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Domestic Building Energy Ratings Quarter 4 2022

Domestic BER audits increased by 47% in 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-7441

CSO statistical publication, 19 January 2023, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

The number of Building Energy Ratings (BER) audits performed in certain months have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For further information please see the SEAI website.

Key Findings

There was a 47% increase in the number of Building Energy Rating (BER) audits reported in 2022 compared with 2021. (see Table A and Table 1)
The number of audits reported between October and December (Q4) 2022 was the highest in the 2009-2022 series and was 55% more than Q4 2021. (see Table A and Table 1)
Electricity was the main space heating fuel used in 86% of the dwellings with a BER audit and where construction was completed during 2020-2022. (see Table 9)
Dwellings built in 2015-2019 and in 2020-2022 were considerably more energy efficient than those built in earlier periods with 96% and 99% respectively given an A rating. (see Table 2)
Kildare (23%), Dublin County (21%), and Meath (21%) had the highest proportion of A ratings while Leitrim had the lowest at 2%. (see Table 4)
Looking at Dublin postal districts, Dublin 18 (27%) and Dublin 13 (25%) had the highest proportion of A ratings while Dublin 6 and Dublin 7 had the highest proportion of G ratings at 14%. (see Table 5)

Statistician's Comment

Commenting on the release Dympna Corry, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "There was an increase in the number of Building Energy Rating (BER) audits reported in 2022 when the number of completed BER audits was 47% higher than 2021. There were 37,094 BER audits reported in Q4 2022 compared with 23,961 in Q4 2021. This was an increase of 55%. In the period 2009 to December 2022, almost 1.3 million BER audits have been undertaken.

Main Space Heating Fuel

Electricity was the main space heating fuel used in 86% of dwellings where construction was completed between 2020-2022 and with a BER audit. This was a substantial increase from buildings constructed during 2015-2019 when 49% of dwellings with a BER audit used electricity. There was a contrasting trend for mains gas, with 13% of dwellings built between 2020-2022 using mains gas as their main space heating fuel compared with 46% of dwellings built between 2015-2019. Looking at heating oil as the main space heating fuel, 0% of dwellings built between 2020-2022 used heating oil compared with 5% of dwellings built between 2015-2019.

Period of Construction

Dwellings built between 2020-2022 and 2015-2019 were considerably more energy efficient than those constructed before then. A ratings were given to 99% of dwellings built between 2020-2022 and to 96% of those built between 2015-2019. This compares with 33% of dwellings built between 2010-2014 which were given an A rating, and just 2% of properties constructed between 2005-2009.

Local Area Analysis

Kildare (23%), Dublin County (21%), and Meath (21%) had the highest proportion of A ratings. Leitrim had the lowest proportion of A ratings at 2%.

Looking specifically at Dublin postal districts, Dublin 18 (27%), Dublin 13 (25%), and Dublin 15 (18%) had the highest proportion of A ratings. Dwellings in Dublin 6 (14%) and Dublin 7 (14%) had the highest proportion of G ratings.

Table 8 shows how main space heating fuel varied by county. Dublin County (72%), Cork City (72%), and Dublin postal districts (70%) had the highest proportions of natural gas users. Donegal (76%) and Mayo (70%) were the counties using the highest proportion of heating oil. Galway City (36%) had the highest percentage of dwelling using electricity as the main space heating fuel. Offaly at 19% had the highest proportionate use of solid fuels.

Floor Area

The average floor area of all dwellings with a BER audit was 114 square metres. This average size varied from 162 square metres for detached houses to 59 square metres for basement dwellings.

Multiple Audits

Some dwellings have had more than one energy audit conducted. Only 8% of such dwellings received an A or B rating in their earliest assessment, whereas 29% of them received an A or B rating in their most recent assessment. In contrast, 18% of dwellings were rated F or G in their first BER assessment compared with only 4% in their latest BER assessment.

Weighted Analysis

Table 16 displays the national level data weighted using Census of Population 2016 figures. The analysis shows that 5% of dwellings in Ireland would have received an F rating compared with 4% of dwellings that have had a BER assessment. Similarly, 8% of dwellings would have received a G rating compared with 6% of dwellings in the actual BER data. In contrast, 8% of dwellings would have received an A rating at the national level, whereas 11% of dwellings that have had a BER assessment were given an A rating."

