Summary of ideas submitted in the Green business category…

• Re-brand the Emerald Isle as the Green Isle, aim to be the greenest country in the world and shout about it.
• Reduce any unnecessary packaging on goods.
• Reduce or eliminate parking charges for all environmentally friendly cars.
• Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and increase our use of wind, tidal and solar power.
• Reduce red tape associated with starting renewable energy companies and allow them to operate tax free in order to encourage the establishment of such companies.
• Reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging materials - a ban should be placed on all non-recyclable packaging materials.
• Reduce the cost of solar panels used for heating and the VAT on such projects to start people in domestic dwellings purchasing them. Also train some of the unemployed workforce how to install such panels leading to employment.
• Reduce the duty and red tape on the production of bio-diesel.
• Reduce the excise duty on Irish made rape seed oil by 50%. This is a carbon neutral fuel that can be used to run specially converted diesel engines.
• Reduce the use of towels in hotels by installing hot air systems which would dry a full body, similar to the systems used to dry hands.
• Reduce the VAT rate on insulation products to 5% and reduce the stamp duty to 3%. This will kickstart home owners to making their homes more efficient.
• Reduce VAT on insulation products for 24 months; increase the VAT on heating fuels to recover lost VAT. This will encourage people to invest in better insulation for their homes, increasing energy efficiency.
• Refurbish many of Ireland’s tourist spots to encourage the Irish to holiday at home and not go abroad. This will cut down on the amount of air travel and will be better all in all for the Irish economy
• Regenerate mountain woodlands, remove sheep and plant hardwoods above the 1500ft marker. This will encourage tourism and could also lead to job creation.
• Remove VAT from all insulation products to encourage home owners to better insulate their homes. This will lead to more energy efficient homes.
• Renewable energy projects should not be held up by bureaucracy; they should be fast tracked and given the support they need.
• Reopen beet factories using beet to produce ethanol.
• Replace all street lighting with solar lights.
• Replace government servers with cloud computing systems which would dramatically reduce costs.
• Reuse and recycle children’s bikes.
• Run a competition to see who could design a 2kw mini-wind turbine capable of producing power for 1-2 houses that would cost no more then €1,000. This would make household electricity generation cheap and feasible.
• Scrap the Dublin Metro project and invest the proposed funds in green energy development.
• Sell lots of bikes and turn motorways into cycle lanes.
• Send boxes back to the retailers to be re-used instead of recycled.
• Set a target of the amount to be spent on fossil fuels by 2020. In order to reach this target use Ireland’s natural resources, including its people to come up with the best alternatives.
• Set the corporation tax rate at 0% for all green energy producing companies for five years and reduce the VAT rate on all green products/services to 8%.
• Set up a business eco-rating system similar to the BER system that is in place at the moment. Businesses will undertake the review at their own cost but will be able to advertise their rco-rating to their prospective clients using a recognised trademark, in a similar fashion to the Guaranteed Irish trademark, and will be able to reduce costs by making recommended improvements.
• Set up a confidential way for people to complain to their local councils about the state of a neighbour’s garden, to make an area better to live in and bring up children.
• Set up a countrywide waste management scheme spearheaded by the Government in order to maximise employment potential, help the environment and the economy. The waste should be processed under three different streams: general waste, paper waste, organic waste.
• Set up a Green Energy Park, along the lines of the Shannon Free Airport Development Company. A number of thematic areas should be developed ranging from solar, wind, natural resources, wave, biofuels, biorefining, algae and base a number of small companies there with suitable tax incentives but with the mission of employment creation.
• Set up a scrappage scheme to encourage people to trade in their second-hand cars for more efficient, environmentally friendly cars, reduce VAT on conversion kits for bio-ethanol.
• Set up a semi-state company to manufacture large wind turbines in Ireland creating employment and greener energy.
• Set up a wind farm co-operative in the west of the country and use the example in Minnesota as a benchmark. This will ensure that the money that is earned from the wind farm will be equitably divided between the country as a whole and could lead to job creation and green energy.
• Set up an incentive that means if a company wishes to develop wind/wave energy they would buy Irish products and have them installed by Irish workers.
• Set up cooperatives in communities around Ireland to install domestic wind turbines in areas suitable to do so, with help from the Government to connect to the grid.