Go Green Ireland - Green Solutions Ideas Suggestions for a better Greener Ireland

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• Loft insulation

• Aluminium-backed blinds to Velux windows

• Thermal underwear

• Electric heaters (not storage heaters or oil-filled radiators) but convection radiators that are thermostatically controlled and programmable (both temperature and time periods for a whole week). To make these more sustainable, we will be changing to a renewable energy electricity supplier. These were installed alongside the oil-fired boiler central heating system, and provide more controllable energy usage, rather than having the whole central heating system on all the time.

Probably 2011 we'll invest in a solar water heating system, so the oil boiler won't need to be on during the summer months at all (not dependent upon sunshine, just daylight).

Ashgrove Renewables supplies and installs solar, geothermal, air to water, exhaust air, heat recovery ventilation and underfloor heating solutions to domestic and commercial customers.

Mission

GoGreenIreland - mission statement

Issues

WHAT are the issues?

Ireland is - because of its geographical isolation - dependent on imported energy, for electricity generation, transport and space & water heating.

Most problems are not caused by individuals, but by lack of infrastructure, maintenance and renewal.

For example, in the News 27th May 2009, many bathing water areas around the country suffered poor water quality in 2008 - due to the heavy rainfall (climate change?) causing overflowing sewage water treatment plants and run-off from built up areas - mainly around the North Dublin area. This has been going on for years, and should have been addressed LONG before now. Maybe some investment might be made to the infrastructure to prevent this happening again - one can live in hope (some good news is that Sligo has unvested 29 million Euros in a new wastewater treatment plant - officially opened 26th May 2009). Only 5 areas earned good reports for ALL their bathing areas - Donegal, Galway City, Kerry, Mayo and Meath.

Supermarkets are being driven to offer cheaper and cheaper goods, reducing the quality, and paying their staff less. Budget supermarkets are increasing their market share, and overtaking Irish companies by offering unknown brands. Consequences of this are that there are fewer jobs for everyone in the supply chain, and farmers are not getting a fair price for their produce - minimum wage doesn't come into it here. Indigenous companies are struggling to compete, and may disappear forever.

 

Overuse, abuse and waste of the Earth's natural resources are very damaging, and unsustainable. They cause loss of habitat for the rest of the millions of species we share this planet with. We are damaging centuries' long established ways of life of indigenous populations thousands of kilometres away. We are buying products from unsustainable sources, such as timber, metal, precious stones, and where child labour and harmful chemicals have been used in their production. All these 'side-effects' of the things we buy affect not only humans, but our environment, creating a culture of use now, pay later. We are putting people out of homes, jobs, and sustainable lifesyles by buying the cheap option rather than the quality goods we should be looking for.

There are many uninhabited holiday rental properties, especially in rural parts of the country. Tourism from abroad is down, airlines are declaring massive loses; there is a need to do something before these properties become ruins - either through natural weathering or vandalism.

Housing in Ireland - even new builds - has been poorly insulated for centuries, resulting in fuel poverty, energy wastage and greenhouse gas emissions far above the global average.

With our poor infrastructure, and the Irish way of building properties away from major population areas, public transport is underutilised and in some areas non-existent. This results in most people driving to their workplace, once again increasing greenhouse gas emissions over the average for a country our size.

Due to the global credit crunch (not a term I'm particularly happy with) taxpayers are having to foot the bill for financial institutions' ineptness to balance the books, and to do a realistic 'risk analysis' when the property prices were soaring. Now, many people are living with negative equity, mortgages they cannot afford, and the prospect (or reality) of losing their income.

As we are definitely in a post-Celtic Tiger economy now, we cannot ensure that our basic needs are guaranteed. Food, clean drinking water, treatment of wast water, healthcare, minimum temperatures in houses achieved without extreme input of foreign imports of fuel, are all issues we are facingl. Adequate housing, and jobs for as many people as we can maintain come at a price, which our frail economy seems to be incapable of supporting. It seems there are jobs out there, but it is not surprising that there is a trend towards them all paying as little as employers can get away with. With so many people now eligible for Job Seekers Benefit, Supplementary Welfare, etc., offering minimum wage is not going to encourage people back into the workforce.

