Government spending €1m a week to insulate homes
No amount of budget management or banking reform on its own will get people back to work. History shows that only a new economy can pull people out of these types of financial crises. I have the fortunate position in Government at the very centre of the creation of this new economy. It’s based on clean energy, digital technology and home-grown Irish creativity.
In energy, we have 3 economic opportunities which we are now delivering.
We have already met our 2010 target of producing 15% of electricity from renewable energy. And it’s only March. I am proud that the energy from wind power has doubled since the Green Party has been in Government . We know exactly where we’re going and how we can double that again and again and again. The investments we are making in our electricity grids, in windfarms and in new ocean energy technologies are the perfect solution to our recessionary blues.
8 years ago in opposition we started devising schemes to improve our poorly-insulted housing stock. As soon as we got into Government in 2007 we started to turn those plans into reality. In 2008, we upgraded some 6,000 houses. In 2009 it was 35,000 and this year we aim to go into over 50,000 Irish homes making them warmer, cleaner and cheaper to run.
We’re currently spending over 1 million Euros each week on the Home Energy Saving Scheme. For every million the Government spends, a further 4 million Euros from the private sector is unlocked. 5,000 contractors are getting work on the back of it. But I want to go further. There are over 1 million homes in Ireland in need of retrofit. That is why I’m going to Government now looking to introduce further measures so we can improve 100,000 homes every year for the next ten years: one million homes in a decade. At the same time we will be going into every school, every hospital and Garda station to cut out the carbon and keep in the heat.
The third area of opportunity in energy is to harness our real ICT skills to further that goal of energy efficiency. We have recently installed a smart meter in the Ryan home, which has turned myself and my lady wife into “switch off the emersion!” fanatics. It is remarkable how the presentation of simple data can have real effect and how important a role communications will play in our new energy future.
As we roll out our electrical vehicles across the country, it is unlikely we will make the cars or perhaps even the batteries but what we can do is make the software and develop the systems approach which we then sell to the rest of the world.
Related posts:
- Launch of New All Homes Energy Rating System
- Greener Homes Scheme does not escape An Bord Snip Nua
- Government moves forward with commitment for electric cars
- Government announces Electric Vehicle Plan
- Greener Homes Grant.
- Government bagging Eur 22m with plastic tax.
