The Renewable Energy Generation and Renewable Resources in Ireland report was commissioned by BioPower Group Plc, an Irish based bioenergy company, and will be launched in the near future by Eamon Ryan, Green Party Communication Minister. It announces that Ireland could and should be The Green Energy Capital of Europe and has the capability of creating in excess of 80,000 sustainable jobs.
The main findings of this report are that Ireland has an abundance of renewable energy and that a combination of these renewable energies can give Ireland a totally secure dependable and predictable energy supply. Its authors claim that Ireland can “not only be 100% self sufficient in energy” but also “an exporter of vast amounts of clean electricity”.
After Ireland became the "tiger economy of the West" during the last decade, with GDP growing at an average of 5% between 1995 and 2007, it has been one of the EU countries most severely affected by the current global recession. Unemployment, which fell from 18% in the late 1980s to a low of 3.5% in 2007, is now running at almost 12%, while GDP is forecast to contract by 10% during 2009.
According to the report, this dramatic downturn can be reversed at least partially through investments in clean energy; leading to the revitalisation of the agricultural and marine sectors and reductions in overseas payments of many billions of Euros. Focusing on renewables could also lead to cuts in Ireland’s annual carbon dioxide emissions of over 10,000,000 tonnes, helping the country to comply with its Kyoto and EU commitments.
The projects envisaged in the report will create construction jobs during the building phase, developing the local and regional economy. “Energy demand is continuing to rise worldwide and energy supply will increasingly be provided locally, creating a second source of income for agriculture, marine, forestry, machinery manufacturers and plant builders”, say the authors, who consider that the future development and consolidation of locally and efficiently produced energy supply “represents the foundation for a balanced energy mix for the future, resulting in Ireland being a net exporter of energy”.
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