26 June, 2006

Green Energy at Leopardstown


We were swamped! On Sunday 18th June we held our Green Energy Fair in the Tote Hall at Leopardstown Racecourse. Eamon Ryan, Deirdre deBurca and myself organised the day that brought over 3,000 people interested in low energy solutions to Leopardstown to see our forty exhibitors dispalaying their wares. Sustainable Energy Ireland went through three days worth of leaflets in the first two hours, and it really showed that there is a hunger for solutions out there.

There was some irony in the fact that your local Green Party TDs spent much of the day directing cars into the overflow car park after the first two car parks filled up by lunchtime, but it was worth it in the end.

Much of the technology on display consisted of products such as solar water heaters, wind turbines and lambswool insulation. Several people seemed overwhelmed by the bazaarlike atmosphere of the Tote Hall and asked me for my relatively impartial advice on the subject. Insulation, insulation, insulation was my response, oh and if you're replacing your boiler think about a high-efficiency condensing one, or perhaps a wood pellet model if you have the space.

In the longer term we need to dramatically improve standards in the Building Regulations. Ireland has no energy efficiency standards for lighting, even though California has them in place for years. Meanwhile Grant Engineering in Co. Galway are exporting most of their Boilers to the UK where they tightened up their building standards years ago.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mild objection.
If there was a fair being organised it would be good for readers to have advance warning (they might be interested) rather than hear about it afterwards.

Ciarán said...

Sorry you didn't get to hear about it. We had advertised in the Southside People and the Wicklow Times. We also distributed newsletters door to door in Dun Laoghaire and put up posters around South Dublin. I'm sorry you missed it, Ciaran