One of the Government's advisers on energy has said that immediate action will be needed across all sectors if ambitious new targets for renewable energy are to be met.
David Taylor, the chief executive of Sustainable Energy Ireland, warned that long-term energy issues could only be addressed if people began changing their behaviour now.
"The strength of our current situation is that we have the desire, expertise and policy focus to resolve many of the issues we face," Mr Taylor said. "It is imperative, however, that all sectors of the economy act early in order to avoid falling behind our EU partners and to meet the targets set by Government."
Last Sunday the Government set a target of 33 per cent for renewable electricity generation and a 10 per cent target for biofuels by 2020.
Mr Taylor's comments, made at a conference in Dublin on renewable energy policy, come in advance of the Government's White Paper on energy, which is expected to propose that the limits be made legally-binding.
The paper will also set a target of reducing energy demand by 20 per cent through improving energy efficiency. Mr Taylor said that such a reduction was a truly massive undertaking: "Achieving this target will require a sustained focus from business and considerable behavioural change by Irish people and should not just be reliant on action from government and its agencies."
Meanwhile, Comhar, the Sustainable Development Council, said that the EU agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent across Europe posed a "huge challenge" for Ireland, but one which was not insurmountable.
Its chairman, Prof Frank Convery, said that Ireland was already going to exceed the 13 per cent increase in CO2 emissions allowed under Kyoto between 2008 and 2012. "Meeting our targets under the Kyoto Protocol and beyond 2012 will require far-reaching changes in the way we live and work," he said.