The Environmental Protection Agency is also involved.

The aim of the project is twofold: it's part of ESB's nationwide charging infrastructure rollout, and it's supporting the development of Ireland's green tourism sector.

Apparently more than 60 hotels have already signed up to install charge points on their grounds since the scheme was promoted to hotels in April.

ESB ecars said work has started on installing the charge points at some of these hotels.

"Our goal is to provide nationwide coverage offering drivers point-to-point access to e-car charge points no matter where they are located in Ireland," said Paul Mulvaney, the managing director of ESB ecars.

To get green accreditation, hotels must be certified under either the Green Hospitality Award, EU Flower, the Green Tourism Business Scheme, STEP or EcoTourism Ireland. They also have to be a Fáilte Ireland-registered hotel.

As for electric cars, the Irish Government has set a target that 10pc of all vehicles on Ireland's roads be electric by 2020.

ESB ecars is holding an International Electric Vehicle Summit in Dublin on 11 July.

Ember itself has been around for 10 years. It develops wireless mesh networking technology such as chips, software and tools for smart energy connected homes, as well as other monitoring and control applications.

It is a pioneer in ZigBee, a low-cost, low-power wireless network for smart meters and home energy devices.

Silicon Labs said that the acquisition of Ember would give it access to the technology and software expertise to enable the low-power mesh sensor networks being deployed in residential, commercial and industrial applications.

Ember has shipped over 25m ZigBee-based units for the connected home, smart homes and building automation marketplaces.

"We believe our track record and technology leadership in ZigBee-based systems combined with Silicon Labs' broad portfolio and focus on establishing a market-leading business in embedded wireless will enable our customers and the internet of things market to grow faster," said Bob LeFort, CEO of Ember today.

That's because Camara Education's waiting list has, for the first time, exceeded 1,000 schools in Africa, with the charity now in need of more PCs to meet the demand.

Camara Education CEO John Fitzsimons said today the charity is predicting that over 250,000 computers will be discarded in Ireland this year.

In particular he is appealing for companies that may have old computers stashed away to consider giving them to Camara so the charity can repair them and send them out to disadvantaged schools.

"Some companies have computers sitting in store rooms, becoming obsolete. We're actively encouraging firms to think about how these computers could be reused in education."

In need of 24,000 computers

He said that Camara just needs 12pc, or around 24,000 computers, this year to meet the demand.

"Half of these 250,000 computers could be reused in schools that cannot afford to buy new technology," he said.

Here in Ireland, Camara provided refurbished PCs to 70 schools and educational institutes last year. As well as this, the social enterprise delivers computers to disadvantaged schools in Jamaica and Africa.

He says that schools pay a small fee for each computer.

As for companies that wish to give computers to Camara, Fitzsimons said that what generally happens is the charity sends out a courier to pick up the computers and then wipes all of the data off the PCs at its Chapelizod base.

"Some companies prefer us to come out to wipe out all of the data from the PCs in-house. This would be especially true of pharma and financial service firms," he said.

When Camara gets the computers, it wipes all data on all machines to US Department of Defense standard. Staff at the charity, along with volunteers, then load these computers with educational software and dispatch them out to schools.

As well as this the charity offers teacher training, plus technical support, to the schools.

Local volunteers in seven African countries

In Africa for instance, Camara has local hubs in seven countries to help schools improve their digital literacy. These hubs are in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Lesotho and Zambia.

"We depend on local volunteers there who work with the schools," he explained.

And the way the model works is schools have to pay a fee for the computers, but Fitzsimons said the aim is to keep the cost as low as possible.

"As part of our social enterprise model all schools are prepared to contribute financially for the Camara package," he said.

Camara has hubs in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast. However, Fitzsimons said a nationwide collection service is available for larger volumes.

The latest Greenpeace attack on Apple over its energy usage coincided with today's news that the computer giant is planning a major overhaul of iCloud to include a new photo-sharing service.

But what about the Greenpeace duo who set up camp at Apple's worldwide HQ in Cupertino today?

They have apparently been broadcasting audio messages from people around the world to Apple's employees and executives concerning data centres and powering them up with clean energy.

Today's giant iPod replica was retrofitted from an eight-foot tall, 10-foot wide survival device that Greenpeace previously used in protests to prevent Arctic drilling.

As well as the giant iPod replica, four activists dressed as fully functional iPhones with TV screens as torsos arrived to display messages from supporters on Twitter and Facebook to the company's employees as they entered the campus.

And last night, activists projected tweets, photos and messages from Greenpeace's Clean Our Cloud supporters onto a wall of the Apple building.

Greenpeace has been lashing out at computer giant Apple, as well as Microsoft and Amazon, in recent weeks following the publication of its report, How Clean is Your Cloud.

In the report Greenpeace evaluated 14 IT companies based on key elements needed to build a clean cloud, including the electricity supply chain of over 80 data centres.

Greenpeace said that the report found that Google and Yahoo! are showing commitments to clean energy usage, while it said Apple, Amazon and Microsoft rely on coal and nuclear energy to deliver their clouds.

_{Apple's headquarters at Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons}

"Apple's executives have thus far ignored the hundreds of thousands of people asking them to use their influence for good by building a cloud powered by renewable energy," claimed Greenpeace USA executive director Phil Radford today. "As Apple's customers, we love our iPhones and iPads, but we don't want to use an iCloud fuelled by the smog of dirty coal pollution."

Greenpeace International IT analyst Casey Harrell continued: "For a company known for its innovation, Apple is being left in the dust by companies like Facebook, Google and Yahoo!, all of whom have taken steps and adopted policies to ensure that their clouds are increasingly powered by clean energy."

In April, Apple defended itself against Greenpeace claims that it uses "dirty energy" to power up its data centres.

While Greenpeace had stated Apple would use 100 megawatts (MW) of power at its new data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, Apple hit back and said the data centre would use one-fifth of that estimate - at 20MW.

The bat experts are gathering under the auspices of Eurobats, an international agreement that focuses on the protection of bats in Europe.

Other topics up for discussion at the conference are the latest developments in bat diseases and bat-tracking technology.

While Ireland just has nine bat species, according to Bat Conservation Ireland, apparently 52 species of bats have been identified in Europe.

And because some European bat species migrate across the Mediterranean to warmer climes, North African countries have recently been included in the Eurobats agreement.

