The Government should confront an emerging crisis caused by Ireland's excessively high carbon-dioxide emissions into the atmosphere by developing an indigenous wind-energy industry, a conference in Waterford has been told.
Ireland may have the richest wind-energy potential in Europe, yet this source still only accounted for 1 per cent of Irish energy output, according the Irish Wind Energy Association chairman, Mr Eddie O'Connor. It was possible to produce 640,000 megawatts of electricity a year, enough to provide Europe with a significant proportion of its electricity requirements, he said.
This would avoid penalties which could run into billions of pounds for failing to meet commitments in the Kyoto Protocol, he told the IWEA annual conference.