Tables and Graphs

Table A: Number of Domestic BER certificates
number
Period	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	% change 2021/2022
Quarter 1	18,204	19,638	20,682	14,602	21,641	48%
Quarter 2	23,043	23,145	10,241	21,981	30,102	37%
Quarter 3	21,887	24,994	23,270	23,030	33,817	47%
Quarter 4	22,305	23,229	22,933	23,961	37,094	55%

Year	85,439	91,006	77,126	83,574	122,654	47%

Open in Excel: Domestic Building Energy Ratings Q4 2022 Table A (XLS 10KB)

	Mains Gas	Heating Oil	Electricity
2000-2004	41	36	19
2005-2009	45	31	19
2010-2014	47	31	18
2015-2019	46	5	49
2020-2022	13	0	86

	Earliest	Latest
A	0	4
B1	1	4
B2	2	7
B3	5	14
C1	9	16
C2	11	14
C3	12	12
D1	13	10
D2	13	8
E1	9	4
E2	7	3
F	8	2
G	10	2

	National Data	BER Database
A	8	11
B1	2	2
B2	3	4
B3	7	8
C1	10	11
C2	12	12
C3	12	11
D1	12	11
D2	10	9
E1	6	5
E2	5	4
F	5	4
G	8	6

¹Dwellings with BERs have been weighted using 2016 Census of Population data to estimate a BER profile for All Dwellings at National level (see Background Notes).

	A	B	C	D	E	F-G
1700-1977	1	6	19	24	19	31
1978-1999	1	9	41	33	11	5
2000-2004	1	14	60	19	5	2
2005-2009	2	37	49	9	2	1
2010-2014	33	58	7	2	0	0
2015-2019	96	4	0	0	0	0
2020-2022	99	1	0	0	0	0

Table 1 Domestic BER Certificates (2009-2022)

Table 2 BERs by Period of Construction (2009-2022)

Table 3 BERs by Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)

Table 4 BERs by County (2009-2022)

Table 5 BERs by Dublin Postal District (2009-2022)

Table 6 BERs by Main Space Heating Fuel (2009-2022)

Table 7 BERs by Main Water Heating Fuel (2009-2022)

Table 8 Main Space Heating Fuel by County (2009-2022)

Table 9 Main Space Heating Fuel by Period of Construction (2009-2022)

Table 10 Main Space Heating Fuel by Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)

Table 11 Type of Dwelling by Period of Construction (2009-2022)

Table 12 Average Floor Area by Period of Construction and Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)

Table 13 Average Primary Energy Use by Period of Construction and Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)

Table 14 Average Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Period of Construction and Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)

Table 15 Dwellings with Multiple BERs (2009-2022)

Table 16 BERs Weighted to National Level (2009-2022)

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Table 1 Domestic BER Certificates (2009-2022) ¹
number
Period	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	Total
January	4,116	4,698	8,582	6,534	6,978	7,013	6,530	5,268	5,688	5,177	5,524	5,887	3,767	5,931	81,693
February	6,334	5,659	9,045	6,311	8,532	7,550	7,671	6,872	6,818	6,503	6,893	7,620	4,794	7,352	97,954
March	8,781	6,173	8,955	6,518	8,215	8,391	7,274	7,543	7,635	6,524	7,221	7,175	6,041	8,358	104,804
April	8,069	5,486	7,784	4,448	8,301	8,738	7,594	7,402	7,139	7,055	7,245	1,996	6,267	8,370	95,894
May	7,948	5,484	8,881	5,885	8,648	8,728	7,718	7,954	8,178	8,396	8,333	2,452	7,785	10,487	106,877
June	8,735	5,800	7,471	4,865	7,268	8,214	8,001	7,449	7,691	7,592	7,567	5,793	7,929	11,245	105,620
July	8,780	5,942	7,256	5,538	7,102	9,397	7,672	6,561	7,124	7,508	8,353	7,608	8,086	10,465	107,392
August	7,260	6,414	7,527	5,046	6,971	8,166	7,647	7,029	7,248	7,151	8,231	6,890	6,779	10,918	103,277
September	7,493	7,420	8,844	4,964	8,278	9,920	8,354	7,661	7,972	7,228	8,410	8,772	8,165	12,434	115,915
October	6,577	8,389	9,553	6,688	8,971	10,765	9,218	7,926	8,054	8,308	10,794	8,398	9,063	13,040	125,744
November	6,948	11,586	9,601	8,788	9,589	10,889	8,396	9,005	8,391	8,261	6,178	8,063	8,836	14,649	129,180
December	6,314	7,996	9,459	6,357	6,927	7,768	7,301	6,076	5,677	5,736	6,257	6,472	6,062	9,405	97,807

Total	87,355	81,047	102,958	71,942	95,780	105,539	93,376	86,746	87,615	85,439	91,006	77,126	83,574	122,654	1,272,157
¹ Includes all Certificates for Dwellings

