The Irish Academy of Engineers (IAE) today called on the Government to reduce Ireland's per capita energy demand by 20 per cent within the next 15 years to reduce future energy problems.
The academy also called for a 15 per cent substitution of fossil fuels by energy sources that have no greenhouse gas emissions or which are environmentally neutral.
The proposals were made in an IAE report, Future Energy Policy in Ireland, published and presented to the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, today.
The report recommends a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) plant be built as soon as possible and that updated and more-thorough projections on the cost of future energy be made.
However, it is through housing that the report sees the most possibility for change.
The IAE predict that by 2030 there will be almost three million dwellings in Ireland and through an upgrading of the Building Regulations the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions in the sector could be reduced by up to 50 per cent.
The report also recommends that housing, services, and transport planning should be coordinated with each other and even advises the Government to introduce tax incentives towards more energy-efficient practices.
