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

Are you looking for reasons to generate your own electricity?

• The recession has meant that energy companies have been forced to cut their prices to realistic, rather than inflated ones (due to previous speculators causing these high prices). This is, in my opinion, a temporary measure, as fossil fuel is running out, and becoming more costly to find, and even more costly to extract.
• CO₂ is a by-product of the burning of fossil-fuels, so by increasing our reliance on the National Grid producing electricity, we are increasing greenhouse gas emissions substantially.
• Power stations are only between 35% and 70% efficient, so much of the energy is wasted as heat.
• Stormy weather is happening more frequently - one example being the Kerry power cut on 20th June 2007, which knocked out most of the county's power for several hours during lightning strikes and exceptionally heavy rainfall.
• ESB has (2007) been granted permission to close some of its power stations, as they are reaching their operational limits. A new one will be built in Cork Harbour, but at this stage it is uncertain when this will happen. Other companies will be involved in new installations, to increase competition in the industry. This should bring down prices, but no guarantee here.
• Quinn Group are making plans to build a gas-powered power station in County Galway, and propose another in County Louth. Better than peat or coal, but won't be cheap.
• Lead time for adding renewable energy to the National Grid is 2-3 years rather than weeks.
• Corruption, bullying and price-fixing seem to be hitting the headlines abroad (Russia and Germany), of gas suppliers that have Ireland as part of their market. I'm sure we'll get our share, especially once gas becomes a rarer resource.

Local power generation (termed micro-generation), by whichever means you choose, may cost now, but it's an insurance policy against price rises, power cuts and climate change. The government is undertaking a pilot scheme to allow local generation to be connected to the National Grid (known as REFIT - renewable energy feed-in tariff). The following categories are taken into account during this  pilot, which began in February 2009.

1. Commercial Sites - Wind
2. Commercial Sites - Solar p-v
3. Domestic/Agricultural Sites - Wind
4. Domestic/Agricultural Sites - Solar p-v
5. Domestic & Commercial - Hydro

Renewable - that means 'can be regenerated easily', or 'freely available'. Our current fuels, oil-based (near or past peak production), coal and peat are Non-renewable - they take millions of years to regenerate, and even then only under very specific conditions. Burning these also increase quantities of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere, leading to global warming and climate change (but we all know that don't we?)

Alternatives that are available now include solar energy, wind power, geothermal and biofuels. You can incorporate these solutions into new or existing homes, and run ready-to-use or converted vehicles. I recently visited a friend who has a ground source heat pump installed, and underfloor heating throughout his quite extensive home. It costs him 60 Euros per month in electricity to heat (or cool) his whole house - not bad at all. He doesn't have to store fuel on site, so he has claimed an area of garden back after having a kerosene tank removed.

Grants are available (Phase 2 of the Greener Homes Scheme started 1st October 2007) for some of these options, and everyone can now choose where they prefer their electricity to come from. Figures announced 5th July 2007 state that 8.5% of Ireland's electricity was generated from renewable sources in 2006 (mostly from wind power), up from 6.8% the previous year.

A new scheme has just been announced, currently only available in North Tipperary, Limerick, Clare and Dundalk, but they apparently will be rolled out across the country as funds permit (currently 5 million Euros, but 100 million to be provided for the whole country). The idea is that older homes will have a Building Energy Rating assessor come and give their home a Building Energy Rating, which the householder has to pay 100 Euros towards (government pays the rest). The report will recommend improvements to have done, and government grants, to a maximum of 2,500 Euro,or 30% of the cost, will be made available to carry them out.

We have to consider negative consequences of renewable sources we may be about to promote :-

• For instance, growing acres and acres of biofuel crops may displace food crops, leading to inflated food prices. This is happening already in the USA, where edible corn - the staple food of many poor communities in Mexico - is now being replaced by industrial corn which is processed into ethanol to fuel transport in USA. A third of all maize crops grown in 2006 in the USA were sold for the production of ethanol (source, United Nations). The price of the food crop has increased by 400% in 3 months, and consequently Mexicans are going hungry and their government has had to cap the price of edible corn to try to stabilise the 'tortilla wars' developing. 
• Italians will be paying as much as 20% more for their pasta by Autumn 2007, as durum wheat (regarded as the best for making pasta) is mostly imported from Canada and Syria. Syria have banned grain export (not sure why) and Canada is increasingly using its durum wheat as ethanol, and has stopped export of durum wheat until November 2007. Italy imports 40% of its durum wheat. It used to be less, but with the increasing temperatures and water shortages in the Mediterranean, their yields have substantially reduced.                                                       
• Monocultures may develop once again, reducing the variety of habitats and thus diversity of species.

On a positive note, farmers can diversify into new markets, and land formerly used to grow sugar beet can be converted to grow a mix of biofuel crops, and the processing can be done in Ireland at former storage facilities, with some conversion of course. The newly-formed government is going to encourage 'micro-generation' and allow the ability to sell surplus energy to the National Grid (November 2007). REPS4 (www.teagasc.ie) will pay the farmer to plant biomass on their land too, so this helps local people to diversify and still have an income while converting their land, preferably from marginal land rather than productive.