We help businesses reduce carbon, save energy, and increase profits — leading the way in climate action, one business at a time.

Contact Info

Ireland: +353 (21) 2455199

Contact Info

United States: +1 617 982 7731

Contact Info

info@climeaction.com

FAQ

Energy audit cost and SEAI grant questions

Straight answers on energy audits, Irish and Massachusetts funding, and how Climeaction designs and delivers industrial energy projects.

Energy audits and grants in Ireland

What does an energy audit cost in Ireland?

It depends on the site. Cost is driven by the size and complexity of the site, its annual energy spend, the number of processes and energy users to survey, and whether the audit must meet the legal requirements for large energy users. For eligible smaller organizations, SEAI’s €2,000 voucher under the Support Scheme for Energy Audits (SSEA) covers the full cost of the audit in most cases. Send us your site details and annual energy spend and we will give you a fixed quote.

What is the SEAI Support Scheme for Energy Audits (SSEA), and do we qualify?

SSEA is an SEAI grant that gives a €2,000 voucher toward an energy audit by an SEAI Registered Energy Auditor. It is aimed at organizations registered in Ireland that spend at least €10,000 a year on energy at the site, excluding transport, and use less than 2.8 GWh (10 TJ) a year. Each company can use one voucher. We confirm your eligibility before the audit is booked.

Are your auditors SEAI registered, and what standards do your audits follow?

Yes. Our audits are carried out by SEAI Registered Energy Auditors to EN 16247 and ISO 50002. That is the basis for SI 426 compliance in Ireland and for the energy review stage of ISO 50001.

What is SI 426, and does it apply to us?

SI 426 is the Irish regulation that requires large energy users to have an energy audit carried out at least every four years by an SEAI Registered Energy Auditor. It applies to organizations using more than 10 TJ (about 2.8 GWh) of energy a year on average, unless they run a certified energy management system such as ISO 50001. Obligated organizations cannot use the SSEA voucher for these audits. If you are close to the threshold, we can check your position from your energy bills.

What is EXEED, and how much funding is available?

EXEED Certified is SEAI’s standard for designing and delivering energy projects. Projects built to it can receive a capital grant of up to 40% of eligible costs, to a maximum of €3 million per project, subject to SEAI’s criteria. It suits large energy users with a significant project whose feasibility is already established. We support EXEED projects from basis of design through to the grant application.

What other grants can fund energy and climate work in Ireland?

Enterprise Ireland supports include the Climate Action Voucher (up to €1,800), GreenStart (up to €5,000), Strategic Consultancy (up to €35,000) and GreenPlus (up to €50,000). SEAI also funds energy efficiency upgrades, heating and cooling, renewables and process improvements. Eligibility and support levels depend on the program and can change, so we check which supports fit your project before work starts.

Our services and how we work

What is the FAST® program?

FAST is our advisory program: Footprint, Audit, Strategy and Targets, delivered as one structured piece of work. It typically runs over 6 to 8 weeks for a single site; multi-site programs take longer. You receive six deliverables: a carbon baseline, an opportunity register, a climate action roadmap, an investment plan, staff training and strategic targets.

Do you stop at the report?

No. The same engineering team that finds the savings designs the fix, manages the contractor and verifies the result on site. You can engage us for one stage or for the whole path from audit to verified savings.

What does your design service cover?

Heat recovery, heat pumps and electrification, HVAC and building systems, process and utility systems such as compressed air and steam, solar PV, and controls and energy management. We are independent designers, not equipment sellers. A design package ends with an engineered design, an investment case showing capital cost, energy and carbon savings and payback, and documentation a contractor can price and build from.

Can you manage a project we did not design with you?

Yes. We review the existing design first, flag anything likely to cause problems at installation or commissioning, then manage procurement, installation, commissioning, measurement and verification, and handover. In Ireland we can take on Project Supervisor Design Process (PSDP) and Project Supervisor Construction Stage (PSCS) duties as part of delivery.

How do you prove the savings?

Through measurement and verification (M&V) against the pre-project baseline, using site metering rather than estimates. Savings in our design cases are engineered from measured site data, so the design case and the verified result can be compared directly.

What is CAaaS®?

Climate Action as a Service. One of our engineers works inside your team, on your site, full or part time, backed by the wider Climeaction team. They run your energy management system, keep ISO 50001 on track, prepare funding applications and oversee projects. It suits sites with significant energy spend, a pipeline of projects and no in-house energy manager.

Do you support ISO 50001 and ISO 14001 certification?

Yes. We prepare organizations for ISO 50001, ISO 46001 and ISO 14001. Our audits to EN 16247 and ISO 50002 cover the energy review stage of ISO 50001, and an embedded CAaaS engineer can maintain the system after certification.

Can you measure our supply chain (Scope 3) emissions?

Yes, with two tools. ESGo is an online supplier survey that scores ESG and CSRD readiness, gives each supplier a gap analysis and action plan, and can be repeated annually. VSAg collects verified farm-level carbon data on the farmer’s phone, offline if needed, for food and agricultural supply chains.

Is the Carbon Calculator free?

Yes. It takes about two minutes and gives a screening estimate of your Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in tCO2e, with a sector benchmark and a one-page summary by email. It is not a full carbon footprint to the GHG Protocol or ISO 14064; FAST provides that.

United States and Massachusetts

Do you work with companies in the United States?

Yes. Our US office is at 77 Summer Street, Boston, Massachusetts. We work with US manufacturers and with US multinationals that also run plants in Ireland and Europe. Recent US work includes a Class III medical device site in Georgia, where we identified 34.6 GWh of energy savings worth a modeled $1.45M a year.

What Mass Save support is available for industrial sites?

Mass Save is not a single fixed grant. It offers assessments, rebates, technical support and custom incentives, and what is available depends on the project, the business and the technology. Categories include custom incentives, heating and cooling, controls, specialty process equipment such as compressed air and refrigeration, and new construction. We identify which incentives apply and build them into the project case.

We are a US company with plants in Ireland. What do our European sites need?

Your Irish and EU sites can carry obligations your US sites do not, such as mandatory energy audits under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive and EU sustainability reporting. They may also qualify for Irish grants such as EXEED. With offices in Boston and Cork, one Climeaction team can baseline, plan and deliver across your US and European sites.

How do we get started?

Book a 15 minute call through our contact page. Tell us about your site, your energy spend and what you need to achieve, and we will recommend where to start.

Through a combination of data-driven insights and innovative approaches, we work closely with you to reduce carbon, save energy, and increase profits.