Sustainability

Intel, Kohl’s, Whole Foods Market and Starbucks are just some of the organisations that are taking a lead in the green energy push by using renewable electricity to lower their carbon footprint, as the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership list of its top 50 partner entities reveals. The EPA says Intel, which has almost doubled its annual green power usage to reach more than 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), has achieved the largest green power purchase to date in the partnership, the equivalent to avoiding (CO2) emissions from the electricity use of more than 218,000 average American homes. EPA’s Green Power Partnership  works with more than 1,300 partner organisations to voluntarily purchase…

The best way to remain competitive and reduce long-term energy costs is to embrace renewable energy, according to Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan. The minister’s comments come as data published by Eurostat – the statistical office of the European Union (EU) – claims that Ireland has made significant reductions in electricity and gas prices. “Ireland now has some of the cheapest energy in the EU … but we can go further,” said Ryan. “The single best way that we can reduce energy costs in the long-term is to develop our renewable energy resources. “Our wind and our waves will deliver a clean, efficient energy supply for Ireland…

New Irish Political Party Speaking ahead of his visit to Dublin in October to launch the Carbon Disclosure Project report, Yvo de Boer, former United Nations climate-change chief, tells Ann O’Dea he is relishing his new role in the private sector. Until July of this year, Yvo de Boer was the high-profile executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the body that oversees climate change negotiations. In February this year, he announced he was leaving this most political of roles to take up a position as the advisor on climate change and sustainability with KPMG International in London. After four years in the hot seat of international…