COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, February 11, 2008

MOTION NO. 6

MOTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

That South  Dublin County Council recognizes the need for action on global warming and the need to conserve energy, reduce carbon emissions and also the need to reduce light pollution of our night skies. That the  Council will support Earth Hour 2008  by turning off all non-essential lights controlled by the Council from 9 to 10 PM on 29 March 2008 to support a collective world-wide effort  to show the difference that can be made by this initiative and to raise public awareness of the need to use less energy.  And the Manager is requested to write to South Dublin Chamber seeking its support for  this initiative.

REPORT:

The most effective means available to the County Council to reduce global warming, conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions is to use the land use planning system to influence settlement strategy and minimise transport demand.  This can be achieved through the delivery of well planned sustainable communities based on integrated public transport, a mix of uses including employment and the provision of a range of facilities and services within walking distance of a significant resident population, such as at Adamstown.  Such communities are also suited to the introduction of more efficient and renewable forms of energy generation and carbon reduction, such as district heating fuelled by biomass, combined heat and power or passive housing, for example.

The need to conserve energy and reduce pollution levels is recognised by this Council and the Public Lighting Section has reduced significantly energy consumption by improving the network and using the most efficient lantern designs.  At present, a project is underway implementing the installation of tele-monitoring control and dimming systems which in the future will allow significiant reduction of energy consumption.

While we support the Earth Hour initiative we are unable to participate directly as we do not have the technology in place to partially swith off and dim sections of the public lighting network.

Nonetheless, the Council is currently concentrating on a long term strategy to reduce our carbon footprint, including a number of initiatives to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.  These include assessment of South Dublin County Council’s energy usage on fleet, council buildings and other resources, and the introduction of a number of in-house initiatives such as the Switch Off Campaign - whereby equipment on standby or not in use shall be switched off where possible, especially at night time and  Light and Heat Control  -  a Building Management System to control heating and light.

Similarly, the Council is proactive in promoting sustainable development through a number of initiatives including improving Insulation standards / building standards and the introduction of   wood pellet/chip boilers and solar panels as a source of heating.