EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 12: The Environment and Energy Environment and Energy 1. Introduction Our health, environment and climate are significantly affected by how we source, manage and use energy. In Ireland, energy use has changed remarkably since the foundation of the state. Access to low-cost energy and technological development have improved our quality of life and been a key enabler of economic and social development. Further transformation of Ireland’s energy systems is required if these social and economic gains are to be maintained and enhanced. Electrification in the 1950s provided widespread access to the multitude of uses to which electricity can be applied. These uses have accelerated in recent decades through the development of consumer electronics, digital systems and the digital economy. When it was commissioned in 1929, hydropower from the Ardnacrusha power station, on the River Shannon, was the main source of electrical energy in Ireland. As a consequence of the growing demand for the convenience and cleanness of electricity, its contribution was increasingly overtaken in subsequent decades by electricity generation based on combustion of coal, oil, peat and gas. Wind power has recently become an important part of the energy mix, with coal and peat being phased out. Transport and heating systems are largely based on the direct combustion of fossil fuels. Clean electric- powered heating and transport systems are becoming increasingly available; however, accelerated uptake of these clean systems is needed. As a consequence, Ireland’s energy systems are highly reliant on fossil energy and are largely dependent on fossil fuel systems, with lock-ins that need to be addressed. The dangers of fossil energy use for the stability of our climate, as well as its impacts on human health and the environment, are well understood. Reversing the current fossil energy lock-in and transitioning to renewable and sustainable energy sources is a challenge. It also provides a unique social and economic opportunity for sustainable development, with multiple benefits for human health, the environment and the stability of our climate. These issues are explored here through an assessment of the main activities by which energy is provided and consumed in Ireland, with a focus on electricity generation, transport and heating. Lock-in is defined as a situation in which the future development of a system, including infrastructure, technologies, investments, institutions and behavioural norms, is determined or constrained (‘locked in’) by historic developments (IPCC, 2018). Here we are specifically referring to fossil energy lock-in. 2. Energy Use, Human Health and Environmental Protection 1 Energy use is central to all human activities; however, the energy choices we make and solutions that we adopt give rise to very different health and environmental outcomes. Combustion-related energy use releases environmentally damaging by-products that have significant adverse impacts on human health, the climate and our environment. Addressing the range of adverse impacts caused by our energy use, while maintaining and enhancing our lifestyles, health and wellbeing, is a central element of a series of United Nations (UN) conventions and global policies, as well as key European Union (EU) and national policies (section 3). The approaches taken can be summarised as follows: n reducing energy waste and loss through increasing energy efficiency n reducing emissions through mitigation technologies (e.g. sulphur removal and carbon capture and storage) n switching to clean and sustainable energy solutions. The last of these would include energy from non- combustion sources, such as hydropower, wind or solar energy, and use of hydrogen. These do not give rise to combustion-related impacts, but there is a need to be cognisant of their social and environmental impacts. The issues are outlined here, with some being explored in more detail in Chapters 2 Climate, and 11 Transport. 1 https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/transforming-the-eu-power- sector 305