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Summary of ideas submitted in the Green business category…

• A credit system to enable the micro generators of electricity to write off the value of what they produce against the value of what they purchase from electricity suppliers.
• A device that claims to create more energy then what is put in.
• All energy supply companies should provide customers with smart meters if requested so they can monitor and change their energy usage. These would be paid for by the customers.
• All engineering students should spend one month of their training courses researching ways to reduce waste of resources.
• All household immersions should be fitted with timers to save on energy usage.
• All information sent out by the state should be on recycled paper. This would stimulate the market for recycled paper.
• All local authorities should provide allotments where people can grow their own vegetables.
• All local authority offices should turn off the lights and boilers at weekends.
• All towns should have a sewerage treatment plant that converts waste into bio-gas which can be used to drive electrical generators.
• Allow double or maybe even triple capital allowances for businesses producing energy products while remaining below a threshold of CO2 emissions.
• Allow people on the dole to work in small companies to train up. They can get a small supplement whilst doing so. This will give the small companies an opportunity to expand and to employ the trainee if things pick up.
• Assemble an emergency wind energy building task force from the unemployed.
• Bring in a tax credit system that rewards individuals for planting trees in their homes / businesses. The trees would be made available at a lower cost or cost free and would lead to a greener Ireland.
• Build a solar and wave powered floating station which converts sea water to clean drinking water.
• Build a wind farm on the coast that can be partially used to pump sea water up high and when more energy is needed or there is no wind the sea water could be used to create hydro electricity.
• Build bio-reactors in all major towns and cities around Ireland that allow the sewage generated to be turned into energy and the resultant leftovers can be used by local farmers as compost.
• Build small wind-generating devices in Ireland for use in rural homes. Any unused energy can be sold back to the ESB.
• Change existing grant provisions so that people can apply for more than one grant (e.g. solar panels, log burner and, hopefully, wind turbines).
• Change government/semi-state policy relating to energy usage with a focus on reduced usage and a zero waste policy.
• Charge a levy on all recyclable products which can be reimbursed if the products are returned.
• Companies who use 100% recyclable, non-mixed packaging should be rewarded with lower taxes (or a financial incentive).
• Connect water pumps to wind turbines mechanically; this could be used to pump water to remote locations for animals or in third world countries.
• Construct inland lakes filled with water by pumps powered by wind energy. These can generate hydro-electric energy when needed.
• Convert glass making companies into companies that make solar panels. They already have the basics in place.
• Convert recyclable paper into insulation materials which could be used to insulate houses better. This is an existing technology but as far as I know the process doesn’t take place in Ireland.
• Convert second-hand cars to run on ethanol, 70% cleaner then petrol, and to have the cars re-tested for emissions and taxed according to the 2008 emissions based road tax scheme.
• Convert the old Mallow beet factory into an ethanol producing factory using sugar beet as the raw material. This ethanol can then be added at the rate of 15% to imported fossil fuels.
• Co-ops should be established in remote areas to generate their own electricity.
• Create a special jobs website that focuses on the environmental sector.
• Create central electricity hubs in every town to produce electricity locally using bio or non-bio resources. Supply to local areas and sell the rest to ESB or other buyers.
• Create half-litre water displacement bags for every cistern in the country: this would save nearly three billion litres of water per year.
• Create initiatives to get people recycling and for Ireland to become a world leader in recycling.
• Decommission the Irish Army and upgrade the Garda. Use the Army’s facilities for schools, areas for wind farms etc.
• Decrease the hours of an average working week. The physiological and non-physiological effects could be beneficial.
• Design and manufacture a device that can recycle rainwater and install one of these devices in every house in the country.