Energy consumption in the Republic was unchanged in 2002, compared to the previous year, and energy related carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) actually declined despite continued economic growth, a new report from Sustainable Energy Ireland(SEI) has found.

The SEI said it marked the first time since 1990 that energy consumption had significantly decoupled from economic activity and also that Co2 emissions had decoupled from energy growth.

1990 is the baseline year as the Kyoto Protocol and associated EU targets are based on emissions from that year on.

The report suggests that 2002 was unique over the 12-year period of analysis: economic growth ran at 6.9 per cent, energy consumption showed a very slight increase of 0.1 per cent and energy related CO2 emissions decreased by 1.4 per cent.

The report finds that imported oil remains the dominant energy source in Ireland, with its share of the fuel mix, representing 56 per cent of total consumption in 2002. This was down from 58 per cent in 2001.

Imported oil and gas accounted for 76 per cent of the energy requirement in 2002.

The SEI said Ireland remains heavily dependent on imported energy - in particular, oil and gas.

These accounted for 89 per cent of total energy consumption. This compares to an EU average of 50 per cent. "This makes us over-exposed to price hikes," said SEI chief executive, Mr David Taylor.

However, he told The Irish Times that the Republic was becoming less dependent on imported energy per unit of GDP and should be able to achieve growth without any further growth in emissions.

The figures showed that the transport sector was the highest energy consuming sector in 2002.

Mr Taylor said this was partly due to the growth in vehicle numbers, their increasing size, and congestion