When Dónal and Marion Kissane were planning their passive house on the Cork coast in 2008, they got some baffled looks. A few years earlier, architect Tomás O’Leary had built the State’s first certified passive house, so the concept was still quite new to Ireland. “South-facing windows are one of the passive design principles, to ensure we get a lot of passive solar gain,” he explains. A 750-litre thermal store, which is basically an enormous hot water tank, is heated by the thermal solar panels and used for underfloor space heating, while the PV solar panels provide the electricity. Dónal believes anyone building a house today is wasting money if they don’t go down the passive house route.

Source: The Irish Times February 15, 2026 10:33 UTC