News

Home Energy Saving Kits launched for the first time in Dublin City Public Libraries

• Kits contain six useful tools to help homeowners save energy and cut costs
• Available to borrow free-of-charge from today from 10 Dublin City library branches

Homeowners will literally be equipped with the right tools to save energy with the launch of the Home Energy Saving Kits into a selection of Dublin City library branches today, 15th March. The kits have been developed by Codema and contain six practical tools to help the public save energy at home.  This is the first time that such a scheme has been introduced into Ireland, with the kits available to borrow free-of-charge from 10 library branches across the city.

The items in the toolkits address three key areas of energy use in the home - space heating, hot water and electricity consumption - and can help identify common problems such as lack of insulation, poor ventilation and the appliances in the home that might be driving up electricity bills.  The kit is also accompanied by a step-by-step user manual and demonstration video which easily explain how to use each tool correctly, so it can appeal to homeowners with even the most basic knowledge of energy-saving.

Speaking at the launch this morning, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Críona Ní Dhálaigh, said: “This is an extremely worthwhile initiative for the city and provides us with a practical insight into how much energy we’re consuming at home.  The Home Energy Saving Kit enables us to make small but significant behavioural changes that collectively could help lower our city’s carbon emissions and address the wider issue of climate change.”

The Home Energy Saving Kit was developed by Codema’s Energy Awareness Manager Verena Brennan who was inspired by a similar scheme that is running very successfully in South Australian libraries. 
Explaining the thinking behind the kits, Ms Brennan said: "Energy can be perceived as quite difficult to get your head around as it is intangible and uses measurements that not everyone understands easily. However everyone feels the burden of paying high energy bills. We therefore wanted to create something that would make it really easy and engaging for people to get involved in energy savings at home by helping them with some practical first steps on their energy journey."

Dublin City Librarian Margaret Hayes added: “I am absolutely delighted that Dublin City will be the first library network in Ireland to receive the Home Energy Saving Kits.  The fact that members of the public will be able to borrow these kits from our libraries is a huge step forward in enabling communities to take charge of their energy use and making the transition towards energy efficiency.”

The public can borrow the kits for a period of two weeks from the following Dublin City Public Library branches:

• Ballymun Library
• Raheny Library
• Coolock Library
• Cabra Library
• Rathmines Library
• Ringsend Library
• Terenure Library
• Walkinstown Library
• Central Library (Henry Street)
• Pearse Street Library
The six tools in the Home Energy Saving Kits are:

• Fridge/freezer Thermometer
• Temperature & Humidity Meter
• Radiator Key
• Thermal Leak Detector
• Plug-in Energy Monitor
• Stopwatch

The toolkits were developed as part of the Ace initiative, which aims to promote renewable and sustainable energy among the wider public and is funded through the INTERREG IVB North West Europe programme.

All the information about the Home Energy Saving Kit can be found on www.codema.ie/thinkenergy