Members of the public and Transition Monaghan gathered on Saturday morning last to discuss ways in which householders can take measures to reduce their bills in an event organised by Transition Monaghan.

Pictured are the presenters and some of the attendees at Transition Monaghan’s ‘Cost Efficient Home’ event which was held in the Market House Monaghan on Saturday 25 April 2015.

 The event began with addresses by guest speakers Frank Cooney Architect and Michael Hanratty, energy consultant with IHER Services. Frank, who lives in a Nearly Zero Energy Building, spoke of his work as an architect and of the importance in getting the design appropriate to your needs and surroundings, when building a new house. He says it is important to plan correctly when either building or retrofitting a home. He advised that when seeking to make a house more energy efficient, it is best to start with the simplest and least expensive steps, such as sealing draughts before investing in insulation and retrofitting. Investing in renewables should only be done after insulation is maximised.

Michael Hanratty spoke of his work on a European funded project, which involved mapping a profile of the quality of housing stock in North Dublin City. This striking, colour coded map, by geographic area, indicated  the average insulation level in households as well as the overall fuel poverty level. It showed the there is a lot of work to be done to get the housing stock up to adequate BER levels. He mentioned a very useful bit of work which had been done on profiling the housing stock in the country. This study, which categorises the most common Irish house types, illustrates the general level of insulation in these houses, the work which would need to be done to bring it up to a reasonable standard, the costs involved and overall payback time. For example, if you live in a pre 1978, ‘End of Terrace / Semi Detached House’ with cavity walls, you would need to spend a total of €17,920 on an upgrade to bring it up to a standard level, which would give you a payback time of 5.1 years. The cost would be much lower and payback period much shorter if you include SEAI grants. Grant details are listed on the SEAI website http://www.seai.ie.  A full list of Irish house categories and required refurbishment is available on http://www.iher.ie under ‘consultancy and research’.

Following the presentations there were two sessions of four workshops (two running concurrently) on key areas of household expenditure. These focused on simple, everyday measures which householders can take to reduce their spending and environmental impact.

On water, Ollan Herr, a reed bed systems and water harvesting professional, stated that the best way to save water is to avoid unnecessary usage. However, failing that, reduced use is the best step, i.e. showering using a normal shower rather than a power shower. He also mentioned more expensive upgrades which are available such as installing a water collection tank on your roof as well as a system for the re – use of grey water.

Jennifer McAree, who recently completed an internship with DIT Green Campus, spoke of the environmental and cost saving benefit of recycling and composting. She stressed the importance of looking carefully at packaging to see whether it is recyclable and also pointed out that cooked food, dairy products and cooked / raw meat are not suitable for home compost bins.

Michael Connolly delivered a workshop on electricity while Barry Mc Carron who works for the Centre for Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technology in Enniskillen delivered a presentation on heat / insulation.  Both workshops focused on techniques and inexpensive investments that can reduce household energy usage and bills.

Transition Monaghan is a voluntary initiative that always welcomes new volunteers. We hope to run further sustainability events in the future. You can find out more by emailing transitionmonaghan@gmail.com or ‘liking’ us on Facebook.

Members of the public are being invited to an event entitled ‘Your Cost Efficient Home’ which will be held in the Market House, Monaghan on Saturday, 25 April from 11am to 1pm. The focus will be on how you can easily reduce your energy, water and waste bills. There will be two key note presentations by experts in the area of low energy in the home – Michael Hanratty of Energy Action and Frank Cooney of Cooney Architects. The presentations will be followed by workshops on Heating / Insulation, Electricity, Composting and Water. The Water workshop will have information on rainwater harvesting.

 Micheal Callaghan and Barry McCarron of Transition Monaghan, the event organisers, say that they are delighted that two top class professionals in the field of low energy have agreed to present at the Monaghan event.

Michael Hanratty, IHER Energy Services

Michael Hanratty is Managing Director of IHER Energy Services, and Energy Consultant to Energy Action, a charity which tackles fuel poverty in Dublin by the provision of insulation in the homes of older people and low income people. Camcas is the equivalent in Cavan – Monaghan. Michael also manages the Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) Open Doors Ireland event which showcases practical experiences of designing and living in low energy buildings.

Frank Cooney, Cooney Architects

Frank Cooney B.Arch MRIAI is an architect who has 20 years working experience in the area of sustainable architecture and design. Frank with his wife Patricia McCaffrey established Cooney Architects in 1995. They have won many awards including a  gold medal winner of the Green Apple Award for ‘Built Environment and Architectural Heritage’ in 2012, for a low energy retrofit and extension of a period house in Dublin They also won a silver medal Green Apple Award for the retrofit to almost Passivhaus standard, of their own nineteenth century farmhouse in Cavan.

