Clare County Council has launched an online advice and information guide to raise awareness of the importance of preparing for severe weather during winter. The ‘Be Winter-Ready’ guide has been published on the Council website, www.clarecoco.ie, and is part of a Government initiative launched in November.

The guide features flooding advice, tips on how to reduce the risk of water leakages and shortages during freezing weather, advice on clearing snow, safety tips for driving in snow and ice, and information for the farming community, as well as a range of other public health and safety advice.

In recent years, County Clare has experienced a number of severe weather episodes including flooding in November 2009, and prolonged cold periods in December 2009 and December 2010.

The Government has launched ‘Developing a Green Enterprise’, a concise guide for businesses in Ireland to the supports (including State-funded programmes) offered by the various State agencies with responsibility for environment, enterprise development and energy.

The Green Enterprise Guide has been developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Developing a Green Enterprise provides directional information on where different businesses can go for assistance in relation to water conservation, waste prevention, energy efficiency and clean technology.  The guide also provides an overview of the key state agencies involved and the programmes and assistance they offer.

Over half of all Irish companies have taken action to improve their energy efficiency in the last three years, according to Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), and only one-third of these actions have involved a capital spend. Reducing energy costs is a key priority for Irish business and where energy efficiency initiatives were implemented, most businesses have achieved average energy cost savings of 12%.

Businesses that have participated in the EPA’s Greenbusiness initiative in 2010 have identified almost Eur10 million worth of savings from an investment by the EPA of less than Eur1 million.