June 25th, 2019
The
Government’s new climate
action
plan
outlines
an
ambitious
objective for retrofitting 500,000 homes and
putting at least 800,000 electric cars on the road by 2030.
Developing
200 on-street public chargers per year has been suggested as an ideal
strategy to supply the energy demands of over 800,000 electric
vehicles.
The
plan’s new objectives also
includes
a far-reaching reliance on renewable electricty,
with
70 per cent of all electricity planned to come from clean, renewable
sources by 2030.
The
Government has also proposed a pilot microgeneration
scheme
slated to come
into effect by 2021 through which homeowners can
sell excess electricity generated by renewables
back
to the national grid.
The
new green strategy also stipulates an “effectively”
implemented ban on the installation of oil boilers in all new houses
by 2022 followed by another embargo slated to be imposed on gas
boilers by 2025.
The
energy section of the new climate action roadmap places a great
emphasis on retrofitting Midland counties with a significant
evaluation process for “natural resources concealed by peat
cover” suggested for those areas.
Under
the new plan,
homeowners can pay for retrofitting their homes to make them more
energy efficient through higher property tax or electricity bills.
The
cost of retrofitting homes “should not be unfairly borne by
those who are less able to afford it”, according
to the
Green Party
Councillor for Cobh Alan O’Connor.
Mr
O’Connor
told The
Green News
that “older homes and cheaper-built houses” often occupied
by lower-income families are the ones that require retrofitting, but
their owners may not be able to afford it.
Mr
O’Connor welcomed the emphasis on a
“just transition” to cleaner sources of energy in the new
plan,
adding, however, that the
Government’s
recent actions contradict its new climate action ambitions.
He
said
that recent Government moves including the expansion of Dublin
Airport and issuing of fossil fuel exploration licences make it hard
to believe that the State is genuine about
making
a radical shift to renewable energy sources.
“And in light of our abject failure to reach our 2020 targets, it’s hard to trust that even the praiseworthy elements of the plan will transpire,” Mr O’Connor said.
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