Residential

Note: These pages present provisional 1990-2022 Inventory data (updated July 2023) and the EPA's latest 2022-2030 projections estimates (updated June 2023) 

In 2022 the residential sector was responsible for 10.0% of Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions

 

Highlights

 

Current trends

  • Greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 12.7% in 2022
  • Decrease in all fuels, used for household space and water heating  

Cause

  • High fuel prices in 2022 and a mild winter
  • A shift away from more emission intensive fuels such as coal and peat, due to new, nationwide solid fuel regulations.
  • 4.6% less heating degree days in 2022  

Outlook

  • Emissions projected to decrease by 47% by 2030 under the WAM scenario if all the measures in the Climate Action Plan 2023 are fully implemented. This includes home retrofits, supports for domestic heat pumps and district heating.

 

Residential sector

This sector accounts for all emissions from fuel combustion in households for domestic space and hot water heating. Emissions in the Residential sector are 6.11 Mt CO2eq in 2022 and decreased by 12.7% or 0.49 Mt CO2eq since 2021. Within the different fuels used in household space and water heating, decreases were seen in; coal, peat kerosene and natural gas by 33.1%, 12.7%, 16.5% and 9.3% respectively in 2022. 

There were 4.6% less heating degree days in 2022 than in 2021. Fuel switching, from coal and peat to oil and natural gas use, as well as improvements in buildings regulations helped reduced emissions per household from 7.0 t/CO2 per year in 1990 to a low of 3.6 t/CO2 per year in 2014. Since 2014, fuel use per household has increased by 14.9% with CO2 emissions per household averaging 3.9 t CO2 from 2015- 2021. Emissions per household in 2022 are now at an historic low of 3.3t CO2 as fossil fuel prices increased.

Increased housing stock and a growing population drove the gradual upward trend in the emissions from the Residential sector after 1997 following emission reductions in the early 1990s due to fuel switching, from coal and peat to oil and natural gas, to reach a peak in 2010. The 2022 emissions in this sector are 12.7% lower than 2021 levels and are 19.4% lower than their 1990 level, which represents a new low point for Residential sector emissions across the entire time series. The housing stock increased by 84.2% and population by 45.5% between 1990 and 2022. Winter heating demand is the most important annual variable in emissions from this sector.  

Back to Greenhouse Gas Home

Projected emissions

(Latest update June 2023)

Under the With Existing Measures scenario, emissions from the residential sector are projected to decrease by 36% between 2021 and 2030 to 4.5 Mt CO2 eq.

Emissions are projected to decrease by 47% between 2021 and 2030 to 3.7 Mt CO2 eq under the With Additional Measures scenario (shown as the line in the graph below). This scenario assumes full implementation of the measures in Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2023 that includes home retrofits, supports for domestic heat pumps and district heating.