Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

317 Chapter 12: Environment and Energy According to the International Energy Agency all fossil fuel usage is anticipated to peak globally before 2030 (IEA, 2023). This marks a significant development, signalling the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. The data for Ireland on fossil fuel usage indicate that the peak in overall fossil fuel usage (at 183 TWh) took place in 2008, as shown in Figure 12.6. Ireland’s strong economic growth in recent decades, in particular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, prompted an increased demand for energy, which was met primarily by growth in oil and gas usage, driving fossil fuel usage to its peak in 2008. This growth sometimes masked the underlying fuel switching and energy efficiency gains that were introduced in the period from 2000, along with the growth in renewable energy in the past 15 years in particular. The economic downturn between 2007 and 2013 saw overall energy supply reducing and, as Ireland’s economy recovered, fuel switching, energy efficiency and renewables have combined to dampen fossil fuel growth since then, as is evident in Figure 12.6. Focusing on individual fuels, coal and peat both reached their peak contribution to Ireland’s energy supply during the 1980s, first peat in 1985 and then coal in 1989. Since then both fuels have been in decline, more rapidly as a fuel for home heating and more recently as a fuel for electricity generation. Oil has accounted for more than half of Ireland’s total fossil fuel usage since 1992. Oil demand was highest in 2005 at 106 TWh and then plateaued before dropping after 2008 during the economic recession. Natural gas usage grew steadily over the 20-year period between 1990 and 2010 and appears to have peaked in 2010. Natural gas use may increase in the short term until more renewables are brought on to the grid in the remainder of the 2020s and the next decade. The report Energy Security in Ireland to 2030 sets out that natural gas will play a greater role in electricity generation during the transition to a renewables-led system, particularly to support the grid in times of low renewable output (DECC, 2023a). Figure 12.6  Fossil fuel use in Ireland, 1980-2023 0 20 60 40 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 ˜ Fossil fuels ˜ Oil Gas ˜ Coal ˜ Peat Fossil fuel primary energy use in Ireland/TWh 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Source: Based on data from the Economic and Social Research Institute and SEAI