Ireland's windfarms and bats

Paul Scott from the Irish environmental consultancy Scott Cawley said today that it is only now that Ireland is starting to monitor whether windfarms in the country are having an impact on our existing bat population.

"While windfarms have been proven to impact bats in the US and in mainland Europe, we don't have any scientific data here in Ireland to conclude whether wind turbines are impacting our nine species of bat," he said.

Scott, who is also on the board of Bat Conservation Ireland, said the organisation is finalising its guidelines for bat surveys for windfarm applications.

"It's only in the past few years that proposed windfarm developments need to carry out a bat impact assessment here in Ireland," added Scott.

Bats themselves are the only mammals that can fly. They have many ecological roles, such as controlling the levels of flies, mosquitoes and midgets in ecosystems. They also operate by dispersing fruit seed and pollinating flowers.

Bats as bio-indicators

Scott said they are also good bio-indicators of an ecosystem.

"If you find that there aren't any bats in a certain ecosystem, you know that something has happened there," he said.

The year 2012 is the International Year of the Bat and European Bat Night will take place on 25-26 August 2012.

Honda is now gearing up to carry out demonstration testing of the HSHS with electric vehicles and its Internavi system for controlling home appliances remotely. Incidentally, Internavi is only available in Japan.

Via this demonstration testing, Honda said it will aim to reduce CO2 by 50pc and to verify the future direction of personal mobility.

The test house, built by Honda, is located in the city of Saitama in Japan. According to Honda, its technologies used in the test house have been designed to enable users to secure their own supply of energy and mobility in a time of disaster.

The test house itself features thin-film solar-cell panels, a home battery unit, a household gas-engine cogeneration unity, plus a hot-water supply system.

Another piece of clean technology Honda has created is its Smart e Mix Manager. Apparently, this is an energy-management device that can apply optimal control to electricity supplied from the commercial grid and generated by each energy device that composes the system.

Honda said Smart e Mix will have the capacity to lower CO2 emissions from homes, as well as being an electricity supply back-up so the house can be self-sufficient in the event of a power outage or a natural disaster.

_{Depiction of how the house can be powered by technologies such as EVs. Image by Honda}

There's no word, though, on when, and if, this house will ever become a reality ...

In its Q1 shareholder letter, Tesla yesterday reported that its Q1 revenues were US$30.2m. The Palo Alto-based company, which was founded by Elon Musk, is nearing the end of its sales of the Roadster sports cars.

Tesla reported a first-quarter net loss of US$89.9m, or 86 cents per share, compared to US$48.9m or 51 cents per share for the same quarter last year.

Tesla said that total Roadster deliveries now exceed 2,250. The company said that there are only about 250 Roadsters remaining for sale in Europe and Asia.

It said that has delivered 99 Roadsters in the quarter. According to the company, unit deliveries are up 10pc from a year ago in Europe and Asia, combined.
Tesla said that its non-GAAP net loss for the quarter was US$79m, or $0.76 cents per share.

But on Wall Street yesterday, Tesla's stock rose 5.7pc in after-hours trading, after closing at US$30.06 on the Nasdaq. The reason for this share rise appears to be down to the fact that Tesla said the Model S would now be available in June, ahead of its former July launch date.

Tesla also touched on its recent agreement with Daimler to create an entire electric powertrain for a new Mercedes-Benz EV.

_{Fancy splashing out on a Roadster? Tesla says there are only about 250 Roadsters remaining for sale in Europe and Asia. Image credit: Tesla}

But just how many customers in the US are queueing up to buy the Model S electric sedan? The car has a base price tag of around US$49,900, after a US$7,500 federal tax credit.

According to Tesla it has topped 10,000 reservations for the Model S in the US.

Plus the company has just signed an agreement with Athlon Car Lease to introduce Model S to corporate customers across Europe.

Its lease programme with Athlon covers countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Tesla said that so far so far this year it has built about 50 beta and about 30 release candidate prototypes of the Model S.

"We plan to continue making customer deliveries on a slow, methodical ramp, and remain confident in our target of 5,000 vehicle deliveries by year end," said the company yesterday.

And its Model S has now been fully certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State of California.

Let's stay with 2012 for the moment. Juniper is predicting that 31m such green handsets will be shipped this year. Do the math, and it means Juniper is predicting more than a tenfold increase in green handset shipments by 2017.

But what exactly is a green handset? Juniper defines such phones as being comprised of 50pc or more recyclable materials and free of certain hazardous chemicals.

Taking the Samsung Replenish approach as a case in point, Juniper is anticipating that handset vendors will increasingly follow its example. The Replenish itself is made up of 82pc recyclable materials. In the US, the Android smartphone is available through Sprint.

The Juniper report also takes a look at the environmental impact of handsets and tablets throughout the life cycle of these products.

Juniper also believes mobile network operators can increasingly play a crucial role as green champions due to their customer-facing position. It points to the promotion of recycling initiatives that vendors could endorse, as well as providing eco-ratings at point-of-sale.

Following the recent Greenpeace How Clean is Your Cloud report, Juniper said vendors need to consider the impact of data centres as part of the impact of smartphones and tablets.

The company made the announcement in a blog post yesterday.

We've been hearing a lot about IT giants of late and their use of energy to power up their data centres. Just last month Greenpeace issued its How Clean is Your Cloud report in which it rated 14 global IT companies, including Microsoft, on how much greenhouse gas emissions they are producing at their data centre operations.

Greenpeace was critical of Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, claiming they all scored badly for relying on "dirty energy" to power up their data centres.

Now Microsoft appears to be hiking up its commitment to carbon neutrality. It said in the post it will start this drive from the start of its fiscal year 2013, which commences 1 July.

"Microsoft will be carbon neutral across all our direct operations including data centres, software development labs, air travel, and office buildings. We recognise that we are not the first company to commit to carbon neutrality, but we are hopeful that our decision will encourage other companies large and small to look at what they can do to address this important issue," said chief operating officer Kevin Turner in the post.

He went on to say Microsoft is planning to "infuse carbon awareness" into every aspect of its business around the world. Turner pointed to how every Microsoft business unit will now become responsible for the carbon it generates.

Internal carbon fee

He also talked about Microsoft's introduction of an internal carbon fee.

“We're creating a new, internal carbon fee within Microsoft, which will place a price on carbon. The price will be based on market pricing for renewable energy and carbon offsets, and will be applied to our operations in over 100 countries," he said.