Transition Monaghan say that they would like any contractors and BER (Building Energy Rating) Assessors that are registered with SEAI  to come along and they can be identified to the attendees. However exhibition stand space is not available at the event.  Transition Monaghan hope that the event will lead to many more people taking action to reduce energy use in the home and thereby saving themselves money. It will also help to reduce the amount of money going out of the country on imported fossil fuels and of course help lower our climate damaging emissions.   For more information check http://www.transitionmonaghan.org or email transitionmonaghan@gmail.com.

Members of the public are being invited to an event entitled ‘Your Cost Efficient Home’ which will be held in the Market House, Monaghan on Saturday, 25 April from 11am to 1pm. The focus will be on how you can easily reduce your energy, water and waste bills. There will be two key note presentations by experts in the area of low energy in the home – Michael Hanratty of Energy Action and Frank Cooney of Cooney Architects. The presentations will be followed by workshops on Heating / Insulation, Electricity, Composting and Water. The Water workshop will have information on rainwater harvesting.

 Micheal Callaghan and Barry McCarron of Transition Monaghan, the event organisers, say that they are delighted that two top class professionals in the field of low energy have agreed to present at the Monaghan event.

Michael Hanratty, IHER Energy Services

Michael Hanratty is Managing Director of IHER Energy Services, and Energy Consultant to Energy Action, a charity which tackles fuel poverty in Dublin by the provision of insulation in the homes of older people and low income people. Camcas is the equivalent in Cavan – Monaghan. Michael also manages the Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) Open Doors Ireland event which showcases practical experiences of designing and living in low energy buildings.

Frank Cooney, Cooney Architects

Frank Cooney B.Arch MRIAI is an architect who has 20 years working experience in the area of sustainable architecture and design. Frank with his wife Patricia McCaffrey established Cooney Architects in 1995. They have won many awards including a  gold medal winner of the Green Apple Award for ‘Built Environment and Architectural Heritage’ in 2012, for a low energy retrofit and extension of a period house in Dublin They also won a silver medal Green Apple Award for the retrofit to almost Passivhaus standard, of their own nineteenth century farmhouse in Cavan.

Transition Monaghan say that they would like any contractors and BER (Building Energy Rating) Assessors that are registered with SEAI  to come along and they can be identified to the attendees. However exhibition stand space is not available at the event.  Transition Monaghan hope that the event will lead to many more people taking action to reduce energy use in the home and thereby saving themselves money. It will also help to reduce the amount of money going out of the country on imported fossil fuels and of course help lower our climate damaging emissions.   For more information check http://www.transitionmonaghan.org or email transitionmonaghan@gmail.com.

How you can cut your bills – energy, water and waste will be the focus of an event to take place in the Market House,  Monaghan on Saturday, 25 April from 11am to 1pm. The event which is being organised by Transition Monaghan is free of charge for members of the public to attend. There will presentations by a panel of experts followed by a number of workshops on Water, Electricity, Heating, Insulation and Composting.

Barry McCarron, Transition Monaghan & Centre for Renewable Energy & Sustainable Technology (CREST).

Chairperson of Transition Monaghan, Micheal Callaghan says that he would encourage people to come along in order to get a lot of useful tips that will help save themselves money. The more we save the more it helps our local economy as we have more money that we can spend locally rather that it going out of the country on imported fuels.

Barry McCarron, one of the organisers of the Transition Monaghan event and who works with the Crest Project on a cross-border sustainable energy initiative says that there are now many new ways we can take steps to be more efficient in the home and use less energy and water and also have less waste going to landfill. Simple and practical steps can be taken, almost little cost, with relatively little effort, which can reduce your impact on the planet and your bills, saving you money! Members of Transition Monaghan and energy experts will be on hand during the day to answer your questions and point you in the direction of more information and tools to help you reduce bills.

Mícheál Callaghan of Transition Monaghan. Members of Transition Monaghan will be at the event to answer your questions about reducing energy.

Mícheál Callaghan says that ‘we are delighted to have two top class professionals in the area of low energy – Michael Hanratty of Energy Action Ireland, and Frank Cooney of Cooney Architects.

The event is supported by funding from Agenda 21 funding from Monaghan Co Council.  For further details on the event see http://www.transitionmonaghan.org or Transition Monaghan’s Facebook page.  For queries please email transitionmonaghan@gmail.com

Last week,  world leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the Annual World Economic Forum Summit. In somewhat of an irony, where tickets cost approximately €15,000 for non-invitees, global inequality and climate change were amongst the items on the agenda. While, very little of substance emerged from the Davos summit, it served to generate discussion around global inequality and its links with environmental issues.

