When Noel Cunniffe was choosing a heating system for his new home, there was only one option he considered: a heat pump.
Since the introduction of green building rules in Ireland, almost all of the country’s newly built homes now feature low-carbon energy systems, mainly heat pumps.
“We got quotes [for construction] from three builders before we built our house and everyone included a heat pump,” says Cunniffe, who lives in the Irish midlands and is the chief executive of Wind Energy Ireland, the trade body.
“The contractor couldn’t remember the last time he installed a heating system in a home that was not a heat pump.”
Fossil fuel boilers, which accounted for almost 80 per cent of new heating systems in Ireland between 2010 and 2014, have largely been phased out in new homes in the country, says Paul Kenny, chief executive of the European Heat Pump Association and a former green adviser to the Irish government.
