Cathal and Siobhan Jennings bought a new house in west Dublin in early 2018. The house already had a heat pump which they are finding very different to a conventional boiler. “I find it very good. I needed to become familiar with the control panel, so I could understand what the various symbols were telling me but this was not difficult. It is easy to use, mainly because once the system has been set up correctly, the user is supposed to leave it alone. It is designed to stay on 24/7 and this is one of the big differences from a conventional system”, says Cathal. This was to reduce our reliance on the environmentally damaging fossil fuels. Since then, we have seen increasing demand for renewable technologies such as heat pumps and solar panels.

Heat pumps are gradually becoming more popular in Irish homes. A lot of this is down to the 2008 Building Regulations where they require all new homes to include at least one type of renewable energy source. This was to reduce our reliance on the environmentally damaging fossil fuels. Since then, we have seen increasing demand for renewable technologies such as heat pumps and solar panels.