Warmth and Wellbeing Scheme

The Warmth and Wellbeing Scheme was established in 2016 as a joint energy, social and health policy initiative led by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications with the Department of Health, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and the Health Service Executive (HSE). The aim of the initiative was to improve the living conditions of vulnerable people at risk of energy poverty and living with chronic respiratory conditions. The scheme provided free, extensive energy upgrades to eligible homes making the homes warmer and healthier to live in. The health and wellbeing benefits of energy efficiency are internationally recognised, but this scheme aimed to validate those benefits in an Irish context.

The pilot scheme was established in Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) 7 (specifically areas of Dublin 8, 10, 12, 22 and 24). The area was selected after careful consideration by all stakeholders and was finally chosen as an area that met the required criteria and had strong support from the CHO’s Health and Wellbeing management team for the project concept. The scheme opened to applicants in 2016 and closed in February 2022.

The HSE's public health teams identified people in a pilot area living with respiratory conditions who were at risk of energy poverty. These households were provided with free energy efficiency upgrades to their homes using the SEAI delivery teams. The last of the homes in the pilot were completed in February 2024. Over the course of the pilot, 1,672 homes were upgraded in total.

An independent analysis validating and objectively measuring the health and wellbeing impacts of the energy upgrades has been completed by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), in collaboration with University College London (UCL) and the HSE. Baseline and post intervention data on health and wellbeing and prescription data for antibiotics and respiratory drugs was collected and analysed using an interrupted time series method to look for changes following the home energy efficiency interventions. From this analysis the LSHTM have been able to validate a direct improvement on participants’ health from the energy improvements.

For physical health, the positive effects of retrofitting the home included, for example:

• improvements in respiratory symptoms and the impact of symptoms on daily activities
• improvements in physical functioning
• improved mobility, and
• reduced pain

For mental health and wellbeing, among other benefits, the evaluation found:

• reductions in anxiety and depression
• reductions in the psycho-social effect of respiratory diseases, and
• improvements in emotional wellbeing

Participants also reported:

• large improvements in thermal comfort
• greater satisfaction in their ability to control the temperature of their homes
• being more comfortable inviting others to home

This suggests important social benefits of improved home energy efficiency. These effects largely appear to have been maintained over the two-year follow-up period. In the subset of homes that received temperature monitoring, there was clear evidence that home energy efficiency improvements led to increases in winter indoor temperatures.