Northern Ireland’s housing authority to expand low-carbon heating scheme
Northern Ireland’s public housing authority is rolling out its low-carbon heating scheme to an additional 300 homes in a bid to reduce fuel poverty and slash carbon emissions.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), responsible for 85,000 homes across Northern Ireland, is expanding the initiative for low-income households following a pilot in 10 homes in Omagh last winter.
Under the RULET (Rural-Led Energy Transition) pilot, undertaken in partnership with Ulster University, properties had their insulation and windows upgraded, before an air source heat pump or hybrid system was fitted.
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The scheme aims to make smart energy technology available to the most vulnerable households in the western counties of Northern Ireland – a wind energy hotspot.
Robert Clements, sustainable development manager at NIHE, said RULET aimed to reduce or eliminate the “risk of low-income households being left behind in the transition to clean, smart, integrated energy systems”.
Following the success of recent retrofit pilots like RULET, the NIHE said it will now launch a programme to provide energy efficiency and low-carbon heating upgrades to another 300 homes over the next three years.
Raymond McAleer, an NIHE tenant who switched from oil heating, said: “I am very pleased with the new heat pump system and have definitely made savings, which is so important now in this cost of living crisis.
“The house is definitely warmer and I have warm water all the time, which I never had before. I can control the heating using my phone, so I can switch it on or off if I’m not in the house.”
RULET is just one of a number of projects the NIHE is taking forward aimed at changing tenants’ behaviours and the amount of CO2 it produces as part of its Sustainable Development Strategy.
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