SEAI Great Window Dressers

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Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland

Excellent Window Dressers

I have to hand it to SEAI for presentation and public visibility. I was watching Irish TV RTE the other evening a programme called Eco Eye - it did a lot of pure window dressing in a couple of Irish towns where various public awareness schemes were active.

But what struck me out of the entire programme and "stuck in my craw" - so to speak, was an interview between the programme expert and a pensioner. In the piece the expert set about convincing the elderly gentleman of the benefits of replacing his open fire, the only means of heating he had, with a stove.

It was as if what the man said was somehow totally ignored. He said clearly that he could not afford the cost of installing a stove. It would save him a lot of money each winter and give him a much better level of comfort - BUT - he could NOT AFFORD THE COST OF INSTALLING IT.

SEAI are either Deaf or Stupid or possibly both!

SEAI will provide thousands of Euro in grants to the well off  - who can afford to install very expensive Geo-Thermal or Wood-Pellet heating systems. But they will not consider a loan and grant scheme for elderly pensioners living in very poorly heated houses, costing some 80% less. In other words, for the cost of ONE geothermal system, they would revolutionise the lives of 5 or more pensioners and save way more carbon credits by fitting simple stoves.

I feel sick when I consider the implications of what I have just outlined.

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