Most of us will have often heard the phrase ‘the rich get richer while the poor get poorer’. Unfortunately this is now truer than ever before. Last week, Oxfam released a report which shows that, globally, the wealth of the richest 1% is equal to that of the remaining 99%. Here at home, many are struggling to make ends meet. Child poverty has doubled and homelessness figures have spiked.

Despite world leaders celebrating recent growth in the economy (only just!), ordinary people are not feeling the benefits, and trends are going the wrong way for many. As well as being damaging socially, this inequality is also bad for the planet. Various studies show that a more equal society would be a safer and happier one, but would also be likely to consume less and live in greater harmony with the planet. Therefore, as the notion of ‘trickle down economics’ seems perverse to many and as our planet continues to suffer, action is gravely needed to build a more stable, wholesome economic model, which does not equate economic growth or GDP with progress.

While there are no one size fits all answers to our predicament, there are a number of practical steps that we can all consider taking.

With a general election coming closer, and elections in the North this year, we can scrutinise candidates and demand policies that can help to move us towards a more equal society, with a more sustainable economy and lower climate damaging emissions. Innovation will be required to provide the kind of jobs that can reduce our impact on the environment while building resilient communities across the country. The next few years will prove pivotal in determining whether environmental sustainability and inequalities in society are tackled both nationally and globally. While Davos 2015 has come and gone with little effect, the climate conference in Paris this December will be crucial for our future climate and consequently for the long term prospects of both the economy and society in every country.

Eco-Congregation Ireland event: Climate scientist Prof John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth will be keynote speaker in Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny on Friday, 13 February at 7.30pm. See www.ecocongregationireland.com

.Climate Conversations 2015: ‘Bringing People Together for a New Understanding on Climate Change’ – a series of proposed events in Ireland in early 2015. See www.climategathering.org

Climate Change and the Well-Being of the Community: Weekend of 6 – 8 February.  Scottish ecologist Dr Alastair McIntosh will be keynote speaker at ‘Reinhabiting the Earth’ Spring Conference at  Drumalis, Larne, Co Antrim. See www.ecocongregationireland.com or www.drumalis.co.uk.

Afri Féile Bríde 2015, ’Occupy the Imagination’ (Workshop): Saturday, 7 February (11am -5pm) in the Solas Bhríde Centre, Kildare town.  See http://www.afri.ie.

Your Views Sought on Future Retail Development in Co Monaghan:  To give your views, please complete Monaghan Co Council’s online survey by Thursday 11 February. To access it, see ‘News & Events’ at http://www.monaghan.ie/en/home.

Talk on Climate Change (Eco-Congregation Ireland event): Friday, 13 February at 7.30pm in Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkennny.  Speaker: climate scientist Prof John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth. See www.ecocongregationireland.com.

Recycling Arts & Crafts Workshops for Children on Valentine’s Day: Monaghan Town Library  on Saturday, 14 February. Booking essential. Tel 047-81830. Limited places available for the free workshops.

Fossil Fuel Divestment Day (Dublin): Saturday, 14 February. See Fossil Fuel Divestment Gathering – Dublin on Facebook.

Trocaire Primary / Postprimary Classroom Resources for Lent 2015. The theme is climate change and how it is affecting communities around the world. See www.trocaire.org/education/lent2015

Organic Centre in 2015: The Centre’s seed / course catalogue for 2015 is now available. Courses commence on Saturday, 21 February. Some special events to mark the Centre’s 20^th anniversary are planned for 2015. See www.theorganiccentre.ie.

Ecology Sunday ‘Salute to Spring @ Navan’: Sunday, 22 February (11am – 3pm) at Navan Centre & Fort, Armagh. A free ‘drop in’ event celebrating the arrival of Spring including  looking at flowers, plants, insects and bird calls. Take a ‘plant identification’ walk and even get to plant your own seeds and bulbs.

Springtime Walks & Talks at the Botanic Gardens: see ‘Events’ at http://www.botanicgardens.ie.

Events at Armagh Planetarium: (1) Electric Half Term, 16-21 February, 10am-5pm. Digital Theatre & Magic Science hands-on workshop (2) Stargazer, Saturday, 28 February 12.30-3pm with Mark Thompson of BBC Stargazing LIVE. See http://www.armaghplanet.com.

Fruit & Nut Tree – Sales & Pruning / Grafting Spring Courses: The Sustainability Institute, Westport, Co. Mayo. See www.fruitandnut.ie

Eco Eye: The new series on RTE 1 is broadcast on Tuesdays at 7pm. Catch up on them on the RTE Player and on YouTube.  See http://www.earthhorizon.ie.