Microsoft has also indicated that when emissions are not eliminated by efficiency measures it will purchase renewable energy and carbon offsets.

Right now, the IT giant is in the middle of a smarter buildings pilot at its Redmond, Washington, campus to explore how it can make its buildings more energy efficient.

The conference, which will run from 13 to 18 May at the Convention Centre in Dublin, will feature a series of debates from global experts who will be covering topics such as water treatment technologies, water resource management, wastewater and energy, the economics of water, planning and sustainable development.

There will also be debates on hot topics for Ireland right now, such as hydraulic fracturing and onsite wastewater treatment systems.

According to organiser Ray Earle, the congress will aim to achieve joined-up thinking amongst world experts in relation to water, climate and energy to lead an agreement for a draft resolution of 10 key actions to build on agreed protocols such as Kyoto, alongside technology development.

Speakers at the Dublin conference next week will include Paul Reiter, the executive director of the International Water Association.

Mary Robinson, Ireland's former president, who now heads up the Climate Justice Foundation, will be speaking about climate justices and policy coherence.

Paul Brown from CDMSmith and Dr Colin Harrison from IBM will be looking at smart cities.

Einari Kisel, the former Estonian deputy secretary-general for Energy, who is now a senior fellow at the World Energy Council, will be speaking about global sustainability.

The role of technologies and smart networks to help address climate change challenges will also be central themes of the conference.

The €14m wind farm at Caherdowney in Co Cork will have the capacity to produce 9.2MW of renewable power from its four wind turbines, according to the independent energy supplier.

The turbines being used in the build are Enercon E70 models with a hub height of 64.5 metres and a rotor blade diameter of 70 metres.

The company said the Caherdowney site was chosen because of its high average wind speeds. It said once the wind farm is fully operational it will be capable of powering up to 9,200 homes.

Energia said it will shortly have 550MW of operational renewable electricity capacity contracted within its energy portfolio.

The company also indicated it has a further 290MW of wind farm projects in development across Ireland, with 75pc of this portfolio contracted with third-party wind farms.

Peter Baillie, managing director, Energia Renewables, said the company has invested €200m in developing renewable sources of energy through its portfolio of 10 wind farms.

Energia's most recent projects include the Corkermore and Drumloughill wind farms in Co Donegal, in addition to Crighshane and Church Hill in Co Tyrone.

"On all of these projects we've received a lot of support from local residents and we're very thankful for this," said Baillie.

The engineering and electronics giant announced its clean-tech plans at the Annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles, which is running until 9 May.

Apparently, the eHighway mission will involve both the electrification of trucks and select highway lanes via overhead electrified wires.

Siemens said the concept would be similar to how modern-day trolleys or streetcars are powered on city streets in the US.

The company said the solution would be easy to integrate into existing highways and infrastructures, with the aim of lowering CO2 emissions and reducing pollutant load in residential and agricultural areas.

HGVs and CO2

Daryl Dulaney, CEO, Siemens Infrastructure & Cities in the US, said commercial trucks are largely to blame for vehicle emissions, rather than cars, in the US.

"Freight transportation on US roadways is expected to double by 2050, while global oil resources continue to deplete," he said.

Dulaney also spoke about how CO2 emissions are forecast to leap by 30pc due to freight transport alone by 2030.

Siemens said at the electric vehicle conference that it has developed the technology to make the eHighway a reality, including infrastructure, software, hardware and drives.

The company said the technology would work with hybrid diesel electric freight trucks with built-in technology and software to connect to overhead electrified wires.

Testing out the technology

Such trucks, said Siemens, will be designed to use both electricity and diesel power, automatically switching to electric mode when they detect and attach to the overhead lines. Then, when a truck leaves the lines, it will switch back to diesel.

"Already more and more consumers are driving electric and hybrid vehicles," said Dulaney. "If we can get the commercial freight industry to come on board, we'll decrease emissions dramatically and improve sustainability."

Siemens is testing the technology in Germany. It is also planning pilot projects for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, to connect to cargo centres.

Siemens also said the technology has the scope to be applied to densely populated cities.

At present Ireland’s import of fossil fuels stands at €5.6bn, according to Ernst & Young. And the grimace on the face of most motorists as they drive away from a petrol station across Ireland today speaks volumes as they are forced to pay higher and higher fuel costs.

But there is an opportunity to instead become an exporter of fossil fuels when you consider opportunities for renewable energy. After all, Ireland has one of the longest coastlines in Europe.

Globally the clean tech sector is estimated to be a US$5 trillion market and according to Ernst & Young if Ireland takes advantage of its natural advantages in this area as many as 80,000 direct and indirect jobs could be created in areas like renewable energy and retrofitting and construction.

“The clean tech sector can transform Ireland’s economy in two fundamental ways. Firstly, the sector can drive economic recovery through job creation and growth,” Barry O’Flynn, Head of clean tech and Sustainability at Ernst & Young Ireland explained.

“Secondly, it places future economic growth on a sustainable path by breaking our dependence on importing fossil fuels which currently stands at €5.6 billion, by significantly reducing domestic national energy consumption and generating more indigenous renewable energy,” O’Flynn added.

The Ernst & Young report warns, however, against policy inaction and points out Ireland’s international competitiveness will be eroded if volatile, high energy prices prevail.

The negative impact on GDP is estimated to range from €9.8bn to €12.3bn. Fiscal suicide in these recessionary times!

Correct clean tech actions

The report urges that energy efficiency and renewable energy measures be implemented at scale.

Denmark and Germany already have in place 30-year national policy frameworks for certainty in investing in renewable production.

In Demark the industry employs 24,000 people, accounts for 8.5% of total Danish exports and generates approximately DKK51.1 billion or €6.91 billion.

In Germany, studies show that the renewable energy sector employed approximately 370,000 people in 2010 and this could rise to over half a million by 2030.

“Globally renewables are seen as a key strategic sector to be developed to help economies recover from austerity,” Kenneth Matthews, chief executive, Irish Wind Energy Association.

“From an Irish perspective it has always been clear that we have abundant resources both naturally and in term of talent to develop the renewables sector not only to meet our own EU binding renewables targets but also to assist other EU countries in meeting theirs.

“If the correct actions are taken to create regulatory certainty, deliver infrastructure, create public acceptance and the political will exists Ireland can become the renewable energy hub for Europe, transforming our economy via cheaper, cleaner and more secure electricity, creating much needed jobs in energy and energy enterprise through the transition,” Matthews added.

