Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is gaining momentum in the global push for sustainable energy solutions. Firebird, a leading advocate for renewable energy, has been committed to supporting HVO since 2016.
Firebird has been actively requesting the Government to secure official recognition of HVO as a substitute for Kerosene in home heating for many years. By replacing Kerosene with HVO, CO2 emissions could potentially by reduced by up to 90%. Until now, HVO has remained unrecognised by the Government in their Legislated Climate Action Plans.
There is now some commitment from the new Government to look at the use of sustainable biofuels to reduce emissions from existing home boilers where deep retrofits are not possible in the short term.
700,000 homes in Ireland still rely on Kerosene for heating. A few have switched to heat pumps, but this option remains out of reach for most households. In 2024, only 3,609 grant funded retrofits were completed which included a heat pump installation* – far below the levels needed to meet Ireland’s 2030 decarbonisation targets.
For older, rural, and hard-to-heat homes, electrification is not a viable solution. This is due to high upgrade costs, in particular for poorly insulated homes and homes with high heat loss. Converting from Kerosene to HVO, however, provides an immediate reduction in carbon emissions with minimal disruption and at practically no cost, to the end user.
The financial burden of switching to heat pumps and deep retrofits is a major obstacle for Irish households. The average cost of a government-supported retrofit is €37,489, making full electrification unaffordable for most families.
However, introducing a 20% renewable fuel blend across all oil-heated homes would reduce emissions on the same scale as retrofitting 160,000 homes – at practically no cost to the end user. The industry has come together and is ready to deliver this 20% blend immediately. At a 20% blend there is no requirement for the homeowner to make any modification to their existing boiler, so this transition is 100% seamless to the end user.
This is an easy win for the environment.
For more information, visit www.firebird.ie.
*www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/0115/1490866-energy-upgrade-grants/