NOTICES FOR BUSINESSES, PUBLIC BODIES, NGOs & JOBSEEKERS

Energy Management Training for Management  / Staff of Schools & Colleges. Workshop 1 on Tuesday, 3 February and Workshop 2 on Tuesday, 10 March in Louth – Meath Eduction Centre. See ‘Energy Managment Course’ at www.energyineducation.ie

2015 IrBEA National Bioenergy Conference: Wednesday, 4 February in Dublin. Theme: ‘From Bioenergy Plan …to Action?’ See www.irbea.ie

STEM Project – Business Networking: Sustainability Project’s closing event on Thursday, 12 February at 10am in Armagh City Hotel. Keynote Speaker:  Susan Hayes, Managing Director of Hayes Culleton – “The Positive Economist”. See ‘Events’ at www.stemproject.com

Irish Renewable Energy Summit: Thursday, 19 February in Dublin. See www.energyireland.ie

Introduction to Organic Production (Fetac Level 5): 10, 18, 24 March & 1 April (10am-5pm) Teagasc, Ballyhaise, Co Cavan. See ‘Events’ at http://www.teagasc.ie.

This week the long awaited Climate Bill was published by the Government. It came a few days after NASA confirmed that 2014 was the hottest year since records began. The Bill sets out the intention of the Government to move Ireland to a low carbon economy by 2050.  The lack of specific targets for emission reductions in this proposed law has been criticised by many environmental groups. This week has also seen Pope Francis highlighting the issue of climate change. Here in Ireland the issue was also highlighted by a visit to Dublin by world famous climate scientist Dr Michael Mann.

The Minister for the Environment, Alan Kelly TD said that the Climate Bill will involve ‘National Mitigation Plans’ which will set out how our national greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced. There will also be a ‘National Adaptation Framework’ which will outline the national strategy for adapting to climate change. The news was welcomed by the Government parties. A feature of the Bill will also be the setting up of an expert advisory council which will advise and make recommendations to the Minister for the Environment. This feature has been one of the criticism made by Oisin Coughlan of Friends of the Earth who said: “The Bill does not include a definition of low carbon, it doesn’t guarantee the independence of the Council, and it doesn’t include the principles of climate justice,” Climate scientist Professor John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth said: “The clock is ticking, alarm bells are ringing … but we’re pressing the snooze button”.   

In the past week, Pope Francis visited the Philippines. Just over a year ago Typhoon Haiyan caused widespread devastation and loss of life through a region of the Philippines.  The severity of the typhoon was attributed by many to the changing global climate. In a comment as he set out on his trip, Pope Francis said:  “I don’t know if it is all (man’s fault) but the majority is, for the most part, it is man who continuously slaps down nature.” Later this year the Pope plans to issue a major encyclical on climate change.

This week also saw the visit to Ireland of renowned climate scientist Dr Michael Mann of Penn State University. He is the originator of ‘The Hockey Stick’ – a simple, easy-to-understand graph which he and his colleagues constructed to depict changes in Earth’s temperature back to 1000 AD and which clearly highlights the current upward trend. His lecture in Trinity College outlined how he has responded to the disinformation that has been generated by the campaign to deny the reality of climate change. Commenting on the Climate Bill Dr Mann said that it was a “good starting point for debate”.

The warming of the planet is being caused largely by our use of fossil fuels – oil, coal, peat and gas. The ‘Fossil Fuel Divestment’ campaign takes the fossil fuel industry to task for its involvement in the climate crisis. The climate organisation 350.org is calling for organisations and in particular for universities and churches to divest from fossil fuels. On Saturday, 14 February, towns and cities across the world, including Dublin, will host events as part of Global Divestment Day.  More details on the event will be available in the coming weeks.

An Taisce, The National Trust for Ireland has called on the Government to take rural settlement seriously in the upcoming review of the National Spatial Strategy 2002 -2020. The organisation points to what it terms as the ongoing ‘suburbanisation of rural Ireland’ and the consequent decline of our rural towns and villages.

An Taisce has published five principles for sustainable rural settlement which they say should be taken into account in the upcoming review of the Spatial Strategy.

1. A strong network of thriving towns and villages is fundamental for rural development.
2. Scattered housing in unserviced locations should be restricted and instead directed to rural towns and villages.
3. Implement a ‘Serviced Sites Initiative’ in rural towns and villages as an alternative to scattered housing.
4. Rural Ireland is a critical resource for a post-carbon world.
5. Manage the economic, social and environmental legacy of scattered housing.

