Irish Government- Renewable Energy

Ireland isn’t exactly “well-known” for its renewable energy efforts. In fact, the Irish Government was criticised recently for not backing EU renewable energy proposals. These proposals were to allow community groups to generate and sell back renewable energy into the National Grid. However, these proposals were turned down by the government. As young people today, we are constantly being taught and lectured on how renewable energy is the “future” and how we will “destroy ourselves” if we don’t implement this kind of energy soon. So, when I hear about our own government turning down proposals, it makes me wonder do they even know the consequences of their actions? As part of our Young Social Innovators (YSI) project “Off Grid” we are aiming to put solar panels on our school’s roof to reduce energy costs and take as much of the school as we can “off the grid”. However, this is harder than it sounds. Ireland is getting an increasingly bigger reputation of supporting renewable energy on an industrial level instead of supporting more at a community level. As a result, it would be very difficult to get grants or funding from the government to aid our project. This is quite disappointing, but we will fundraise the money that we need by ourselves. We believe the government needs to focus more on supporting community and school-based projects (like ours) trying to make a difference in the world and have a positive effect on the environment. Currently, they are leaving it up to large corporations with lots of money. Ireland’s negative stance on renewable energy will eventually come back to bite us in the backside as well. Ireland has been ranked 49 th

out of 56 countries in the Climate Change Performance Index 2018. This Index ranks countries from best to worst in terms of emissions. This is an awfully low position for such a small country that prides itself on forward thinking and progress. According to national experts, Ireland is one of the few EU countries set to miss its 2020 emission reduction targets. This would be a terrible scenario for Ireland considering our climate is perfect for wind turbines and solar panels. Failing to reach these targets set by the EU doesn’t come without a cost either. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he would rather increase funding to tackle climate change in Ireland than pay the hefty €75 million fine every year that 16% of Ireland’s energy doesn’t come from renewable sources e.g. wind turbines and solar panels. Compare Ireland to a country like Sweden. They have pledged to become a fossil fuel free country by 2050. In 2014, 50% of Sweden’s energy needs were met by renewables according to data from Eurostat. In this period Ireland only managed 8%. Ireland obviously has great potential for renewable energy considering our size and our climate. Therefore, there is no reason why we can’t have targets that are ambitious and that strive for a better future for this country.