Ireland’s move away from high carbon fuels is lagging significantly with the number of homes using oil for home heating increasing, combined with continued reliance on solid fuels. Liquid Gas Ireland’s report, The role of liquid gas in providing accessible lower carbon heating for Irish homes, examines national trends in home heating energy sources based on CSO Census data from 2011 – 2022.
Key findings from LGI’s analysis of Census data include:
- The total number of households using oil for home heating has increased since 2016 by 28,173 to 714,177. Consequently, there are now more houses in Ireland which rely on oil for central heating than there were in 2011.
- 4% of households continue to use peat, while 3% rely on coal.
- 188,981 households are occupied by a person aged 65 years and older living alone. Of this group, 86,057 (46%) rely on oil for central heating, 9,818 (5%) use peat, and 9,587 (5%) rely on coal.
- Only 39% of Ireland’s housing stock – 827,634 homes – had a valid energy efficiency (BER) rating at the end of 2022 and less than 20% had ratings of B2 or above.
- Several parts of the county show a particular high reliance on peat for home heating with Offaly (27%), Roscommon (20%) and Galway County (18%) ranking highest.
- Of the 63,000 plus homes using coal, households in Donegal (11%) and Wexford (11%) are the most prevalent users.
- The average age of Ireland’s housing stock presents another challenge to achieving the Government’s retrofitting targets, with 65% of all houses built before 2001. This equates to just over 1.2 million homes, which are typically less energy efficient and more costly to heat.
View or download the full report here: The role of liquid gas in providing accessible lower carbon heating for Irish homes