Efforts such as Ireland’s Green IFSC seem to be a step in the right direction and last week it emerged that the Green IFSC could eventually manage US$200bn worth of green funds.

“The Green IFSC is an excellent initiative to accelerate growth in green finance in Ireland and it already reaping benefits in terms of increased assets and jobs,” Ernst & Young’s O’Flynn said.

“Now the Green IFSC has been given a mandate it can really co-ordinate and pull together the many positive public and private sector initiatives in this area.

“An implementation plan is well underway and Green IFSC close collaboration with the private sector and the investment community will strengthen further. This sort of certainty and co-ordination in policy-making will drive investment into the sector, attracting external investors and creating exciting businesses,” O’Flynn concluded.

The Green IFSC, a public/private output of the IFSC Clearing House Group at the Department of the Taoiseach, has revealed at its inaugural tax briefing that it aims to increase 'green' assets managed or serviced in Ireland from US$10bn to US$200bn in the coming years.

An audience of more than 100 leaders from the international financial services, green enterprise and public sectors were advised this week that the US$10bn currently managed, domiciled or serviced from Ireland already represented close to 4pc of the US$263bn global market in 2011.

Top green funds already managed in Ireland

Managers operating from Ireland are responsible for some of the world's leading 'green' funds, such Kleinwort Benson's water fund. And, BlackRock, the international fund management firm recently announced its first fund focused on investments in renewable assets globally to be managed out of Ireland.

Enda Faughnan, partner, PwC/chairman Green IFSC Tax Working Group, explained that Green IFSC aimed to achieve this growth by creating the optimum business environment for green finance to flourish and that an important part of that was ensuring the most appropriate tax environment.

“The Green IFSC Tax Working Group has helped facilitate six tax changes to support and accelerate the growth of 'green finance' in Ireland. We are here today to update you on what those changes mean to real businesses in the sector."

Funding the low-carbon economy

Faughnan said he would also like to acknowledge the Department of Finance and Department of an Taoiseach for their co-operation and collaboration in bringing about these changes and unfailing support.

Gary Tobin, Budget, Taxation & Economic Division, Department of Finance, provided an update on the recent green tax changes.
‘Green finance' refers to capital markets, investment banking activities and related advisory services, which support the development, finance and promotion of a low-carbon economy.

It includes funding of renewable energy generation, energy efficiency measures, trading and management of carbon and clean-tech/sustainable funds.

“Ireland is well placed to reach these targets and grow assets under management. Already assets under management has reached €2.3bn - up more than 100pc in the past year and 200pc in four, according to figures from Lipper and PwC."

Proponents of the Green IFSC believe Ireland is in a unique position to be a world leader in green finance, possessing all the ingredients needed to grow upon an already impressive cluster - a world-leading international financial services centre, a grouping of green enterprise companies active across the globe, some of the best natural resources in the world, the talent and expertise, and a supportive Government helping ensure the optimum business environment.

John McKiernan, a partner at Novusmodus, said: "Three years ago, ESB took the decision to fund ESB Novusmodus with €200m and created one of Europe's leading clean-tech and renewable investment funds.

“Today it is based in Dublin and Novusmodus also has offices in London and Munich. Building on the existing cluster of green enterprise and funding initiatives, Ireland is quickly developing the credentials as a leader in the new clean-tech industry. Green IFSC activity can only accelerate that growth."

Enda Keane, co-founder and CEO of TreeMetrics, added: "The Green IFSC facilitated changes to the Irish securitisation regime, and specifically the recognition of forest carbon credits in tax legislation means that we now have an additional added value."

The figures were revealed at the SEAI's annual conference in Dublin today.

Since its launch in June 2011, more than 190 organisations have become certified to the new International Energy Management Standard ISO 50001 and Ireland has about one-third of this number achieving the equivalent standard already. 

Many of the 65 Irish sites accredited belong to energy-intensive multinationals such as Intel, Pfizer, Google and Irish Cement, who are now sharing their knowledge on energy management with their global operations. 

Public bodies are also achieving firsts in energy management with University College Cork recently becoming the first university worldwide to achieve ISO 50001. 

It is recognised that Ireland is ahead of the international trend in energy management and with the global market for this knowledge and expertise growing, Ireland is winning business abroad.

A real opportunity for Ireland

It is estimated that energy management standards could influence 60pc of the world's energy use and Irish businesses in this sector are uniquely positioned to benefit. 

“The expertise developed in Ireland by organisations trying to reduce energy use and companies specialising in energy management services is now globally recognised as best in class," SEAI's Brian Motherway explained.

“Other nations are increasingly looking to Ireland to learn from our proven track record in energy management, and this represents a real opportunity for Ireland."

The app is in fact Nike's annual sustainability report in the interactive form of an app that showcases its 'Considered Index', which Nike's 600 designers use to choose between 75,000 different materials.

Unfortunately, it seems the app will not result in bespoke sneakers for users. Instead, it educates them about making use of environmentally preferred materials such as 'better cotton'.

According to BusinessGreen.com, the footwear giant eventually wants to create fully closed loop products using the fewest possible materials which can be recycled into new products or returned to nature.

The CEM and the Sustainable Energy for All initiative are seek to improve energy efficiency, increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and ensure access to energy.

As a result of the London conference, 16 governments participating in the Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment (SEAD) initiative have recommitted to working together and with the private sector to accelerate global progress on improving the energy efficiency of equipment and appliances.

At the close of the conference yesterday, CEM said this energy-efficiency initiative could save consumers more than US$1trn over the next two decades.

Earlier this year, SEAD launched the first Global Efficiency Medal competition to recognise and promote the most efficient products, starting with flat-panel televisions. Yesterday, SEAD participating governments announced the expansion of the competition to include electric motors and computer monitors.

Efficient lighting

SEAD partners, led by India, also launched a new initiative to provide technical co-operation to accelerate adoption of efficient lighting.
CEM said migrating to more efficient lighting technologies, such as compact fluorescent lamps and solid-state lighting, could potentially reduce global electricity consumption by around 2.5pc.

Renewable energy

At the conference, the UK announced the establishment of up to stg£60m in new funding to support the demonstration of carbon capture and storage technologies in developing countries.

Meanwhile, Denmark, Germany and Spain have pioneered a global renewable resource atlas that maps the potential for solar and wind energy across the world.

