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IRELAND DID NOT meet its binding target to have a 16% share of renewable energy by 2020, according to a new report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
The SEAI released its annual Energy in Ireland 2021 report which looks at trends in energy use and related carbon emissions in 2020.
It found that the overall share of renewable energy in Ireland last year was 13.5%.
Ireland and other EU countries have a number of EU greenhouse gas emission targets.
In a recent statement to The Journal, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications said the latest estimates indicate that Ireland will need to purchase an extra 3.8 million credits to comply with its EU Effort Sharing Decision targets, which will cost between €6 million and €13 million.
Ireland did reach its target for EU renewable transport energy of 10% and the share of renewable electricity was 39.1%, just below the 40% target for this sector.
The country achieved just half of its renewable heating and cooling target – hitting 6.3% instead of 12%.
Energy from renewable sources grew by 8.9% in 2020. The SEAI is the official source of energy data in Ireland.
Ireland’s total energy use last year reduced by almost 9%, which the SEAI said was “due largely to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Energy-related emissions also fell by 11.4%. It said these are the most significant annual reductions since 2009 during the economic recession.
The CEO of the SEAI, William Walsh, said that “practically all reductions” in energy consumptions were from the transport sector. Domestic and international travel restrictions were in place at different points in 2020 due to the pandemic.
“However, early data from 2021 indicates that energy use in the transport sector is returning to pre-Covid-19 levels,” Walsh said in a statement.
It is notable that the reduction in CO2 emissions seen in 2020 is less than the amount that will need to be achieved every year from 2021 to 2030 to meet our long-term decarbonisation goals.
“Now more than ever, it is essential that we accelerate the elimination of fossil fuels with energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and increase sustainable energy practices across all sectors.”
Energy consumption in the transport sector reduced by almost a quarter in 2020.
Consumption of fuel for road vehicles reduced by 13.6% for diesel and 25.9% for petrol in 2020.
Peat use reduced by one-third last year, which the SEAI said was primarily due to a halving of peat used for electricity generation.
However, emissions from heating increased slightly. The SEAI said this was mostly due to an increase in oil use.
42% of all electricity generated last year came from renewable sources. Emissions from electricity must reduce by 62-81% by 2030 under government climate plans.
Walsh said that “as a society we will need to implement huge changes, and fast” for Ireland to meets its legally binding targets of reducing emissions by 51% by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050.
“We can create a better country in the process with more vibrant communities, better air quality, more comfortable homes, cleaner energy sources, and an economy built on sustainable industries and jobs – rather than one reliant on fossil fuels.”
Meeting targets
EU member states can meet their emissions targets under the Effort Sharing Decision through unused emissions allowances from earlier years, buying allowances from other EU states or buying international credits.
As part of this, Ireland must reduce emissions by 20% from sectors outside of the EU Emissions Trading System. This includes agriculture, buildings, transport and waste.
In a statement to The Journal, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications said EU member states can meet their targets under the ESD through unused emissions allowances from earlier years, buying allowances from other EU states or buying international credits.
Ireland has paid a total of €50 million up to December 2020 for a ‘statistical transfer’ of renewable energy to make up for a shortfall in meeting targets. This included €37.5 million paid to Estonia and €12.5 million paid to Denmark.
“A condition of the agreements was that Estonia/Denmark should use the revenues received for accelerating deployment of renewable electricity production in the respective Member States, to meet renewable energy targets of the European Union and their national energy and climate plan (NECP) renewable targets,” the department said.
Additional reporting by Niall Sargent.
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Great pilot to land plane a hero. Great job
@Thomas Linehan: She’s an ex F18 fighter pilot – one of the first female F18 pilots. Heard some of the radio communications of the flight. She sounded completely cool and in control. After the flight she spoke personally to every passenger before they left the aircraft. A wonderful pilot.
@Deborah Blacoe: Well said! Hopefully it will shut up some of those ‘ Woman can’t fly a plane/drive a car’ idiots.
@Michael Evans: They still exist?!
@Deborah Blacoe: fantastic , but again as I commented yesterday there was a time where if there was a catastrophic engine failure of this kind that they would immediately ground the planes with these engines as its too much risk allowing passengers to fly when they dont know the cause and level of risk but it looks like they are putting the dollars before the safety !!!! They were so lucky the whole plane didn’t go down killing all on board – the business model for Southwest ( and Ryanair followed ) is that they use the same type plane for fleet and same engines – this means that the business effect of having to ground the whole airline is simply too big and costly and they are taking risks keeping these up in the air until they identify with some certainty they are safe. Remember they tested these engines a week before the crash and they passed the tests yet exploded mid air killing one and lucky to avoid a whole castrophe – pretty shameful to take such risks until its resolved – id be pretty piiiiised if I lost a family relative because the airline is taking these risks with faulty engines .