In Ireland, we are still destroying peatland, for fuel for our home fires, as well as for three power stations. This peat acts like a sponge, and holds the rainfall in the uplands for longer, slowly draining down to streams and rivers. 2008 saw landslides, due to the peat bogs we have left becoming sodden with the very heavy rainstorms we endured. If we hadn't plundered 95% of the peatlands that existed in this country, I am sure these would not have happened. That's just one example of how our land is ours to have, and use, sustainably, or to destroy and suffer floods and droughts.

Change?

WHY should we change?

We have only one Earth, and to date we have not found another suitable world to populate! We must look after it. We as a species have changed our environment beyond recognition. We have deforested whole nations (Ireland was once almost totally tree-covered). Trees were felled to fuel the industrial revolution, and cleared to create farmland for our domesticated livestock. Now, we have seen the light, and are planting trees again, in order to increase the carbon sink, although some so-called sustainably managed forests are far from it (even though they have FSC certification). This should be enforced, before irreparable damage is done to habitats and the species that rely on them - this includes clear-felling, and lack of protection of waterways from silt running off and killing fish, including salmon.

How?

HOW do we make a difference?

This site aims to inform its readers, providing up-to-date details on new laws, technology and scientific understanding. At the end of the day, we want to encourage our readers to put a value on the environment, enjoy it, and learn to live in harmony with its other inhabitants. We will provide links to other useful resources, as well as ideas on how to improve your independence, and thus your sustainability.

Organic gardening is a perfect example - no longer is there a carbon burden on shipping your food from some distant location on the planet. If it can be grown successfully in your garden, then it is probably more flavoursome, less polluted with chemical fertilisers and pesticides, fresher and therefore more beneficial in terms of vitamins and minerals and far more tasty, due to the freshness of your home grown produce. Even if you only have a small garden, or a patio, then some produce can be grown successfully. If you haven't got a garden, then look for an allotment in your area. They're really inexpensive, and are a great way to get fresh air and exercise, and meet like-minded gardeners. You may have noticed the phrase 'food security' in the news recently. Growing your own will mean you can have at least some fresh produce at a reasonable cost. Permaculture is a term that really means 'sensible gardening' whereby plants are grown to mutually support each other, and discourage pests at the same time, without the need for unnecessary (petro-chemical based, therefore expensive) chemicals. I noticed recently in a supermarket (yes, even I shop there) that some organic produce is cheaper than its non-organic equivalent. I'd like to say 'I told you so' but I shall refrain.....

Cooking. Reduce the amount of chemicals in your food and therefore in its waste, by using home grown herbs to flavour the food, rather than using sauces, full of sugar, salt and chemicals, to disguise the natural flavour of your food. You may not have the time or inclination to become self sufficient in terms of vegetables, or may not have a garden, but a window box can grow a good supply of fragrant and flavoursome additives for your food. Cooking a meal from its raw ingredients will also mean you know what's in your food, rather than a pre-packaged, ready meal. The chicken/pork/beef/fish may not, and probably will not, be free range, or Irish.

There is another scheme to top up or install loft, roof, cavity wall insulation, internal & external lining of walls, upgrade your boiler to a more efficient one, and/or add a zoned heating control system to reduce wastage of energy. Get it done before the cold weather sets in, to take advantage of the grants, and get the most benefit as soon as possible (and before the funding runs out).

Wind and Sun Energy - free to collect

Solar Water Heating is a perfect way of getting a long term supply of "free" hot water. A house with suitable south facing roof space can install a solar-powered hot water system and within a few years the reduction in fuel costs will have paid for the system and from then on it will continue providing hot water for many years witrhout additional costs, but with ongoing savings in fuel bills.

Solar Power and Wind generated electricity. This is a more complex arena and whilst the benefits to the environment are definitely measurable, for the implementation of the system to be cost effective, it has to be planned more thoroughly. Using Solar Panels and Wind Turbines, you can capture wasted Earth resources to use that power for use around the house for lighting and powering household equipment. Surplus energy can now be sold back to the National Grid, so reducing your electricity bills substantially (depending on where you live, and the amount of wind you can capture).

All this waste?

