Summary of ideas submitted in the Green business category…

• Develop a hybrid engine that can be charged by the energy generated by wind generators overnight.
• Develop a marine protected area around the coast of Ireland that will enable the marine stocks to replenish over 5/10 years. This will be beneficial to fishermen in the long run.
• Develop a website with information relating to the eco home services. Use revenues from this to help others get employed in this area.
• Develop a whistleblowers website that people can use to inform organisations if they are needlessly leaving their lights on at night.
• Develop algae farms around the coast.
• Develop an interconnector with Europe of 20,000MW that would allow Ireland to export any energy it produces in surplus from green energy.
• Develop collapsible shopping trolley like the collapsible buggy, cutting down on the use of bags and other packaging.
• Develop electric cars in Ireland that can be plugged into the national grid.
• Develop forests into eco-bush craft villages pioneering innovative, vibrant new ways. Market eco-holidays in these villages.
• Develop geothermal heat harnessing plants around Dublin and all over Ireland. They say that for the 250,000 homes they heat they save €100 million per annum on fossil fuel imports.
• Develop interconnections with France and the UK so that we can export power generated by green energy sources.
• Develop Ireland as THE ‘green energy producing country’.
• Develop Ireland as the green energy world leader, have on-shore and off-shore wind farms and make use of tidal wave energy and reap the benefits in the same way as the Middle East has with oil.
• Develop nuclear power.
• Develop rooftop windmills made out off recycled materials - would be cheap to develop and install.
• Develop small turbines that can be used in small residences, to make them affordable.
• Develop uranium deposits in Ireland and sell abroad.
• Develop water pumps that run on wind/solar energy for use in rural areas.
• Develop wave energy by identifying one or two state champions in the sector who can help us become world leaders in this technology.
• Divert funds from the NDP to invest in tidal energy as this will lead to immediate job creation and supply low cost/ low emissions energy.
• Divert the additional costs of building the O’Connell Street Metro stop into green industry development and replace with one stop in the North Central City such as opposite the Pro Cathedral.
• Do away with receipts in shops and replace them with an electronic version. Everybody would have a receipt card and the information about your purchases would be placed on this. This will reduce the amount of paper used and could be used by the card holder to monitor their spending and shopping habits.
• Do away with the grant scheme run currently by Sustainable Energy Ireland and replace it with a tax credit system. Then to take advantage of this tax credit system, the innovation produced must have a payback period of less then seven years. This will encourage vendors to drop the price of their sustainable energy products to remain competitive and to ensure their product meets the seven-year payback feature.
• Employ the use of wind and wave energy, our biggest natural energy resources.
• Encourage community buy-in to wind farms by offering shares in wind farms/ individual wind mills. People’s shares could be offset against their energy bills.
• Encourage green business in Ireland by offering grants, and incentives to those who are producing green products and green initiatives.
• Encourage people to start cycling to their destinations. First by setting up a cycling proficiency programme for children who are eight years old and upwards. Install public bike racks to enable people to park their bikes safely.
• Encourage the development of small-scale combined heat and power (CHP) plants in housing estates/ blocks of flats.
• Encourage the ESB to fit hoses with reversible meters so that if a house has a windmill the electricity it produces can be credited back to the homeowner. This could reduce our reliability on fossil fuels and help households cut back the amount they spend on energy.
• Encourage the planting of hardwood trees to boost the timber industry, provide leisure amenities and absorb CO2 emissions.
• Encourage the production of green products in Ireland such as cleaning agents, shampoos, soaps, nappies, sanitary wear, recycled toilet tissue and kitchen rolls.
• Establish a rating agency for wind turbines.
• Establish an R&D and manufacturing facility to develop electric cars in Ireland and export them around the world. Government support would be necessary.
• Establish Ireland as a leader in the green technology market. Create an ‘Irish silicon valley’ to establish companies that could be market leaders in the sector.
• Every farmer/landowner should be encouraged to install small wind turbines in their land and supply excess energy back to the ESB.