Table 10 Main Space Heating Fuel by Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)
% of row
Dwelling Type	Fuel Type					Total
Dwelling Type	Mains Gas	Heating Oil	Electricity	Solid Fuel	LPG	Total
Apartment	48	5	45	1	2	2,999
Ground-floor apartment	45	6	47	1	2	54,724
Mid-floor apartment	37	0	62	0	1	65,939
Top-floor apartment	39	2	56	1	2	56,424
Basement Dwelling	25	10	60	1	4	302
Maisonette	50	6	41	1	2	11,954
House	16	72	4	5	2	31,794
Detached house	15	66	12	6	2	303,476
Semi-detached house	48	34	12	5	1	288,573
End of terrace house	57	21	15	5	1	80,905
Mid-terrace house	60	20	14	5	1	150,103

Total	38	36	20	4	1	1,047,193

Table 12 Average Floor Area by Period of Construction and Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)
m²
Period	Apartment	Ground-floor apartment	Mid-floor apartment	Top-floor apartment	Basement Dwelling	Maisonette	House	Detached house	Semi-detached house	End of terrace house	Mid-terrace house	All dwelling types
1700-1899	68	52	46	56	51	104	146	160	149	118	107	121
1900-1929	63	47	44	53	41	88	120	127	123	99	92	102
1930-1949	50	60	45	52	44	74	111	123	113	86	82	100
1950-1966	71	61	55	57	64	68	117	128	117	89	87	106
1967-1977	68	63	60	55	80	68	132	142	111	86	85	112
1978-1982	64	65	63	56	77	71	138	145	99	85	83	113
1983-1993	59	58	55	58	52	70	147	152	97	83	81	111
1994-1999	66	62	58	68	66	77	154	165	103	85	84	113
2000-2004	74	70	69	78	65	88	168	181	105	97	92	117
2005-2009	82	72	71	79	86	93	172	198	107	101	98	116
2010-2014	93	76	71	74	86	100	194	230	123	116	109	156
2015-2019	80	81	83	88	62	110	185	205	124	119	114	133
2020-2022	–	75	75	81	113	110	–	198	119	110	106	115

All	76	67	67	71	59	89	148	162	109	95	91	114
– No data is available for this dwelling type and period of construction

Table 13 Average Primary Energy Use by Period of Construction and Type of Dwelling (2009-2022)
kWh/m²/year
Period	Apartment	Ground-floor apartment	Mid-floor apartment	Top-floor apartment	Basement Dwelling	Maisonette	House	Detached house	Semi-detached house	End of terrace house	Mid-terrace house	All dwelling types
1700-1899	446	406	373	463	391	455	418	394	364	390	350	385
1900-1929	490	404	391	467	393	449	417	399	359	397	356	387
1930-1949	361	339	265	400	457	440	373	376	321	334	306	341
1950-1966	428	312	257	372	390	302	335	333	287	315	286	307
1967-1977	378	307	251	350	339	303	289	283	270	271	246	274
1978-1982	325	275	232	282	306	296	244	239	242	238	215	238
1983-1993	348	290	240	283	313	266	227	221	229	235	215	227
1994-1999	280	263	227	264	256	235	205	196	213	234	214	210
2000-2004	255	228	195	226	234	197	188	181	199	202	183	193
2005-2009	171	183	161	186	177	159	151	149	168	166	152	160
2010-2014	239	118	99	125	132	94	101	97	85	90	85	96
2015-2019	103	60	47	57	151	53	58	56	53	54	50	54
2020-2022	–	49	42	48	49	41	–	43	42	43	41	43

All	225	220	167	231	286	196	234	217	207	222	226	215
– No data is available for this dwelling type and period of construction

Table 15 Dwellings with Multiple BERs (2009-2022)
% of total
Earliest Year	Latest Year															Total
Earliest Year	A1	A2	A3	B1	B2	B3	C1	C2	C3	D1	D2	E1	E2	F	G	Total
A1	0	–	–	–	–	0	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
A2	0	0	0	0	0	–	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0	0
A3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–	–	0	–	–	–	0
B1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–	–	–	0	1
B2	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–	2
B3	0	0	0	0	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
C1	0	0	0	0	1	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9
C2	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11
C3	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	12
D1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	13
D2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	0	0	0	13
E1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	9
E2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	7
F	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	8
G	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	10

Total	0	1	3	4	7	14	16	14	12	10	8	4	3	2	2	100
– No dwelling received this BER combination for the earliest and latest assessments

Domestic Building Energy Ratings Quarter 4 2022