Two days to understand your home, lower your bills, and finally know where to start. Heating, electricity, water, food, waste. Your home is where the cost of living and the cost to the planet meet, and it's one of the most powerful places you have to do something about either. A home that costs less to run is usually a healthier one to live in too. Warmer, drier, with cleaner air and less waste.

We are all very aware of how uncertain the future is looking right now, and there's no shortage of advice about what you should be doing. However, there’s very little that helps you see clearly where you actually stand or start to take action. And doing it alone is hard. Most of us know roughly what we should be changing, and most of us haven't.

This course equips you with three things: an honest picture of your own home, the knowledge to act on it, and a group of people doing the same alongside you. Because the difference between a good intention and a real change is almost always other people.

Who is this course for?

This course is for anyone who's ready to stop wondering and start doing. Whether you're a homeowner looking to make your house more energy efficient, a renter wanting to cut your bills,or someone who's been meaning to take action but hasn't known where to begin, this is your starting point.

No prior knowledge needed. Just the willingness to look honestly at your home and the intention to make a difference.

This course is for anyone who wants to:
Reduce the environmental impact of their household
Lower their energy and resource use, and their bills
Live in a warmer, drier, healthier home
Cut through the confusion about what actually matters
Be part of a community of people taking action together

You can also purchase this course as a gift here.

What will you learn?

Change starts with understanding. Over two days you'll build a clear, honest picture of your home's actual impact, and develop the knowledge and confidence to start shifting it. You'll learn:

Home energy and water auditing. How to calculate what your home is actually using, where the biggest opportunities are, and how to set goals that are ambitious and achievable.
SEAI grants, who's eligible and how to apply. There's real money available to help Irish households reduce their energy use. We'll show you exactly what's on offer, whether you're likely to qualify, and how to navigate the process without getting lost in it.
Conscious consumption. How to make smarter choices about what you buy. Understanding what can be repaired yourself, embodied energy, water footprinting, and what to look for beyond the marketing.
Why change is hard, and what actually works. An honest, evidence-based look at the barriers to changing habits at home, and practical strategies for working with them. Knowing this changes everything.
Food and waste. How what we eat and how we manage waste connects to the bigger picture, and where small changes can make a surprisingly large difference, both for the planet and your own health.

What will you take away?

You will leave with:

A detailed picture of your current energy, water and waste output. Your own household baseline, on paper.
A practical, personalised action plan. Ambitious enough to matter, realistic enough to actually happen.
A clear understanding of which SEAI grants you may be eligible for and exactly how to begin the process.
A peer group of people working towards the same goals. Because knowing others are doing it alongside you is often what turns a plan into a reality.

What’s included?

The course fee covers two full days of in-person learning at Common Knowledge, your pre-course audit tools, post-course tracking resources, and two wholesome daily meals each day from our on-site chef, along with tea, coffee and something good whenever it's needed.

Staying with us at The Common Knowledge Centre

At The Common Knowledge Centre we now have a range of accommodation options on site to suit all budgets and needs. When you stay with us, you’ll be supporting our newly established guesthouse and be close to the action. We recommend arriving the evening before your course. You can view available accommodation on our booking page.

More information

For more information about booking a course, accommodation options, and preparing for your course at Common Knowledge, see our
FAQs page
.

Course Instructors

Team

Growing

Learning and Sustainability

Aisling Wheeler

Growing

Learning and Sustainability

Aisling Wheeler is a permaculture practitioner, grower and educator based in Kilfenora, Co. Clare. She originally trained in psychology, linguistics and language teaching before studying permaculture in Kinsale. From there she began building a more hands-on, low-impact way of life, including building a small cabin, growing food, and developing practical sustainability skills.

Since moving to Kilfenora 15 years ago, she has co-managed a smallholding, raising animals, experimenting with food production methods such as forest gardening and no-dig growing, and continuing to learn what works in a changing climate. Alongside this, she has worked in environmental and adult education, and is actively involved in community initiatives, sharing skills and supporting others to take meaningful steps towards more resilient, sustainable living.