ENACT

Enabling Commercial Building Retrofit

The ENACT (Enabling National Action for Commercial Take-up of Retrofitting) is dedicated to improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in Ireland’s commercial buildings, focusing especially on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

About ENACT

Commercial buildings are a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.  In these last few years, the operations of the commercial sector have also undergone a huge change.  There are financial, technical, knowledge and behavioural challenges. Through ENACT initiative, we want to enable the commercial sector to overcome those barriers to achieving targets and positively contributing to climate change.

What is ENACT?

ENACT is a 3-year initiative, tasked with ‘enabling national action on commercial renovation’.

It is SEAI funded.

Led by the Irish Green Building Council, we are excited to partner with the University of Galway, Construct Innovate, Sustainability Works, Dublin Chambers of Commerce and the Society for Chartered Surveyors of Ireland on this.

What will we do?

  1. Engage regularly and constructively with the commercial sector, relevant professionals, and decision-makers in creating realistic solutions
  2. Provide cutting-edge research to inform holistic decision & policy making in achieving national targets in attitudes, behavioural economic, technical & financial areas
  3. Software tools for individuals in commercial sector to aid decision-making & monitoring
  4. Professional training to create essential capacity
  5. Commercial sector awareness events and engagement to build appetite

What is building energy efficiency renovation?

A building energy efficiency renovation involves upgrading existing building systems to improve energy efficiency and reduce operational costs. This could include improvements to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, lighting, insulation, and the building envelope.

Comparison in between before and after effect of renovation in terms of energy saving, cost saving, environmental benefits and increase in asset value.

Key energy efficiency renovation measures:

  • HVAC system optimization: Install energy-efficient heating and cooling systems like heat pumps.
  • Building envelop improvement: Add insulation to walls and roofs to prevent heat loss.
  • Energy efficient lightings: Replace outdated lighting with LED fixtures to reduce energy use.
  • Integration of Renewable energy sources: Installation of rooftop solar PV systems.

Key benefits of energy efficiency renovations:

  • Energy efficiency: Can be able to reduce the energy usage.
  • Cost savings: lower utility bills by reducing energy demand.
  • Comfortability: Increase the indoor air quality and the comfort for the occupants.
  • Environmental impact: Reduction of emissions.

Share your story

Contact us to share your renovation/retrofit story.

“The project team would like to thank SEAI and the ENACT steering group for their continuous support”
This project has been funded by Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland under the SEAI National Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Funding Programme 2021 reference number RDD/00615.