Navigating Ireland’s Energy Transition – A Rural Ireland Perspective from Calor

With the increasing spotlight on the evolution of Ireland’s energy needs, there is a growing push to reduce the environmental impact of our energy choices and cut carbon emissions. At this critical juncture for achieving our climate targets, companies must offer pragmatic solutions to the energy and environmental challenges our society faces.

Calor recognises the importance of this transition and is particularly concerned with ensuring that rural consumers have access to cleaner, more sustainable energy solutions. Many rural homes and businesses rely on off-grid energy sources, making it essential to provide viable lower-carbon alternatives that maintain reliability while reducing environmental impact.

“At Calor, we understand the importance of choice and affordability for rural energy consumers who are off the natural gas grid or using higher carbon fuels like oil, coal, and peat. Consumers should have access to cleaner, lower carbon, and renewable liquid gases, as well as improved energy efficiency measures”.

The success of Ireland’s ambitious decarbonisation targets hinge on our ability to develop policies and solutions that are not only environmentally sound but also socially and economically viable. The most recent report* by Liquid Gas Ireland (LGI) which analysed the latest census data, found that 46% of all households still rely on high carbon fuels, including oil, peat, and coal, for heating. While the overall national proportion of households using these high carbon fuels has slightly decreased since 2017, there has been a national increase in the number of homes using oil since 2017.

To effectively meet the needs of rural homeowners, expanding their available choices can significantly accelerate Ireland’s retrofitting goals. Currently, the sheer scale of the task risks overwhelming consumers in off-grid rural areas, leading to disengagement and inaction. It is crucial to recognize the key factors influencing adoption, particularly as achieving climate targets depends on both behavioral changes among citizens and urgent, transformative actions across critical sectors such as housing, transportation, and power generation.

For nearly 90 years, Calor has provided clean, reliable, lower carbon energy to homes and businesses across Ireland, and their responsible product strategy aims to ensure that the source and supply of its products become increasingly renewable and sustainable to meet future customers’ needs. Calor’s traditional LPG product allows rural off-grid consumers to transition from higher carbon and more polluting fuels such as heating oil, coal, and peat to a cleaner and lower carbon alternative.

The launch of a certified renewable liquid gas (BioLPG) in 2018, demonstrated Calor’s commitment to playing an active role in Ireland’s transition to a decarbonised economy. BioLPG, or biopropane, is chemically indistinct from LPG and as a ‘drop-in’ fuel, can be blended with LPG without a change of equipment being necessary.

Continued innovation in the liquid gas sector is investigating the development of rDME, a low carbon, sustainable liquid gas that will complement the advances made by BioLPG. rDME can be produced via gasification and catalytic synthesis using feedstocks such as municipal solid waste, forest residues, animal waste, sewage/industrial sludge, and energy crops and offers a versatile and flexible decarbonisation route for domestic and industrial heating, cooking applications, and the transport sector.

LPG and BioLPG can already integrate seamlessly with advanced heating systems, such as hybrid heat pumps and renewable-ready gas boilers combined with solar PV. These solutions provide rural homeowners with practical, lower-carbon energy options, helping them take the first steps toward a more sustainable future in Ireland’s energy transition.

Calor supports a technology-neutral approach to decarbonisation, acknowledging that multiple clean, lower-carbon alternatives exist, including off-grid liquid gases like LPG, BioLPG, and, in the future, rDME.

For more information visit calorgas.ie.

https://www.lgi.ie/news/lgi-publishes-analysis-of-home-heating-in-ireland

Duncan Osborne
Chief Executive Officer
Calor Ireland