Green mortgages are the best way to take out a mortgage to make your home eco-friendly. If you need to upgrade your home to make it more eco-friendly, then a green mortgage will finance the work for you.

We hear about making our homes more eco-friendly every day, and how an eco-friendly home can save you money almost from the day you complete the work. From solar panels to superior home insulation and from replacing windows to upgrading the boiler, you can enhance the BER and make the house eco-friendly.

Taking out a Green Mortgage is a good way to finance the home-improvement work. The right green mortgage, combined with accessing available eco grants, will enhance the home and increase its value.

MortgageOne are the expert mortgage advisor when you want to take out a green mortgage.

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What is a green mortgage?

A green mortgage is a mortgage taken out to finance the work that makes your home eco-friendly. In Ireland, your home may already have some eco-friendly attributes, such as good insulation; however, there are many eco-friendly home improvements available to save money and increase the value of your home.

Technology is constantly evolving, and the advancements in home building technology over recent years are future-proofing our homes and helping Irish homeowners transition away from fossil fuels. Home heating and insulation are two areas that are seeing significant improvements, and a green mortgage can help unlock the potential in your home.

The SEAI, Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, reports that more than 30,000 applications have been received for home retrofit grants to increase the BER rating of homes in Ireland. Property upgrades to reach a B2 grade or higher have attracted over 11,200 applicants for 2025 so far, and installing solar panels has reached a high of more than 14,400 home improvement applications. 

You will need to pay for the home improvements. The available grants are a help, but you, the homeowner, bear the balance of the costs.

A Green Mortgage will help finance the eco-friendly improvements necessary to make the home more energy efficient.

Why would you consider eco-upgrades for your home?

Increasing your home’s value and saving on energy costs are among the reasons you should consider eco-upgrades for your home. Any home improvement can only increase the value of the property, and making your home more eco-friendly is an excellent way to look to the future.

The value of eco-friendly upgrades to the home can be:

Improved energy costs can only appeal to every homeowner in Ireland. The costs of fuel to heat our homes, such as oil and gas, are going up all the time.

Wars, global uncertainty, and political upheaval are pushing up the price of traditional home heating energy costs.

Solar panels, heat pumps, and other home upgrades can help reduce your annual energy costs.

Environmental benefits appeal to every homeowner in Ireland. We all know the days of burning fossil fuels and damaging the environment are on the way out.

Home upgrades enable us to help the environment by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and harnessing the power of the Sun and nature to heat our water and homes.

Making your home environmentally friendly makes sense every way you look at it.

Increasing the home value must make sense to any homeowner. By doing the eco upgrades, you are giving the home a higher BER rating, and that can only be good for any future sale.

A BER of B2 or higher adds value to the home. It tells future buyers that your home has lower energy bills and that they will not have to invest that extra money in improving the home after the purchase.

Future-proofing the home is another important consideration when considering eco upgrades. The house needs to be ready for the revolution in home heating and to avoid those permanently high energy costs coming down the track.

The eco upgrades future-proof the home against the shock of high energy costs, meaning the money invested today will pay off in the not-so-distant future.

Saving money today always appeals to every homeowner in Ireland. By investing in making the home eco-friendly, you will quickly see a reduction in energy spending and have more money in your pocket.

A heat pump will do away with the costly oil burner. The solar panels will reduce the costs of heating the water, and additional insulation will decrease the need for central heating.

Eco upgrades will see you saving money from day one.

Making it easier to rent the property is another solid reason for considering eco upgrades in Ireland. Property owners can expect a better rental return with a higher BER rating, and eco-upgrades can help achieve this goal.

The improved insulation and energy-saving heating methods will attract a higher rent and help you place the house in the right place on the rental market.

The Green Mortgage from MortgageOne can help bring eco-friendly home upgrades from consideration to reality, allowing you to access available grants.

Common eco home upgrades and available grants

The common eco home upgrades and available grants make having an energy-efficient home much easier and straightforward to achieve. Along with a green mortgage, the available grants make the eco-friendly affordable for Irish homeowners.

Some of the common eco-friendly home upgrades:

  • Solar panels for the home 
  • Home insulation 
  • BER (Building Energy Rating) improvements
  • Heat pumps and boiler replacements

Solar panels for the home

Solar panels are becoming easier to install, and improvements in technology have made solar panels very efficient. As a result, they are now a year-round option in Ireland.

Solar thermal panels heat the water for the home and reduce the need for the gas boiler or oil boiler as a source of heating the shower and water in the taps.

The solar water heating grant is fixed at €1,200.

Solar PV panels work like the thermal panels and generate electricity to power the home, such as running the kitchen, charging your phone and tablets.

The maximum Solar PV panel grant available is €1,800.

Home insulation

Home insulation is another obvious eco home upgrade that can not only save you money but can also add to your BER rating and overall home value.

Attic insulation will insulate that part of the house where you lose the most heat. The insulated attic will immediately make the house cosier and reduce your heating bills.

An attic insulation grant is fixed at €800 for an apartment and at up to €1,500 for a detached house.

Wall insulation is like wrapping the house in a thermal jacket and differs depending on your home, from external wall insulation to dry lining and cavity wall insulation.

Cavity wall insulation grants are fixed at €700 for an apartment, € 1,200 for a semi-detached house, and € 1,700 for a detached home.

You can apply for the internal wall insulation and dry lining grant, worth €1,500 for an apartment and up to €4,500 for a detached house.

An external wall insulation grant comes in at €3,000 for any-sized apartment to a maximum of €6,000 for a semi-detached house and €8,000 for your detached house.

BER improvements

BER (Building Energy Rating) improvements are a key part of making your home an eco-friendly one by increasing the BER rating from a D to a B1 or even an A2. 

The grant available for the BER improvements depends on the work involved and can be up to €18,800 against the overall costs of €50,889 for upgrading the doors, windows, and insulation of the home.

Improving the BER rating will save on energy bills, increase the value of the home and open access for the homeowner to a Green Mortgage.

Heat pumps and boilers

Heat pumps and boiler replacements are another significant step towards adding value to your home, reducing energy bills, and reducing your reliance on fossil fuels for heating and water.

A registered installer can fit the heat pump, eliminating the need for an old oil or gas boiler in your home.

You can apply for a heating control grant of up to €700 to give you control over the heating and stop any waste in heating your home.

The Heat Pump Grant provides access to a variety of available heat pumps on the market and helps you transition away from fossil fuels. The grants start at a fixed €4,500 for apartments and increase to €6,500 for detached houses.

The government grants are a great incentive to make your home more eco-friendly and help you become eligible for a green mortgage to complete the works.

Taking out a mortgage for eco upgrades

Taking out a mortgage for eco upgrades makes perfect sense and is the best way to add those vital improvements to the home. Eco upgrades will reduce your energy bills, increase your BER rating and add value to the house.

A Green Mortgage can be used to improve the BER rating of the home from a D to a B3, or it can be used to increase the BER rating above B3 if you are already at that level.

Applying for a green mortgage can be a straightforward process, and with the help of existing grants, it will only add value to the home by making it more eco-friendly. 

Talk to a MortgageOne Green Mortgage expert today and get started on making the house an eco-friendly home.