Category Archives: Climate Action

Making the Transition to a Low Carbon Society in the Western Region— Key issues for rural dwellers.

Posted on August 5, 2020 by WDC Insights

The transition to a low carbon economy is one of many challenges facing the Western Region and Ireland at this point in time.  Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, today launched the Western Development Commission (WDC) report … Continue reading →

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Submission to the Review of Sustainable Mobility Policy

Posted on March 5, 2020 by WDC Insights

The WDC recently made a submission to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) consultation on the Review of Sustainable Mobility Policy and associated background papers. One of the functions of the WDC is regional policy analysis.  The WDC … Continue reading →

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Challenges and interventions for transitioning to renewable heat in rural homes

Posted on February 27, 2020 by WDC Insights

To reduce the carbon footprint of our rural homes, the decarbonisation of the energy used for heat is essential. We have to switch to renewable energy, either electrical (generated from wind, solar or in future ocean energy) or bioenergy (e.g. … Continue reading →

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Changes in electricity generation and supply—some impacts for rural dwellers

Posted on January 17, 2020 by WDC Insights

As we move towards a lower carbon society one of the key trends will be increased electrification and using renewable electricity to fuel our heat and transport.  This will involve very significant changes in how we consume and are supplied … Continue reading →

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What do we know about electricity consumption in rural households?

Posted on January 13, 2020 by WDC Insights

The way we use electricity in our rural homes, and the opportunities for change, are important considerations for how we to transition to low carbon living.   Unlike heat and transport, there are few significant differences between urban and rural dwellers … Continue reading →

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Why do we travel? Distance to rural services and the need for rural journeys

Posted on December 20, 2019 by WDC Insights

Understanding the reasons rural dwellers travel is essential to ensuring we can take focused, effective, and fair climate action and aid a transition to low carbon rural regions. In this the second blog post examining data on travel and journeys … Continue reading →

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Rural Journeys and Travel: what do we know about the Western Region?

Posted on December 19, 2019 by WDC Insights

Rural people are more reliant on car based transport, they have less available public transport and tend to travel greater distances.  Rural dwellers’ transport and travel patterns need to be central to our climate action planning. There must be detailed … Continue reading →

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Public Consultation on Transport and Sustainable Mobility Policy

Posted on December 13, 2019 by WDC Insights

Introduction The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has opened a public consultation to review Ireland’s sustainable mobility (active travel and public transport) policy. Sustainable Mobility refers to active travel, such as walking and cycling and public transport (e.g. bus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Action, Infrastructure, Roads, Transport, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Energy efficient homes in the Western Region: some thoughts on retrofit.

Posted on November 8, 2019 by WDC Insights

The government target of improving home energy efficiency through the retrofitting of 500,000 buildings by 2030 (see the Climate Action Plan 2019) is ambitious.  It is therefore useful to look at the retrofits in more depth, and consider the target … Continue reading →

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Low carbon transition for Western Region homes- what’s the base line?

Posted on October 24, 2019 by WDC Insights

One of the most important elements of the transition to a low carbon rural region will be emissions reduction from homes in the Western Region by improving energy efficiency and switching to renewable energy sources for heating in particular (as … Continue reading →

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