One of the country's semi-state companies, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), hopes Irish developers and councils will start adopting its Super-E housing technology and certification programme for new developments.

Under the Irish programme, the CMHC will provide energy certification for new homes as long as a certain amount of Canadian materials are used in their construction.

"As part of that certification, we are looking at obtaining a certain amount of Canadian content on the basis of a points system, which awards points for different things that go into the building. That's the basis on which the Canadian taxpayer is repaid for giving the technology to the Irish, " said Oliver Drerup, a senior consultant with CMHC International.

CMHC is particularly aiming to convince developers that, in a softening housing market, Super-E homes will maintain their value better than conventionally-built homes.

"What we're finding in Canada is that these buildings retain their value over time and whatever additional effort [on the developer's part] is well-rewarded, " said Drerup. He also said that CMHC believed the use of Super-E technology in housing developments would make it easier for developers to get planning permission.

"It's not just because somebody says it's an energy-efficient house.

You are using a technology with 25 years' experience behind it which is going to quality assured and certified by the Canadian government, which gives it a bit of credibility, " he said.

Drerup said CMHC was particularly attracted to Ireland because of the rapid development of the country's eco-homes sector.

"The reason that we're attracted is because the eco-homes sector is doing very well in Ireland and people are genuinely concerned about what they recognise needs to be done with global warming so we feel there is a market opportunity here."

The basic Super-E technology, which was developed by the Canadian government as a response to the oil crises of the 1970s, is based around air-tightness and good insulation, which promote energy efficiency by making houses easier to heat and eliminating draughts or hot spots.

According to Drerup, the requirement that developers purchase a certain quantity of Canadian goods to obtain Super-E status for their developments won't affect its growth in Ireland because a large proportion of Ireland's timber imports already come from Canada.

However, he revealed that construction exports from Canada to Britain, where Super-E was introduced in 2001, rose by 62m between 2002 and 2006 and that up to 75% of this growth was due to the programme.

When asked whether carbon emissions from increased imports would outweigh the benefits of Super-E homes, Drerup said: "we've actually studied the carbon footprint and we were surprised to learn that the footprint of shipping across the ocean is actually smaller than the carbon footprint of internal truck transport".

Drerup also said the revenue generation possibilities in Ireland were not "transfixing" his organisation and that it hoped that the widespread adoption of the Super-E standard would lead to joint ventures between Irish construction firms and their Canadian counterparts.

"What we're really concerned about is developing good, profitable relationships between Irish and Canadian companies because we believe that out of that will come opportunities for both sides", he said.

"It doesn't follow that in a decade or so, your housing will be shipped from Canada. We're not proposing that. We're saying that perhaps there will be, say, Irish-Canadian joint ventures doing work in Poland by then."