THES01: What Is Its Relevance/Importance To Your MSc Award Option: MSc Thesis Proposal Thesis, LIT, Ireland

Thesis Proposal

The rationale for the Thesis

Outline the rationale behind this proposal, including how you selected this topic, why it is of interest to you, what is its relevance/importance to your MSc award option, what do you hope the thesis will achieve, etc.

Rationale

The built environment accounted for almost 13 percent of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 and has been identified as an area in need of intervention if Ireland is to meet its revised 2030 climate targets. Homes in Ireland use 7 percent more energy than the EU average and emit almost 60 percent more CO2eq. Housing retrofit has become a major part of the Government’s Climate Action Plan with the objective to retrofit 500,000 homes by 2030. That’s 50,000 homes per annum, yet the renovation wave hasn’t broken over Ireland with an estimated 1 million homes still needing extensive upgrades. A new delivery model for retrofitting is necessary to meet this target. The Energiesprong program rolled out by the Netherlands government is one that has proven to be successful and has been mimicked in the UK, Italy, France and Germany. The Energiesprong program is still relatively new in Europe, it is necessary for it to be studied in order to lay a foundation of knowledge for future research.

What is the Aim of the Thesis

The uptake of existing residential buildings retrofitting in Ireland is low in terms of the target required to be met by 2030. The aim of this thesis is to improve the knowledge of retrofitting while providing knowledge of a faster approach through the Enegiesprong method. To determine if the Enegiesprong method is cost-effective for the Irish Built environment.

Select one from

1. Hypothesis

2. Major Research Question

3. Model Development

 Research Statement

If the approach to retrofitting old homes is not changed, Ireland’s 2030 target of retrofitting 500,000 homes will not be met.

What are the explicit Objectives of the Thesis?

Your objectives should logically add up to achieve the aim of the thesis.

Objectives

1. To provide knowledge of the drivers for the need for retrofitting to tackle carbon emission

2. Indicate barriers to why wide retrofit uptake in Ireland is slow

3. Provide knowledge about the Energiesprong method and why it’s a better approach to speeding up retrofit uptake

4. Examine the perspective of Ireland’s construction professionals on the barriers to replicating the Energiesprong retrofit model in Ireland.