The atlas apparently includes plans to assess the cost-effectiveness of those resources in different countries, based on energy prices, project finance costs, and available incentives.

Universal energy access

Italy and the US announced the launch of Lighting India, an initiative that's aiming to bring modern lighting services to 2m people by the end of 2015.

CEM said the Lighting Africa programme has already accelerated market-driven delivery of quality off-grid lighting devices to 2.5m people in Africa.

It said both of these programmes will be affiliated with the Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP) announced yesterday. The aim of Global LEAP will be to promote market-based delivery of low-cost, quality-assured solutions to consumers who lack modern energy options.

Other Global LEAP partners include the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the UN Foundation, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the African Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the UN Development Programme, and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

CEM said more than 100 private-sector and civil society organisations have expressed support for its principles.

Women in Clean Energy programme

The US also announced a national Women in Clean Energy programme in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as part of its commitment to the Clean Energy Education & Empowerment Initiative (C3E).

More than 20 senior professional women in clean energy will serve as C3E ambassadors. There will also be an awards programme to recognise individuals who have advanced women's leadership and their accomplishments in clean energy. In addition, MIT will hold a symposium this September.

"The Department of Energy is committed to advancing American leadership in the global clean-energy economy and capturing the new markets and jobs of the 21st century. We will be more successful in these endeavours if we harness the talents of all of our citizens," said US Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday at the London summit, announcing the Women in Clean Energy programme. Chu was the co-chair of the CEM summit.

Yesterday in San Francisco, a group of Greenpeace activists took to Union Square, where Apple's flagship store is based. MercuryNews.com reported that the activists walked into Union Square brandishing hundreds of black and white balloons that were emblazoned with the words 'Clean Our Cloud'.

Over in New York, Apple's Fifth Avenue store was the scene of a balloon tirade by activists, as they released black balloons in the glass cube entrance to the building.

In Toronto, Greenpeace activists also staged a demonstration at the Apple store in the city's Eaton Centre shopping centre yesterday.

Activists floated a 'dirty' cloud made of more than 200 black balloons above the store's entrance. As well as this, they also covered Apple devices in the store with signs that read 'Cloud Cleaning in Progress'.

Last week, Greenpeace released its How Clean is Your Cloud report, in which it rated 14 global IT companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, HP and Twitter, on how much greenhouse gas emissions they are producing at their data centre operations.

In the report, Greenpeace slated Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, claiming they all scored badly for relying on "dirty energy" to power up their data centres.

Since then, Greenpeace has been upping the scale of its Apple attack. Via its Clean our Cloud petition, Green is calling on the tech titan to clean up its act because it says the Apple iCloud relies on coal.

"As Canadians become increasingly reliant upon cloud technology, they want to use their iPhones and iPads knowing that our cloud is being powered by clean energy, not dirty pollution from coal and nuclear energy," said Christy Ferguson, climate and energy unit head for Greenpeace Canada, following the Toronto protest yesterday.

Last week, Apple defended itself against Greenpeace claims that it uses "dirty energy" to power up its data centres.

While Greenpeace had stated Apple would use 100 megawatts (MW) of power at its new data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, Apple hit back and said the data centre would use one-fifth of that estimate - at 20MW.

Rabbitte was speaking at the official opening of BGE's first developed wind farm, Ballymartin Wind Farm in Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny, yesterday.

Rabbitte also said Bord Gáis is to open two new wind farms in 2012 that will have the capacity to provide power for more than 30,000 homes.  

The second wind farm to become operational in 2012 will be Garracummer Wind Farm in Co Tipperary. According to Bord Gáis, this wind farm will bring an additional 42MW of wind energy online.

Bord Gáis now has 15pc of the installed wind capacity in Ireland. It owns and operates 132 turbines on 13 wind farms in eight counties: Kerry, Cork, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Donegal and Tyrone.

Rabbitte said renewable energy has a key role in shaping Ireland's energy future by "decarbonising" its electricity generation over the coming years.

"Ireland needs long-term investment in projects, such as the Ballymartin Wind Farm, and in the next three years Bord Gáis Energy will invest a further €400m on renewable energy projects," he said.

Rabbitte also indicated that as the structure of the Irish energy market develops, there will be new and bigger market opportunities for the renewable energy sector to engage in.

Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins said the company's wind farms presently have the capacity to provide energy to 150,000 homes across this country.

"By the end of 2012, this will increase to 180,000 homes. We are committed to providing a sustainable energy product for our customers and we are actively pursuing a portfolio that reduces the carbon footprint associated with providing this energy," said Mullins.

The Irish Government is aiming to have 40pc of electricity produced by renewables by 2020.

Cellulac will create 14 high quality jobs and will be recruiting graduates from the life sciences and engineering sectors to grow its research base in Ireland.

Cellulac is an Enterprise Ireland high potential start-up (HPSU).

The agency supported the company in its bid for this significant grant.

Lactic acid is used in cosmetics, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, biodegradable plastics and other industrial sectors.

Biorefining: a new high-growth industry

Biorefining is a growing €4bn per annum market and is expanding at a rate of 19pc each year.

The EU grant approval, which will anchor a consortium of funding from State, institutional and private investors, will be used to prove mass production capability.

Possible locations for the demonstration plant - where lactic acid will be produced at an industrial level with the goal of licensing the technology world wide - are currently being scouted in Ireland and the EU.

“The size of the EU Commission grant for the Cellulac project indicates the high-commercial potential of the finished product - Lactic acid – and the importance of biorefining as a future growth industry,” said Seán Sherlock, TD, Minister for Research and Innovation.

According to Intel, savings across the board from the participating organisations and businesses have so far amounted to 20,000 kWh of electricity per year. 

Of late, it's not just large corporations that are rethinking their energy strategies. Smaller businesses, especially SMEs, are embedding some form of sustainability strategy into their business planning in order to reduce their energy costs in the long run.

Intel said today it worked with 10 local businesses, a library and schools in Leixlip to help them passively monitor the amount of energy being consumed within their buildings through a power metering device and a display system.

It said the display system enabled the business owners to instantly see how much energy was being used at any given time.

Intel then set up a website called Reduceourenergy.com, so it could record this information every five minutes in order to provide live updates and reports on the participants' energy usage.

Energy audits

Each of the participating entities also had an energy audit, before they set about adjusting their energy usage.

Confey College in Leixlip, for instance, made some minor changes in its PC room by turning off computers instead of leaving them on stand-by.

