Trebor40

@Independent_ie Assuming a child wrote this?

Leave the car at home and grow your own spuds: how to get ahead of the energy surge and spend less buff.ly/mazeNjQ

@BillyKelleherEU @RenewEurope @fiannafailparty The state is providing subsidies to renewable energy producers, without getting any price ceilings in return. They get windfall prices when gas prices rise. Great system.

Populists from mainly the right but also the left would have you believe the rise in energy⚡️ prices is the fault of 🇪🇺 Member State governments. Energy costs are rising because of the invasion of Ukraine and the attack on Iran. Populists are useless but dangerous fools!

@BillyKelleherEU @RenewEurope @fiannafailparty And you voted what way, for unlimited migration?

@Independent_ie Anyone going to be objective and mention demand?

Average house prices are 42pc higher than before Covid as supply remains low buff.ly/G9omDEp

@o_mcpartlin Census data was always questionable. My house was classified as vacant once, because I was working every time they called.

And just in time... There is no cabal of people hoarding property. Vacancy is not the cause of our housing shortage. When you use electricity usage data measuring how many homes use less than 180kWh of electricity for at least four consecutive quarters, the national vacancy rate is normal for a functioning market and lower than normal in places like South Dublin (0.9%). Vacancy patterns look as you would expect in a normal system: higher in low demand areas, lower in high demand. But it bears repeating: vacancy in places like Dublin is actually lower than you would expect in a healthy system. The only proviso I would add to this is that "above the shop" vacancy isn't included in this and should be tackled for a variety of reasons.

@KevSheedy @DaraghCassidy Even if you're lucky and get 15 years out of it, you then need another 10k to replace. You will never get to your ROI point.

@Trebor4015 @DaraghCassidy Gas boiler & heat pump have similar lifespan of ~15 years. Heat pump costs more upfront but usually has lower lifetime cost, due to lower fuel cost. So when a gas boiler dies, the cheaper overall replacement may be a heat pump, particularly if paired with solar panels.

A retrofit can easily cost €50k AFTER grants. And you’ll usually need to move out for a few weeks and spend another few grand on rent. What you’ll save on is your annual gas bill or oil fill which costs c. €1.8k a year. So that’s a payback period of almost three decades.

@KevSheedy @DaraghCassidy And when the heatpump dies?. Or a small component fails which is now obsolete- requiring a complete replacement?.

@Anne383280877 @DaraghCassidy It's a mineral oil, if you burn kerosene, there is a small modification needed to the burner. It's currently slightly more expensive than kerosene. I think there is merit in scrapping the VAT on it to encourage people to switch.

@Trebor4015 @DaraghCassidy What is involved in moving to HVO and what is it ?

@KevSheedy @DaraghCassidy And the heatpump and complex controls system won't fail and need to be replaced?. Those systems are vastly more expensive to repair, than a boiler.

@DaraghCassidy A lot of this €50k would be paid anyway as a home ages and the boiler dies, old windows & doors need replacing, electrics/plumbing need upgrading. A deep retrofit incurs the cost all at once, but a lot would be paid anyway, just spread over a longer time period.

@NewstalkFM This the same guy that instructed the SEAI to rewrite a report to pretend the carbon reduction was due to small solar generation, rather than the reality that it was due to the interconnector? newstalk.com/news/seai-emis…

🗣️ “The truth is, we're actually incredibly good at this." ☀️ 🏠 Eamon Ryan has criticised an ESRI report about retrofitting as “incredibly negative”. newstalk.com/news/retrofitt…

@griptmedia Captain Gaslight himself

"You should read Eamon Ryan's column in the Irish Times...he takes strong issue with the ESRI's perspective": Taoiseach Micheál Martin insists that houses with better BER ratings have lower bills and that retrofitting is "very, very effective".

Canney's argument that carbon tax isn't a tax, because it's used to fund things, could literally be said of any tax. By that reasoning, income tax isn't a tax, because the State uses the money to pay for stuff. It logically follows from his argument that tax doesn't exist.

@breakingnewsie Well done, "ireland west" electorate. This is what happens when you vote for a woke activist that's totally unqualified for the job.

Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh said she will vote against a proposal on ‘return hubs’ in the European Parliament, warning that the EU cannot outsource its migration responsibilities. breakingnews.ie/ireland/mep-ma…

@Robcass78 @albertdolan_ Well you would also include the OPW staff salaries in the costing (which reflects reality). I suspect that would push up the number to an even more obscene number.

@Trebor4015 @albertdolan_ But the taxpayer pays 3% to ‘project managers’ who then contract to OPW with ex council CeO’s spending 400% more per m2 than market. A €100m overspend. And then the ex council is rewarded and moved to infra taskforce to oversee the €100bn a decade infra spend. Only in Ireland

I raised a core issue with how public spending is published, for the public. We can see 100s of millions being spent by the OPW, including around €230m on construction contracts in 2025 but there is no clear way to link that spending back to the original contract or project (1/

@businessposthq Less demand

Ireland’s housing debate needs less blame, more solutions businesspost.ie/residential/ir…

@Casey5122dark A fund to encourage people to move to "net zero" heatpumps, even though the grid is powered by at least 50% fossil fuels. And no, that won't change.

A fund for what?

@GovIE While raising carbon taxes, driving baseline inflation across the board and reducing "wealth creating" businesses, to be replaced by public expenditure.

⛽ Government announces measures to reduce energy costs The temporary and targeted measures include: • cuts to fuel taxes; • increased supports for transport operators; and • an extension of the fuel allowance. For more information, visit gov.ie/news

@higginsdavidw Renewables are only an option to supplement constant power supplies. Current plan is fantasy. Nuclear needs to be the baseline supply.

Renewables can move countries towards energy independence, but it's a long road ahead. Ireland's choice to ban nuclear (in 1999) and offshore drilling (in 2021) feels increasingly unwise. Our reliance on UK gas pipeline flows will grow towards 2030 when Corrib runs dry. We should strive towards energy abundance, not energy scarcity. David W Higgins: Why Ireland’s ban on nuclear power and offshore drilling should be lifted independent.ie/opinion/commen…