Waste Management. We dump millions of tons of waste everyday unnecessarily into landfills. Pre-sorting your waste and recycling as much as possible results in numerous benefits. I am concerned that much of Ireland's recycling gets shipped to foreign destinations for processing, but I am assured that with the new legislation, to be introduced with the Green Party's influence, this will improve.

Re-use of resources such as glass, metals, paper and plastics to name a few, reduces the energy (and water in many cases) by recycling rather than manufacture from virgin materials. Plus, it reduces the requirement to plunder our environment by sourcing additional raw materials to produce goods for our consumption.

Composting kitchen and garden waste is a simple procedure of collecting all your waste food and garden waste, placing in a simple to construct compost area, and in 2 to 6 months you will have a rich source of organic nutrients to add to your soil, improving your flowers, plants and vegetable areas.

The main benefit is the reduction of this waste going into landfills where it can potentially leach into local water supplies, provide food for pests such as rats and mice and require huge areas of otherwise useful land to be wasted on storing this rubbish that could otherwise be employed to the benefit of your soil. It also reduces the carbon emissions from the vehicles transporting all this waste to the landfills.

Reduction in waste. Once you start sorting your waste, it will become apparent to you how much unneccessary waste you are generating. How much food are you throwing away each day? Are you buying more food than you require and then having to throw it out once it has past its best? Or is it simply that you are cooking more than your family requires for each meal? Reducing this can lead to real savings on your weekly shopping budget, that isn't apparent to you now, but once you appreciate the contents of your waste, you have a better understanding of your consumption and requirements.

Rainwater Collection

Rain Water - Water is not a commodity that is in short supply in Ireland with our weather :o). But there are times when we do get dry spells. Only 3% of the water on our planet is freshwater. The remainder is in the oceans as saltwater. Of this 3%, 70% is locked in ice-caps and glaciers. Many houses rely on local wells for water and drawing too much can lower the local water table and have knock-on effects we never realise further down the water chain. Using rainwater butts, you can collect water for use in the garden and in the house for toilets and other (non-drinking) uses. There are 'rainwater-harvesting' systems available now that treat rainwater so it becomes usable as drinking water (potable). Currently, only Irish businesses have their mains water metered, but this may change as our weather patterns change (April 2007 was the dryest and sunniest in recorded history). Metering may spread to private households. Installing rainwater harvesting systems in new-build properties will reduce potential future costs and increase water security.

The perfect log cabin construction

House design and insulation - There is a lot that can be done in the initial design of a house to make it more energy efficient and environmentally friendly; choice of building materials being the most obvious. But there are a number of things you can do to your existing house to reduce its impact on Earth's Resources.

Using renewable materials like wood, recycled bricks and tiles will all contribute towards a unique design and environmentally friendly construction. Avoiding concrete will reduce significantly the carbon footprint - there are other building materials with better credentials.

Insulation is the best way to reduce the energy requirement of a building. This may be retrofit to old buildings, but is far easier, and cheaper, to do it at the construction phase.

Only build as big a house as you need for most of the year - 5 bedrooms when you don't intend running a B&B and only have a small family means that you need extra materials and energy during the life of the property.

• It supports your local producers, thereby injecting more money into the local economy, so benefits you and your neighbours. More local jobs etc.
• Local produce also requires less fuel to reach your shopping basket, thereby reducing carbon emissions, requires less transport infrastructure, reducing the traffic and therefore congestion, congestion reduces the efficiency of fuel consumption.
• Buying local produce as against out of season imported fresh produce also has an effect on the balance of trade. Lower imports means more money stays in the Irish economy, enabling Irish producers to draw on those funds to improve our export opportunities, thereby benefitting all Irish people with a more vibrant economy.

Transport - Currently in Ireland, due to the lack of public transport connections, rural inhabitants at least must have access to private vehicles to get to shops, schools and work. The road taxation system as it stands seems to encourage the purchase of 'commercial' vehicles, even if there's no need to own one. Whatever you drive though, there are ways of reducing your emissions,

One thing you can do is 'spread the word'. Encourage friends and relatives to take an interest, and "do their bit" (no matter where they are on the planet - in fact the further afield the message travels, the better). Start them off by showing them something you've done! Tell them about this site :-)