Based on this change, the college reduced its energy consumption by 8000 kWh of electricity per year. Apparently, this is equivalent to a saving of €1,300 per year and a reduction of more than six tonnes of CO2. 

Sharing energy data

Intel said the 20,000 kWh of electricity per year in savings equates to a saving of €3,300 and equivalent to having three cars off the road permanently or 16 tonnes less of CO2.

Lisa Harlow, Intel Ireland's external relations manager, said Intel would now release all of the technical details of how the project was constructed, as well as sharing the list of hardware used and the software which was written.

She said this would allow any other interested people or organisations to run similar energy-saving projects.

Apple has hit back, saying that the data centre will use one fifth of that estimate - at 20MW.

And now Greenpeace has issued a campaign protest via its site so people can send posts to chiefs Steve Ballmer at Microsoft, Jeff Bezos at Amazon and Tim Cook at Apple if they are concerned about how the three tech giants are approaching green IT.

Greenpeace issued its How Clean is Your Cloud report earlier this week. The report rated 14 global IT companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, HP and Twitter, on how much greenhouse gas emissions they are producing at their data centre operations.

Greenpeace activists also took to the roof of Apple's European base in Cork to stage a protest yesterday.

It was back in February that Apple announced its plan to build a 100-acre solar farm around its data centre in Maiden, North Carolina. In 2011, Apple commissioned the North Carolina data centre. At the time Apple said that the solar farm would be a 20-megawatt facility, supplying 42m kWh of clean, renewable energy annually.

This week Greenpeace slated Apple's claims in its report. Based on its data, it suggested that Apple would use 100MW of power at the facility.

"Apple has announced a 20MW solar array, and has also put a 5MW fuel cell device on site in Maiden, NC. While much has been made of this announcement, it will cover only 10% of their total generation for the data center," said Greenpeace in the report. (pdf).

"Our data centre in North Carolina will draw about 20 megawatts at full capacity," an Apple spokeswoman said. "We believe this industry-leading project will make Maiden the greenest data centre ever built."

In its report Greenpeace was critical of Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, claiming that they all scored badly for relying on "dirty energy" to power up their data centres.

Data centre investments in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany

Greenpeace also gave a snapshot of countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany, showing their data centre investments, their grid mixes and their expected renewable energy supplies by 2020. See the infographic below, taken from the report.

Clean up the dirtiest thing on the internet campaign

Now Greenpeace has issued a campaign called 'Clean up the dirtiest thing on the internet'.

On its site, Greenpeace issued the following: "Apple, Amazon and Microsoft all use asthma-inducing, climate destroying coal to power the "cloud" that stores your emails, photos, music and videos. Take action now & tell these companies to clean the cloud."

Greenpeace is calling on people to tell the companies directly by sending a post to the leaders of the three companies via its site.

Here's a copy of the message that those, who wish, can send to Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook via the Greenpeace:

Dear Mr. Ballmer, Mr. Bezos & Mr. Cook,

We need to talk Green IT. The coal-fired power plants that energize your giant data centers are one of the world's top sources of airborne carcinogens and greenhouse gases.

You've probably seen the Greenpeace International report confirming just how much coal is being burned to keep all those servers online. It casts quite a cloud over all that IT innovation, but the facts are easy to see: Our data is downright dirty.

Source: Greenpeace

RTÉ reports that four activists staged an hour-long protest on the Apple building at Holyhill in Cork from 7am this morning.

Gardaí and the fire service arrived at the scene and the protesters came down voluntarily.

The protest centred around Greenpeace’s ‘How Clean Is Your Cloud?’ report, which rates technology companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, HP and Twitter, on how much greenhouse gas emissions they are producing.

According to the report, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud businesses were rapidly expanding without ‘adequate regard’ to how their energy is sourced. It claims the companies rely on fossil fuels to power their cloud services.

The report also claimed Apple’s new data centre in North Carolina in the US, which powers iCloud, mostly uses coal and estimates it would consume 100m watts at full capacity.

Apple denied these claims, telling the New York Times the data centre would consume 20m watts at full capacity. Apple also said it is building two large projects to offset energy use from the grid in North Carolina, which include an array of solar panels and a set of fuel cells.

O'Dowd is this morning opening a two-day conference in Dublin Castle that will look at the contribution geoscience makes in Ireland.

Today’s programme will be focusing on safe cities and the contribution of geoscience in the urban environment. It is being hosted by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland.

The programme itself will examines flooding, subsidence, landslides, the challenges of tunnelling, contaminated land and 3D modelling of subsurface geology in case studies of cities in Ireland, the UK and across Europe.

“Geoscientists contribute to a better understanding of city environments, where wise use of human and natural resources is vital to reduce risk, protect and enhance quality of life,” O'Dowd said ahead of the launch of the conference. 

He said a €250,000 environmental research call will support contracts for up to 10 researchers over the next year.

On Thursday, the conference programme will focus on the creation of jobs from geoscience research. The conference will showcase GSI’s collaborative projects, Tellus Border and INFOMAR. It will also look at how GSI is creating jobs through its geoscience initiatives programme.

Studying Dublin's soil

Today’s conference programme sees the publication of the GSI’s Dublin SURGE (Soil Urban Geochemistry) project. Apparently, it’s the first ever in-depth study on the chemistry of Dublin’s soil.

According to GSI, the results of the project show that the soils of inner city Dublin have higher levels of potentially harmful elements and persistent organic pollutants than outer city areas. The same chemical pattern is seen in cities around the world and the GSI said the results are consistent with an industrial heritage, burning of fossil fuels, the use of leaded paint and petrol over the past 1,000 years of human habitation in Dublin.

“This study provides a snapshot of the chemical status of Dublin soil today which is directly relevant to the protection of its citizens' health, compliance with environmental legislation, land-use planning and urban regeneration,” said Koen Verbruggen, acting director of GSI.

Verbruggen said that through the collaboration of environmental experts, health authorities and regulators, further deterioration of Ireland’s soil resource can be prevented, especially in urban public areas where people can come into contact with soil.

Earthquakes and tsunamis

The conference itself will feature a keynote public lecture by Prof John McCloskey from University of Ulster, who is a newly elected member of the RIA. His talk will cover ‘Understanding Earthquakes and Tsunamis’. It which looks at how geoscience is applied to earthquakes and tsunamis in the urban setting on an international scale.

