A new Sustainable Energy Ireland grant scheme will offer financial
support to public and private sector organisations for energy upgrades
and retrofits.
Sustainable Energy Ireland has today announced new figures for the
Building Energy Rating scheme which show that over 40,000 BER
certificates have been issued by SEI since 1 January 2009 when it
became mandatory by law for all homes offered for sale or rent to have
a BER.
Energy minister Eamon Ryan TD has announced that the recently-launched
Home Energy Saving scheme has proven immensely popular among Irish
homeowners.
In just four months since the scheme was officially
announced, over €16 million in insulation grants is being paid to
approximately 12,000 homes nationwide. Over 2,000 construction workers
and tradespeople have registered to carry out the works, with a similar
level of Building Energy Rating (BER) assessors involved.
Europe's electricity grid needs a radical overhaul if it is to
distribute the renewable energy capacity that governments have
committed to building by 2020, according to Europe's leading science
academies.
Ulster Bank has launched a discounted loan for home improvements
carried out through Sustainable Energy Ireland’s Home Energy Saving
scheme and Greener Homes Scheme.
Green energy
overtook fossil fuels in attracting investment for power generation for
the first time last year, according to figures released today by the United Nations.
BioSpark - a newly-formed joint venture between Imperative Energy and
Sustainable BioPolymers - has announced its intention to invest €40
million in the development of a next generation bio-processing
research, innovation and manufacturing centre in Claremorris, County
Mayo. Biospark says the venture will create 180 jobs initially, and
could create up to 300 jobs in total over the next three years.
The Green Party has unveiled figures showing that over 50 per cent of new Irish jobs created this year are green. Research shows over 10,000 of the jobs created in Ireland over the past three months have been in the green economy, a fact which has won Ireland some welcome positive press in the US online publication the Huffington Post.
Energy and innovation minister of state Conor Lenihan today officially launched a nationwide scheme expected to generate thousands of new jobs in the clean-tech sector over the next 6 to 12 months.
New company Greenloan has set up an offering to co-incide with the Home Energy Saving scheme which aims to create significant employment opportunities in local communities throughout Ireland by grouping homeowners to avail of large discounts in upgrading their properties.
Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan has said he expects new climate
change legislation later this year to closely follow similar
legislation introduced in Britain.
Environment minister John Gormley yesterday announced details of the
government's latest planning and development bill. The Bill introduces
a number of changes to the planning code that "aim to support
sustainable development".
The Irish economy recorded savings of €750 million in 2007 as a result
of energy efficiency measures undertaken since 1995. The economy
recorded a 10 per cent improvement in energy efficiency between 1995
and 2007 and the savings made in 2007 alone were the equivalent to the
annual energy usage of half a million houses.
Fr Collins Park in Donaghmede, north Dublin - billed as Ireland's
"first wholly sustainable park" by Dublin City Council - was opened
yesterday by Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne.