Summary of ideas submitted in the Green business category…

• Make houses more self-sufficient. Houses should make the most of light, insulation and rainwater.
• Make Ireland a 100% zero-carbon transport fleet encouraging the development of electric or hydrogen vehicles. Which could for itself make use of cheap surplus power generated during the night (from wind farms etc).
• Make it Government policy that all public buildings are powered by renewable energy.
• Make property management companies in apartment blocks and housing estates supply and use recycling bins in all blocks and estates.
• Make smart readers available to all energy consumers so they can monitor the amount of energy they use. This will highlight the areas where energy can be saved and would be billed on the customer’s bill over a period of two years.
• Make the most of our resources and not be concerned with the effect it may have on global warming.
• Many large US companies are switching to solar panels and talks of doing the same with US government buildings are ongoing. Suggest this process is followed in Ireland to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
• Maximise our natural resources to create energy banks. For example, build a dam which can be used to generate hydro-electric power when needed.
• Mount wind generators at the top of chimneys that could be powered by the updraft of the chimney and the wind blowing, this could be used to power a two-element storage heater (220V and 12V).
• Nationwide scheme to convert all public transport including law enforcement to be fuelled by recycled/waste oils from the catering trades and restaurants.
• Non-recyclable materials should be banned for packaging purposes. Packaging should then be designed on a standard basis and each package should contain a machine-readable code in order to make the recycling process easier. Packaging which does not conform to the above criteria could then be subject to VAT at a higher rate.
• Not a suggestion but a warning about the use of wind energy and the inability to store wind energy.
• Obtain used laptops from Irish businesses and wipe all commercially sensitive material and load free operating systems onto them. Then sell these laptops at low cost to emerging economies.
• Offer every taxpayer the chance to spend on making their home more energy efficient or converting the car to green fuels in any of the next two years. They can then claim back tax in three years time at the projected upturn. This will encourage spending now, in labour intensive areas of work.
• Open up the national grid to new green business and pay the 0.19 cent per unit recently announced to all credible alternative energy sources making current projects viable. Also give tax incentives for tax payers to invest.
• Operate sinks on the same principle as the electric shower. This means that only the amount of water you need is heated and means no energy is wasted heating water that isn’t used.
• Our enterprise boards and other agencies should trawl through the portfolios of ideas they didn’t support but still worked, as those are likely to be the best ideas going forward - as they proved through their success without assistance.
• People on the dole who are willing should be sent out to clean the rivers and canals in Ireland, and also the roadsides. This would be done in teams of 2-3 people and would enable people on the dole to give something back to their local communities.
• People should be charged more for purchasing cars with high CO2 emissions.
• Permit people to create their own energy and sell it back to the grid.
• Place waste newspaper log-making machines in schools and community centres. This creates a fuel supply that can be sold in the local economy.
• Plant organic crops and broad-leafed trees.
• Plant trees across the country, to give the unemployed an extra amount to plant and maintain the trees, to pay farmers for the use of their land.
• Procedures such as adjusting cleaning schedules, using chemicals which are environmentally friendly and properly dispensed and introducing labour saving equipment should be implemented to save water and reduce costs.
• Promote biomass energy and become world leaders in the technology.
• Promote green energy and inform people of the best options available in terms of lifespan and efficiency for products people can use at home. Examples include home wind turbines and solar panels.
• Promote the growth of rapeseed oil in Ireland.
• Propose an incentive scheme for businesses to research and fund greener technologies.
• Provide all households in Ireland with CFL light bulbs and stop using incandescent bulbs. The bulbs would be provided by the energy company and would be paid for by the householders. The cost of the bulbs would be written off against the savings generated and thus no extra cost will appear on the individual’s bill.
• Provide grants to encourage facilities that produce gas from the methane emitted from slurry and human waste - similar to that operated in Callan, Kilkenny
• Provide incentives to people who own cars that are 10 years or older to replace their cars with more energy-efficient models.
• Provide shower and locker facilities in and around people’s places of work to encourage them to cycle to and from work.
• Put a surcharge on lighters and matches to lower the levels of smoking, burning waste, anti-social behaviour etc.
• Put a tax on chewing gum and a one cent tax on text messages sent.
• Put solar panels on existing street lights which could be used in conjunction with electricity.