Respond | Housing Association

Respond has completed energy upgrades on more than 330 units in 2014, across a large number of Respond estates located in Limerick, Waterford, Carlow, Offaly, Kildare, Dublin and Sligo. These projects were financed through a combination of funding from Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI), Respond and other partnering agencies, Envirobead, Kingdom Installations, Derchill and Emprova.

Respond residents were asked what difference the energy improvements, meant to them, from three different regions:

Waterford:
Richard & Josephine Cleary who reside at St Francis Terrace, Dominick Place, Airmount, Waterford spoke to Respond’s National Co-ordinator of Services for Older People, Philip O’Reilly.

Richard stated: “My wife and I moved into St. Francis Terrace over a year ago and we are very happy with our apartment. Since we moved in, Respond and SEAI have carried out a number of improvements including foam insulation, PVC doors, PVC windows and a new Heat Pump system. We definitely notice a huge difference in heat retention and the apartment definitely heats up a lot quicker than the old storage heaters. There is also a difference of roughly 25% in our ESB bill since the Heat Pump was installed. The Heat Pump system is really easy to use and there are a wide variety of programmes that suit everyone. These upgrades have made a huge difference to our lives and have made our home more comfortable”.

Limerick:
Maureen Rynne Resident Support Worker in the Western regions spoke to Rita Franklin located at Ballygrennan Close, with her friend and neighbour, Denise Fitzgerald who also lives at Ballygrennan Close. Rita said she is “very happy with all the upgrade works. 10 out of 10.” Photo show Denise and Rita beside Rita’s newly installed stove.

Two more neighbours located at Ballygrennan Close are Thomas Quinlivan, with Hilary Barry (photo shows Hilary’s kitchen with her newly installed gas boiler is in the background) Hilary says she is “very happy with the insulation heating stoves and the house is an awful lot warmer”. However she would have “liked if the pipework was covered in”.

Thomas says “it’s spot on! No fault with anything they have done – it was grand to get it for nothing – it’s very warm.”

Offaly:
Lynne Gallagher Respond resident and volunteer gave us excellent feedback from her neighbours about the benefits experienced by residents since the installation of the electric powered heating systems at Chesterfield Close in Birr Co. Offaly

Natasha Parsons commented:
As a carer the heating system is a god send, I no longer have to worry about the house being cold when I come home late in the day. Or, my children being cold getting up for school. It is very economical to run and it is on 24 hours a day. It costs about 15 Euros extra per week.

Lynne Gallagher stated: We had the systems installed during August and September, including the upgrade to our insulation on windows, doors, attics and cavity wall. My own personal ESB came to 30 Euros weekly before the system was installed, now, even in the coldest weather(snow the last day or so) ESB is only costing between 12 and 20 Euros a week extra. This time last year we would have been spending a minimum of 50 Euros extra trying to heat draughty cold houses. The heating system is so effective that you do not notice the cold weather outside. My entrance hall keeps a minimum temperature of 19.5 degrees in the coldest weather, a temperature that would have previously only been possible in summer. We need to open windows in the winter as the houses are constantly hot, that’s not to say that the system is uncontrollable, turning up or down by a degree or two at certain times of the day keeps the houses toasty warm. We were advised to have the heating left on 24/7 as this was supposed to be cheaper, and also advised to have dual tariff electricity metres installed. We took the decision to do this and now save even more money, during the year (summer included) I would estimate the system will cost no more than approximately six euros to run per week. At this stage a bale of briquettes costs nearly that much!
As possibly the worlds biggest sceptic, I am thoroughly delighted to have a heating system that is at my control, and a house that is never cold. I would fully endorse the installation of these systems into all Respond properties, as it is economical, renewable and environmentally friendly.

Christine McEvoy also a resident at Chesterfield Close said:
I thought that I would not be able to afford the extra cost of electricity, but I was proved wrong. It works out far cheaper than buying turf, briquettes and coal. It will be even better when we get new windows next year.

Other residents at Chesterfield added comments such as:

Delighted with the system very warm and cheap to run……..
Much better than trying to keep the house warm with the back boiler………
Don’t know myself with all the heat and not having to keep filling up and light fires……..