"Geoscientists have a vital role to play in providing knowledge to those who maintain, design and develop our cities, with a view to making them safer places for people to live and work,” said Prof Pat Shannon, chairman of the Geosciences Committee of the RIA.

Attendance at the conference and public lecture is free, but people must register online.

Reports have been circulating that the Irish Government is to introduce annual water meters charges of around €39 per year for 20 years for homeowners.

Earlier today Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that water meter charges still have to be decided upon. He made his comments as he entered a cabinet meeting at Government Buildings this morning. Topics up for discussion today include water charges and the setting up of the new State-led utility Irish Water. It has just been announced that Irish Water will be a subsidiary of Bord Gais.

Water tax - 2014

Here in Ireland, a new water tax is set to be come into force in 2014. The Government also announced its aim in January to install 90pc of houses with water meters by 2014.

It said that some of its proposed reforms also included water charges based on metered usage, with the metering programme on track to start in the latter part of 2012.

The Government said water meters would encourage water conservation.

_{Water butt kit, which collects rainwater from the roof of a house}

Water conservation

According to Colm Griffin from Purchase.ie, a new Irish site that deals in eco products, there are many ways that people can cut down on their water usage. He has shared a few tips with us.

• Taps and showers

When you are waiting for the water to get to the right temperature, Griffin recommends that you put a container under the shower head and use that water for other purposes - ie for watering plants.

He says that an aerated shower head will also use half the water of a normal shower head. Apparently most shower heads use about 12 litres of water per minute.

The same aerated technology can also be applied to taps, says Griffin.

• Water leaks

When the water charges come in, Griffin says that undetected water leaks could cost people a small fortune. He recommends installing a water leak alarm, which can be fitted to the water pipe. Such an alarm can apparently detect a leak of 40ml per minute.

• Water and the garden

Over in the UK, hosepipe bans have been introduced by seven water companies since 5 April. The Environment Agency has said that more than half of England is now under drought conditions. For people who don't comply they could face a stg£1,000 fine.

Here on Irish soil, Griffin recommends using a water butt kit. What is this, I hear you say? Well, apparently you install such a kit on the downpipes of your home, so that they can catch rainwater from your roof. Sounds like a good idea during Ireland's generally rain-filled summers.

Finally, he says people could also consider installing a water saving nozzle on their garden hose.

And for the plants themselves, you can even plug in a type of moisture meter into the roots of your plant. The meter will let you know when the plant has had its fill of water.

The Focus Electric will be performing all pace care duties at Richmond International Raceway.

Production of the Focus Electric began in December at Ford's Michigan assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan.

Ford said it would be ramping up is Focus Electric retail production in the first half of this year for dealership availability in California, New York and New Jersey. By the end of the year, the automaker said the vehicle would be available in 19 markets across the US.

And as part of its huge marketing push in the US, Ford is giving Facebook users the chance to take a 'virtual' road trip in the new Focus Electric before the car becomes available in most US markets.


_{Ford employee Jeff Danes demonstrates the installation of the battery charger for the 2012 Ford Focus Electric at the Michigan Assembly Plant. Image courtesy of Ford}

The grid reinforcement plan for the south and east of the country is also aiming to help Ireland reduce its heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels and to instead provide a smarter platform for the future integration of renewables to the grid.

It's part of EirGrid's Grid25 strategy to upgrade Ireland's electricity transmission grid.

EirGrid said it has carried out a detailed analysis of the national transmission grid to identify the level of reinforcement required to ensure a secure electricity supply and to better position Ireland to achieve its renewable energy targets. It said this analysis identified a capacity shortfall in the south and east of the country.

The initial proposed project study area covers counties Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.

Economic benefit

Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte, TD, was in Cork this morning to launch the project. He said the Grid Link Project would reinforce the electricity grid and have direct economic benefits for local communities.

"I encourage people to engage in the public consultation and provide feedback to EirGrid," he said.

The first stage of consultation will run for eight weeks from today to Friday, 8 June.

“During this first stage of public consultation, EirGrid is seeking comment on the proposed study area map, feedback on what constraints should be identified and on how EirGrid should develop corridors for the project," said John Lowry, manager of the Grid Link Project. "This is a non-statutory consultation that will provide all interested individuals and organisations an opportunity to feed into the early development of the project."

Based on assessments so far, EirGrid said the optimum solution is the construction of a 400 kV alternating current (AC) overhead line linking Cork and Kildare via Wexford. EirGrid said it would be reviewing its technology analysis at key stages throughout the project to ensure it remains valid.

Ireland and renewable energy

EirGrid chief executive Dermot Byrne said the project would be a vital development to strengthen the electricity grid across the south and east of the country.

He said the project would help empower economic growth and help Ireland meet its renewable energy targets.

“The project will help enable Ireland to shift from a heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels to more sustainable sources of energy. It will also help ensure that the most efficient electricity generators in the south and east are utilised in the most effective way," said Byrne.

EirGrid said its project team would carry out detailed studies and extensive public consultation over the coming years to determine constraints that will influence the siting and route selection. 

Information offices will open in Carlow, Carrick-on-Suir, Midleton and New Ross from next Monday. People can also email gridlink@eirgrid.com.

One of the aims of the convention, organised by Dublin Chamber of Commerce, was to explore how city councils could go about embracing green procurement opportunities and cleaner mobility in order for cities to tackle issues such as carbon emissions and congestion.

On the Irish side, Mark Bennett from Dublin City Council gave a helicopter view of three clean-tech projects in Dublin, which he said were creating a "green economy ecosystem" for test-bedding green technologies and financing green business.

Such initiatives include the Green IFSC initiative, which is aiming to capitalise on Ireland's financial services history. He spoke about the GreenWay clean-tech cluster that's aiming to create conditions for a clean-tech cluster in the north of the city, plus Sustainable Energy Communities, a Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland programme that's aiming to create sustainable energy zones in communities that integrate renewables and become more energy efficient.

Bennett also spoke about Dublinked, a new open data platform between the four Dublin local authorities and NUI Maynooth that is using technology pioneered at IBM.

The network is opening up the city's data to researchers, scientists and the public so that entrepreneurs can potentially pioneer new applications and digital services.

A smarter and greener IBM

Speaking of IBM, Niall Brady, intelligent building lead researcher at IBM's Smarter Cities Technology Centre in Dublin, talked about the retrofitting challenges that IBM encountered when it set about converting a 3,500 sq-metre warehouse into that research facility, which is based on the IBM campus in the west of Dublin.

