Residential stock data and dataset on energy efficiency characteristics of residential building fabrics in Ireland

Abstract

These data support the research article “Improving energy savings from a residential retrofit policy: a new model to inform better retrofit decisions” – (Mac Uidhir et al., 2019) [1]. This article presents 3 data sources which are utilised in conjunction with a detailed energy system model of the residential sector to explore policy pathways for residential retrofitting. Data is collected from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The first SEAI dataset is compiled for Ireland in compliance with the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) [2]. Data is collected using the Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP) [3]. DEAP is used to produce energy performance certificates known as Building Energy Ratings (BER). A BER indicates a buildings energy performance across a 15-point energy efficiency scale, rated alphabetically from A1 to G, in units of kWh/m2 year. A BER is required for new buildings and the rent or sale of existing dwellings – therefore the database has consistently grown in size since its inception in 2006. The BER database contains 735,906 records of individual dwellings. The database includes detailed building fabric information across a range of different building types, year of construction, Main/Secondary space/water heating fuels, heating system efficiency, ventilation method and structure type (Insulated concrete form, Masonry, Timber or Steel Frame). The second SEAI dataset (PWBER) contains aggregated pre and post BER information for a sample of 112,007 dwellings retrofitted during the period 2010–2015; this database contains mean energy efficiency improvement (kWh/m2 year) for a range of retrofit combinations as they apply to nine distinct building archetypes. The third CSO dataset is compiled from census data, representing the frequency of building types by year of construction. Keywords: Residential energy efficiency database, Building energy rating, Energy performance certificates, Dwelling energy assessment procedure