The SEAI Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has said savings of €6 billion can be secured and up to 10,000 jobs supported when its 5 year plan is implemented. SEAI’s strategic plan which was unveiled recently said that sustainable energy practices are already delivering savings to the economy with reduced energy bills for businesses and household’s. It is expected that 60,000 existing homes will be insulated this year alone. It is envisaged that one million homes will be retro-fitted at the cost of €6 billion. The authority says it will focus on the key areas of electricity supply, heat supply, energy in buildings, energy efficiency products and behaviour, energy in transport, research and innovation as well as policy development and analysis. ‘The new economy will bring savings, the €6 billion we can save over the lifetime of this strategy is the equivalent of our annual fossil fuel bill,’ commented Energy Minister Eamon Ryan. ‘It will bring investment and more importantly jobs for our people,’ he stated.
Archive for April, 2010
10 ways to go green in your home – save energy to save money!
1. Insulating your Cavity Walls & Attic Insulation is one of the easiest ways to save money in your home – you can save up to 40% off your home heating bills….. Did you know that there is grant aid available from SEAI of up to €650.00 for upgrading? Visit www.eurobead.ie for more information.
2. Replace your old bulbs with Energy Saving Bulbs CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs. You will get savings on your electricity bills per annum and over the lifetime of the bulbs. You will also save Co2 emissions. Don’t forget to switch off your lights when you leave the room.
3. Use a fan assisted oven. They are 25% more efficient than conventional ones.
4. Turn your appliances off instead of leaving them on standby.
5. Recycle – Bring your glass bottles, jars to recycling centres.
6. Get composting! Composting is an entirely natural process and a great way of been green in your home. You can transform your kitchen scraps and garden waste into useful compost. You can compost anything from crushed egg shells to grass cuttings.
7. Use rechargeable batteries, or if you have to use disposable ones ensure to recycle them, most supermarkets have recycling boxes at till points.
8. Switch to paperless billing, use e-statements and e-billing.
9. Unplug unused chargers and appliances.
10. Wash your clothes at 30°C instead of 40°C. You’ll cut the energy used by almost half.
Fossil Fuel and Climate Change
On top of all the money lost to Ireland and our local economies by importing fossil fuel, by the global scarcity of supply coming with rising prices of fuel but more so by Climate Change. It is clearly now really happening and is unequivocal. It is predominantly being created by CO2 emissions generated by us humans in the Developed World, from burning fossil fuel. It is causing huge hardship and hundreds of thousands of deaths each year to poor in the developing world. It is by far, the greatest challenge ever for human civilisation on this planet to have to face. We are now on a trajectory for a six degree rise in global surface temperature in this century, unless global Governments and all of us act now. Our greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere have now reached 390ppm – that is 40% above Pre-Industrial time levels and is now at a level of concentration that has not occurred since about 20 million years ago. Over that huge length of time our CO2 stabilised at about 280ppm. We are scientifically in ‘unknown territory’! It puts all our children’s future in peril.
