The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched their online environmental information website entitled Environment in Focus. The website allows easier public access to environmental data that has been gathered by the EPA and external bodies. Information is presented as a dashboard of key environmental indicators arranged under seven themes - climate change, air, water, waste, land, nature and socio-economics. The indicators are presented graphically so that trends may be easily observed with backup data also provided.
Over the period 1990-2008 Ireland’s total annual primary energy requirement grew in absolute terms by 72 per cent. Fossil fuels accounted for 96 per cent of all energy used in Ireland in 2008, with oil the dominant energy source. This highlights the need to develop our own renewable energy resources as quickly as possible.
Both air and water indicators are generally satisfactory apart from traffic-generated oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in air that continue to breach limits set by the European Union.
On climate change, the data shows that for 2008 (the first year of the 5 year Kyoto Protocol period) Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions were 7% above the limit set by the Protocol and, despite the economic downturn since then, meeting the limit by 2012 will be challenging.
On waste, the indicators show that the amount of municipal waste produced has increased steadily over the last decade to approximately 3 million tonnes. While the quantity dropped slightly in recent years, the forecast from the Economic and Social Research Institute’s Sustainable Development Model for Ireland (ISus) is for the total volume of municipal waste to increase quite substantially within the coming decade, necessitating future investment in waste management infrastructure. This forecast brings the debate about the size of the waste incinerator at Ringsend into sharp focus.
You can access Environment in Focus via the EPA website.
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