Domestic Building Energy Ratings from a Social Perspective 2016

Persons aged 75 or over, sole occupants, farmers, and persons with a disability lived in lowest energy-efficient dwellings
 

Ten per cent of households with a reference person aged 75 years or older lived in dwellings with an energy efficiency of "G" which is the lowest of the seven main categories. Eight per cent of persons living alone lived in "G" rated dwellings. Farmers at 11% and agricultural workers at 8% were the two socio-economic groups that lived in the highest percentage of "G" rated dwellings. Eight per cent of persons with a mobility difficulty lived in "G" rated dwellings compared with 4% of persons with no mobility difficulty (see Table 1.1).

Household reference persons in the 35 to 44 age group in 2016 lived in energy-efficient dwellings with 16% living in "B" and 47% living in "C" rated dwellings. This is a reflection of younger persons living in more recently built dwellings (see Figure 1.1).

 

Households occupied with a mortgage or rented had more energy-efficient ratings than households owned outright in 2016. The proportion of households with a "B" rating was 17% for households with a mortgage and 12% for rented households compared with 9% for households owned outright (see Figure 1.2) - dwellings owned without a mortgage generally have an earlier period of construction and hence were built under less stringent energy-related Building Regulations criteria.

 

This report was produced by matching the Census of Population 2016 and the SEAI Building Energy Ratings files at household level using the Eircode. At national level the matching rate was 34% of occupied private households in the Census 2016. The matching rates at county and Dublin postal district level are given in the Background Notes. Users should take note of the number of households that were matched when interpreting category level figures. The main factors influencing the energy-efficiency rating of a dwelling are period of construction, building type (e.g. detached houses), and main space heating fuel. The CSO publishes a quarterly Domestic Building Energy Ratings statistical release that provides a detailed analysis of the full Building Energy Ratings file.

Households where the reference person was in employment had higher "B" (15%) and "C" (46%) energy ratings in 2016. In contrast, the proportion of households where the reference person was retired that had a "B" rating was 7% while 34% had a "C" rating.

Household reference persons who were in very good health lived in more energy-efficient dwellings. Around 15% of households with the reference person in very good health had a "B" rating compared with 8% of households where the reference person was in bad or very bad health. In contrast, 7% of reference persons in very bad health lived in "G" rated dwellings compared with 4% of reference persons in very good health.

Around 61% of reference persons who were employers and managers lived in "B" or "C" energy rated dwellings. The corresponding figures for reference persons working as higher or lower professionals was 60% and 59% respectively. In contrast, only 41% of farmer reference persons lived in "B" or "C" rated dwellings.

Couples with children lived in the most energy-efficient dwellings with 16% of such households living in a "B" rated dwelling compared with 2% living in a "G" rating dwelling. For one person households, 9% lived in a "B" rated dwelling while 8% lived in a "G" rated dwelling (see Figure 1.3).