Those who doubted whether the Green Party would have any real influence in a Fianna Fáil-dominated Government - and there were many - must have been surprised by the speed with which radical changes to the State's Building Regulations were announced. Although still in draft form, and with provision for a phasing-in period, the changes proposed by Minister for the Environment and Green Party leader, John Gormley, aim to improve the energy efficiency of new homes by at least 40 per cent, with a corresponding reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
So not only will future householders benefit from lower energy bills, but the substantial contribution made by housing to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for causing climate change will also be reduced.
In what the Minister described as "the first dramatic step in the process of achieving zero-carbon housing", the proposed amendments would require significant improvements in wall, roof and floor insulation levels as well as the use of energy-efficient lighting and some form of renewable energy, such as solar panels or wood pellet heating systems. Heating systems would be required to have thermostats, time controls and, in larger homes, "heating zones". Boilers would also have to meet minimum efficiency standards while new homes will be tested to ensure that they are not leaking excessive heat and, for the first time, vendors would have to provide purchasers with information on the operation of heating and energy control systems.
These are all very welcome changes - and long overdue. For years, while record numbers of new homes were being built, the Department of the Environment shilly-shallied on the introduction of higher standards of energy efficiency - largely because of its over-weening concern to protect the concrete industry. It is a national scandal that hundreds of thousands of homes have been built over the past decade with no care for the profligate waste of energy embodied in their structures. Nobody could argue that we did not know about the need for more energy efficiency or could not learn about best practice from other countries.
There will be understandable scepticism about the requirement for using renewable energy systems. Indeed, to counter claims by the Construction Industry Federation that its members lack the technical capacity to put the changes in place next year, Fás and Sustainable Energy Ireland will offer nationally-accredited training in renewable technologies, starting next month.
There is also a welcome commitment to check the performance of new homes after construction. Combined with the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which became law in December 2006, the regulations should "ensure that superior energy efficient homes will be a right and not a luxury for all Irish home consumers", in the words of Kingspan Century chief executive Gerry McCaughey, a long-time champion of change.