. These are the cells that turn sunlight into electricity, which obviously can keep your bills down, but also reduces your carbon footprint".
 

Green Home Improvement Loans

Ready for a cosier, more energy efficient home? Kickstart your plans with a green home improvement loan from your credit union, ideal for large-scale renovations, smaller upgrades and everything in between.

Talk to your local credit union or submit an online loan enquiry by clicking here. 
 

Keep an eye out for #House2GreenerHome across Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for some great tips and advice on improving the energy efficiency of your home.