@Dave Hammond: checking engines can be done on a stepped basis. They airline is given a set amount of flying hours within which to check engines. If the check hasn’t been completed by then, the aircraft is grounded.
@Deborah Blacoe: the point Deborah is that this engine had been checked days beforehand and passed as safe ????? They don’t know what caused the engine to disintegrate midair ?? You are also missing the other key point – with the evolvement of low cost airline business models – the airline uses ONE TYPE of engine / plane in the fleet to reduce business complexity for parts / maintenance etc – but when there is a catastrophe like this they are unable to ground the effected planes because it means the whole fleet cannot fly – (previously they always grounded a particular plane /engine type when there was an accident / deaths …..but not now. You are falling for the spin / nonsense that they can ‘ check them on a stepped basis ??? Now Think about that for a second ?? The test that was done on this engine days before PASSED !
@Dave Hammond: I am not missing any ‘point’. I am stating a fact. I have never commented on the rights or wrongs of it.
I think OMG’s reference is to the last picture in the article where three people are shown with the oxygen mask over their mouths, not noses and mouths as demonstrated in the safety briefings..
@Kevin O’Doherty: it depends on the size of the mask.
@Michael Lang: and what’s the excuse for having the elastic strap just dangling down rather than around their head?
@Colm O’Leary: putting it on quickly? Passenger partially panicking and just placing the mask against their mouth as getting the air was their highest priority?
You know what, who knows, and I doubt the various aviation safety ‘experts’ commenting on here know either.
I just about to say – None of them have the mask over their noses!
Spot the passengers who were reading the newspaper/chatting to their friends while the safety briefing was been conducted.
Never fails to amaze me how thick some people are.
@OMG!: I’ve been on a lot of planes in my time and I’m pretty sure there has never been any instruction on what to do if you get partially sucked out of a broken window. The lady in question was wearing her seat belt so I’m struggling to see the merit of your comment.
@OMG!: seriously that must be one of the dumbest comments ever on this site. Show some respect
@OMG!: frequent flyers don’t need to listen to such briefings.
@Bingobango: I could be wrong, but I think he’s talking about the fact the people in the photo don’t have their oxygen masks on correctly…
@Bingobango: be interesting to see if seatbelt was been worn at the time and if it would have changed the outcome if it was.
@Davy MacIomhair: The plane was most likely at a safe level of flight where oxygen masks are not required. The pilot descended as soon as cabin pressure was lost, that is the procedure. There doesn’t seem to be mass hysteria or panic here so I stand by my comment and feel the original posters comment was without merit in the context of this tragedy.
If you read more carefully it says that seatbelt was worn by the woman sitting next to the window.
@Ted Logan
@Bingobango: yet the oxygen masks still dropped from the ceiling…. So what do you expect people to do… Sit there and say.
“Hmmm.. I reckon we’re at a safe level of flight, I don’t need these masks…”
Good man.
@Davy MacIomhair: Of course they dropped, the cabin had a explosive decompression. There is only enough oxygen for 15 minutes so I’m pretty sure they were at a safe level of flight when this photo was taken. People harping on about not listening to the safety instructions and complaining that their oxygen masks aren’t fitted correctly are just being ridiculous. Good man.
@Bingobango: but their masks *arent* fitted correctly, and you’re assuming that photo was taken at a safe level of flight. Stop assuming stuff.
@Davy MacIomhair: Can we say a prayer for all those on the flight that lost their lives due to incorrectly fitted oxygen masks.
@OMG!: maybee they are frequent flyers .it amazes me how many people have to be told something before it sinks in .are you one of them.I know the drill off by heart.it never changes.
@Bingobango: I was reading it blew at 38000ft. I’d imagine that loosing a window at that altitude would result in pretty explosive decompression.
@Nauris Serna: Exactly. Hence why the poor woman got sucked out.
@Nauris Serna: It blew out at FL320 or 32000 feet, In the event of such an incident/accident you decent to FL100/10000 feet were the body can breath easily without using supplemental oxygen.
They do have a relatively young fleet but they would be concerned that the business model they use was a direct copy of Southwest – standardise the number of planes/engine types in the fleet etc – and they should be concerned that this engine passed the safety test days before this happened ?? I would suggest they would know that the business risk is huge on two levels – one is that the public react and question / doubt or lose confidence that low cost operators model isn’t compromising the safety of passengers with how far they can use these engines etc before a tragedy like this ? And secondly that they find something what caused the accident here is some fundamental flaw to the engines that may need global mandatory grounding because their exposure would be fairly significant.
What about our airline that flies B737s…Do they have this type of engine.
@tom McCormack If you mean Ryanair yes they also use the CFM engines.
@tom McCormack: that aircraft was nearly 20 years old afaik..ryanair has a relatively young fleet
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