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The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, has announced new building regulations that will require Electric Vehicle (EV) recharging infrastructure be installed in new homes to enable future installation of EV recharging points.
The regulations will apply to:
There are currently over 45,000 EVs registered on Irish roads. The Climate Action Plan commits to increasing the fleet of EVs and low emitting vehicles to 945,000 in order to meet the required level of emissions reduction by 2030. Transport accounts for approximately 20% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The government’s Climate Action Plan commits to ensuring Ireland’s buildings’ regulatory regime requires the installation of EV recharging infrastructure. This requires the introduction of regulations to provide for installation of EV recharging infrastructure in certain dwellings and buildings where parking spaces are within their boundaries or adjacent to them.
Commenting on the EV regulations, Minister O’Brien said:
“The regulations will help accelerate the uptake of Electric Vehicles, creating and enabling infrastructure to achieve the government commitment of nearly 1 million Electric Vehicles by 2030.We are sending a strong signal of Ireland’s commitment to the clean energy transition, as the building sector has a vast potential to contribute to a carbon-neutral and competitive economy.
“This new requirement for Electric Vehicle recharging infrastructure will add to the Nearly Zero Energy Building Standards already in place for all new buildings and previous Electric Vehicles recharging infrastructure regulations introduced last year. It will add to our action against climate change in the area of emissions from residential buildings construction.”
Furthermore, Minister O’Brien has also signed new regulations to facilitate the roll-out of district heating. District heating can play an important role in improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. The purpose of the District Heating Regulations is to support more district heating and cooling in residential buildings.
The regulations are a partial transposition of Article 15.4 of the Renewable Energy Directive to permit the Building Regulation minimum requirements for renewable energy in Nearly Zero Energy Buildings to be fulfilled through efficient district heating and cooling using a significant share of renewable energy and waste heat and cold.
Action 267 of the government’s Climate Action Plan commits to ensuring Ireland’s buildings’ regulatory regime requires the installation of EV recharging infrastructure. This requires the introduction of regulations to provide for installation of EV recharging infrastructure in certain dwellings and buildings where parking spaces are within their boundaries or adjacent to them.
Transport accounts for approximately 20% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions. Road transport is responsible for 96% of those greenhouse gas emissions and is also directly responsible for a range of air pollutants that negatively impact both human health and the environment.
Electrification of the vehicle fleet offers a pathway to zero tailpipe emissions, with several co-benefits such as improved air quality, reduced noise pollution, and less fossil fuel dependence. There are currently over 45,000 EVs registered on Irish roads, so while the number has improved, the pace of uptake must increase over the coming years to achieve our fleet electrification targets.
These regulations shall apply where the relevant works or major renovation commence or take place on or after 1 November 2022.
District heating can play an important role in improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. Given that end-users are supplied with heat rather than fuel, district heating networks can offer flexibility in fuel choice, and the ability to adapt to changes in the economic and policy landscape that may see different combinations of energy resources used at different times over the lifetime of a district heating network.