An Taisce says that none of these principles are radical as they are all supported by numerous national planning policy documents but they have not been properly applied in practice. The organisation claims that evidence clearly shows that the highly dispersed settlement patterns that have been allowed to take hold are extremely costly and this has stored up significant social, economic and environmental problems that are to the long-term detriment of rural communities and the rural economy. For more on this initiative and on the work of An Taisce see http://www.antaisce.org.

Transition Monaghan are organising a spud tasting competition for the South Monaghan area. The ‘Spud off’ will consist of blind tastings of home grown potatoes, from growers in the South Monaghan area and will take place during the summer.

The event is being organised by Transition Monaghan member Conan Connolly, to promote growing  your own food, and to create a bit of friendly rivalry between potato growers. The competition is modeled on a ‘Spud Off’ run in Co. Kerry, which recently featured on RTE television. The competition is open to anyone living in the Castleblayney & Carrickmacross electoral areas comprising of  the following parishes: Annaghmullen, Ballybay, Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Corduff, Donaghmoyne, Inniskeen, Kilanny, Latton, Magheracloone.

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Two members of Transition Monaghan recently met with Irish MEPs while attending events in Brussels related to climate change, sustainability and Free Trade.

Selection of Attendees of ‘Lima in Brussels’ event (L-R): Ciara Kenny (Dublin), Áron Bányász (Hungary), Robert Wade (Dublin) and Mícheál Callaghan (Monaghan).

Conan Connolly was in attendance at an event organised by Alter EU to highlight the importance of transparency in lobbying. Lobbying is a huge part of the European political process, and it is estimated that there are around 30,000 lobbyists in Brussels, with most of them representing corporate interests. There is no real transparency in who gains access to the people who make important decisions that affect us all. The groups who attended the conference will work together to campaign for a mandatory and transparent register of lobbyists. While in Brussels, Connolly met with local MEP Matt Carthy.

 Mícheál Callaghan and other activists from Ireland attended a week of workshops, network building and demonstrations in Brussels organised by Young Friends of the Earth Europe, to coincide with the Climate Talks in Peru.

As well as meeting with MEPs, the delegates at the youth conference, discussed measures to build the climate movement in Europe in the run up to the important Climate Talks in Paris in 2015. The delegates also took part in several demonstrations to raise awareness in Brussels and in the European media on a range of issues including climate change, the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership) and the murder and abuse of environmental activists in South America.

The discussions with MEPs focused on the need for Ireland and Europe to commit to strong climate targets, in tandem with efforts to support incentives for more sustainable employment. Concern was also expressed about the possible implications of the TTIP, the proposed trade deal between the USA and the EU. TTIP, which is largely being discussed behind closed doors. TTIP aims to remove all regulatory barriers between the United States and Europe. It also proposes to create a new tribunal to allow corporations to sue nations which aim to impose stricter standards which could be seen as breaching the agreement. The concern is that TTIP might lead to the widespread privatisation of public services which could have negative implications for environmental and farming standards. The delegates feIt that is vital that citizens, Non-Government Organisations and politicians take a strong stance on this serious issue. The MEP’s who met with the Irish delegation were: Lynn Boylan, Máiread Mc Guinness and Marian Harkin.

All participants travelled by land, to minimise emissions, with the Irish delegation taking a train from the ferry terminal in Holyhead (Wales), via the channel tunnel, to Brussels. The Irish delegation was the single largest delegation present.

Weblinks: Analysis of COP 20 Climate Change Talks:  www.foei.org.

Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership: www.ttip.ie.

Young Friends of the Earth Europe Conference: limainbrussels.tumblr.com.

Outcome of Lima Climate Conference

After extending the deadline by two days, delegates on Sunday finally agreed an outcome from the Lima Climate Conference, which will serve to build towards a legally binding agreement at next year’s talks in Paris. The deal has received a mix of reactions. Officials and diplomats have branded it a success, saying that it provides a unified text to work from, however activists and environmentalists have said it is too vague on commitments and leaves too much to do in the run up to next year’s talks. The deal does not mention specific reduction agreements, simply stating that each country must submit emission reduction plans by next year, based on what they can achieve. The distinction between developed and developing countries in previous agreements is gone, in the sense that each country will now be required to aim for some level of reductions. No pledge is given for extra ‘technical assistance’ to help developing countries adapt, however, the commitment by developed nations to the Green Climate Fund, has been re- stated. Overall, it seems that this text is once again at odds with what science states is needed to avoid dangerous warming of 2 degrees Celsius, and it will be up to civil society to pressure governments to be more ambitious in the run up to next year’s talks.