This Chapter looks at data from a new quarterly release, “Domestic Building Energy Ratings”, published by the CSO and based on data from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland Building Energy Rating scheme. 

The Chapter also contains statistics on aspects of Ireland’s Environmental Economy. The data on Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounts and Environmental Taxes are compiled by the CSO in accordance with Eurostat requirements set out in Regulation (EU) No. 691/2011.

There has been a dramatic improvement in the Building Energy Ratings (BER) for domestic dwellings built in recent years.

5.1 shows that a BER rating of A was given to 26% and a rating of B to 66% of audited dwellings that were constructed during 2010-2014. This is a huge improvement compared with the energy performance of dwellings constructed in 2005-2009 where only 1% received an A rating and 38% a B rating.

5.1 shows the general impact of the age of the dwelling on the BER profile. It can be linked with changes to the Building Regulations that require new homes to be more energy efficient. 

Environmental taxation revenue fell sharply between 2008 and 2009.  The fall was due in large part to the collapse in new car sales which significantly reduced revenue from Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) following the change to the calculation of VRT based on the emission rating of the vehicle.  Revenue increased in 2010, due to the introduction of the carbon tax which yielded €223 million.

Environmental taxes accounted for 8.4% of Ireland’s total tax revenues in 2012. 

There was a sharp decrease of 49.8% in domestic extraction from 209.4 million tonnes in 2007 to 105.2 million tonnes in 2011. This was mainly driven by the fall in domestic extraction of non-metallic minerals from 162.7 million tonnes in 2007 to 59.2million tonnes in 2011 and reflects a decrease in construction activity over this period. The remaining components of domestic extraction in 2011 were biomass at 37.5 million tonnes, fossil fuels at 4.4 million tonnes and metallic minerals at 4.2 million tonnes.

Trade exports of materials in 2011 amounted to 15.7 million tonnes compared with 35.8 million tonnes of imports. In 2011 Ireland imported 16.6 million tonnes of fossil fuels.

There was a decrease in total emissions from 63.1 million tonnes in 2007 to 51.7 million tonnes in 2011 driven largely by a reduction in air emissions from 47.6 million tonnes to 37.4 million tonnes over this period.

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