ESB International (ESBI) has won the Large-Sized Company Category Award at the Engineers Ireland Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Company of the Year Awards 2010. The award recognises ESBI’s work in designing and implementing the Project Delivery Model (PDM) for large scale capital projects and the creation of a permanent project management office to support the … Read more
The European Commission has authorised The Netherlands under EU state aid rules to provide a €150 million grant for a CO2 capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project to a joint venture between E.ON and GDF Suez. The joint venture will construct a CO2 capture plant in the Rotterdam port area with the aim to capture … Read more
BrightSource Energy, the US-based developer of utility scale solar power plants, has started construction on its Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System on a 3,500 acre site in California. When constructed, Ivanpah will be the world’s largest solar power plant. Once completed the 392 megawatt gross (370 megawatts nominal) Ivanpah project will nearly double the amount … Read more
The European Commission has launched a public consultation on how to achieve a low carbon European economy by 2050. In early 2011, the Commission plans to publish a Roadmap on options for ‘decarbonising’ the European economy by 2050 and the public consultation will feed into this. The roadmap will set out a strategy for reducing … Read more
Minister for Natural Resources, Conor Lenihan will front a major promotion of Ireland’s oil and gas exploration potential at a major international petroleum conference in Singapore. Ireland’s offshore exploration potential will take centre stage at the Oil and Gas Investment Asia conference where Minister Lenihan will deliver a keynote speech, in which he will declare … Read more
Ireland’s Greenhouse Gas emissions fell by 5.4 million tonnes (7.9%) in 2009, according to provisional Greenhouse Gas emissions figures just released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Agriculture remains the single largest contributor to the overall emissions, at 29.1% of the total, followed by energy (primarily power generation) and transport both at 21.1% share. The … Read more
Repak, the industry funded used packaging recycling scheme, has announced that due to the tough economic environment faced by its members that there will no increase in the 2011 fee membership. This is the third year in a row that membership fees have been frozen despite Repak maintaining all subsidies to recyclers at current levels, … Read more
Throughout next year, the north German port city of Hamburg will demonstrate how economic and ecological objectives can be reconciled. While Stockholm currently holds the title for 2010, Hamburg has been awarded ‘European Green Capital 2011’ by the European Commission. By displaying various best practice examples, Hamburg is proving how even a highly industrialised port … Read more
Under current policy settings, global greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 could add up to nearly one third more than the benchmark needed to avoid dangerous climate change, according to the latest ‘gigatonne gap’ analysis conducted by WWF. Plugging The Gap, a paper released at the UN climate negotiations in Tianjin, China, shows that recent science … Read more
As part of a concerted effort to green the Wexford Festival Opera, 16 Wexford businesses were certified ‘green’ at a recent awards ceremony held at the Wexford Opera House. The 16 premises have met with environmental standards set down by the Green Hospitality Programme (GHP) and €concertive and are leading the way to making Wexford … Read more