According to Brady, 98pc of future building work will be around retrofitting, so contractors, architects and builders will have to get to grips with a more "holistic view" when refitting buildings to make them more sustainable.

He said it's also important to make your design team understand what you are trying to achieve when carrying out retrofits.

With the Smarter Cities Centre, Brady said the three main objectives were to create a user-comfortable environment for its 150 researchers who work there, as well as reducing energy and water usage and keeping within budget.

He said one of the biggest challenges that IBM had in Dublin was getting its own internal people to understand what it was trying to achieve with the new design of the building, which uses technologies such as sensors to turn lighting on and off.

Brady said companies and other entities need to be mindful of seeking out the correct fit-for-purpose technologies to suit their retrofitting projects.

"The biggest challenge technically is trying to integrate technologies. It requires lateral thinking to get the technologies working together," he noted.

A smarter and greener Madrid

Juan Azcárate Luxán from Madrid City Council spoke about Madrid's approach to achieving sustainable mobility.

With a population of 3.273m people, Luxán spoke about how the city had almost 1.5m public transport users in 2010. As for car users, the city has 1.4m cars, with around 700,000 weaving in and out of Madrid each day.

It means Madrid has been faced with tackling emissions polluting the city's air.

Luxán also spoke about Madrid's plan to integrate the management of street parking.

It's about big data, he said, that looks at the smart integration of ICT to help progress smarter mobility in the city. For instance, El Aire deMadrid is an iPhone app that gives real-time information about Madrid's air quality and pollution levels, based on the nearest monitoring station to where a phone user is situated.

He also touched on smart solutions for smart people, adding that not everyone in a city like Madrid will have a smartphone so issues like that need to be taken into consideration.

A smarter and greener Vienna

Moving on to Vienna, and Eva Persy, head of the sustainable development unit there, spoke about how Austria's capital city has 1.6m inhabitants. She said the purchasing budget for the city of Vienna is €5bn.

OekoKaufWien is a green procurement programme that the City of Vienna has been pioneering since 2005 in order to switch over to using green products for the city's public schools, hospitals, nursing homes and kindergartens.

"It's complicated to buy green products," said Persy.

"You have to include who you purchase from and also the people who will be using the products. You have to stick to procurement laws."

Vienna City Council has created working groups around everything from disinfectants to waste water and organic food, she said.

And what have been the benefits so far of going down the green procurement route? Taking organic food as a case in point, Persy explained that public hospitals in Vienna now use 30pc organic food, while there has been a 30pc take-up of organic food in public schools and a 50pc take-up in public kindergartens.

"We started with the kids. We also cut down on the percentage of meat. It's good for people's health and also because meat is so expensive," she said.

Between 2004 and 2007, introducing energy-saving devices, organic food and water savings all helped Vienna to cut down on 103,000 tonnes of CO2, she added.

"We also introduced water saving gate valves in official buildings, public schools and kindergartens. We achieved a cost reduction of about €1.5m a year."

The OekoKaufWien programme, which started in 1998, also has the involvement of 900 businesses to help them become more sustainable.

Since then, these businesses have achieved €82m in savings between them after adopting greener strategies.

Persy spoke about how Dublin is a smart city. "You invite people from other cities to share their strategies. That is smart," she said.

FedEx Express, an operating company of FedEx Corp, is preparing to launch the carbon-neutral shipping programme for its packaging solution for document shipping. It will be aligning with BP's not-for-profit Target Neutral scheme for the carbon offsetting initiative.

FedEx Express said it would add up on an annual basis the tonnes of CO2 released through the shipment of all global FedEx envelopes. It said it would then purchase the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide offsets from the not-for-profit BP Target Neutral.

Following that, BP Target Neutral will set about neutralising the equivalent amount of CO2 emissions by investing in low-carbon development or conservation projects.

Such projects will include a biogas farm facility in the Netherlands, a reforestation project in the Tanzanian Southern Highlands that is converting degraded grassland to commercial forest, and a landfill gas collection system at Thailand's first sanitary landfill.

"FedEx has invested in technologies to directly reduce greenhouse gases from our greatest sources - planes, trucks and facilities - and, as a result, we are well on our way to meeting ambitious emission-reduction goals," said Mitch Jackson, staff vice-president, environmental affairs and sustainability at FedEx Corp. 

He said the new carbon-neutral programme would allow the company to further contribute to minimising the effects of greenhouse gas emissions from its operations by providing more sustainable options for customers.

Oil giant BP has been running its offset programme since 2006.

For the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London this summer, of which it is an official carbon offset partner, BP Target Neutral is aiming to set a new record for the most individual carbon offsets to a single event.

BP said it would offset the carbon footprint from people's travel to the Olympic Games if they register their journeys with the company.

The EPA, which has just submitted its data to the EU Commission, said the reduction is largely due to a decline in emissions from the cement industry and from the power-generation sector.

Emissions from the cement industry apparently decreased by 12pc, while emissions from the power-generation area decreased by 11pc.

However, the Irish food and drink sector has had an increase of 1pc, reflecting how the sector is currently performing well.

According to the EPA's Dr Maria Martin, the emission reduction is a reflection of both the impact of the current recession in terms of reduced energy and cement demand, and the increased availability of wind generation on the grid.

Decarbonising the energy sector

She said the continued development of both the renewable energy sector and energy efficiency policies would be crucial to further reducing power-generation emissions. 

"The decarbonisation of the energy sector is essential to assist Ireland in meeting future greenhouse gas emissions obligations and moving us to a more sustainable low-carbon economy," said Martin.

The ETS covers more than 100 major industrial and institutional sites in Ireland. The companies centre around industries such as power generation, other combustion, cement, lime, glass and ceramic plants and oil refining. The scheme also covers large companies in areas such as food and drink, pharmaceuticals and semi-conductors.

The EU's ETS itself was first launched in 2005. It now covers some 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 30 countries. The scheme is based on the 'cap and trade' principle - ie, to cap or limit the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by such plants. Then, as part of this cap, such firms can receive emission allowances that they can sell to or buy from one another as they need them.

The ETS was also recently extended to the airline industry.

The EU has offered to increase its emissions reduction to 30pc by 2020. However, the European Commission said this reduction would only be based on condition that other major emitting countries in the developed and developing worlds commit to do their fair share under a future global climate agreement.