Environment minister Phil Hogan and public expenditure and reform minister Brendan Howlin today launched Green Tenders, Ireland's first green public procurement action plan. The aim of the plan is to encourage public authorities to purchase more sustainable products and services.

The action plan stresses that green public procurement can be a "driver for innovation" and "provide a competitive advantage for emerging companies".

The government's cuts to its Better Energy grants will cost jobs and make it extremely difficult for Ireland to meet its retrofit and energy reduction targets, green building magazine Construct Ireland has warned.

Following the budget, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland reduced grants for cavity wall insulation from €320 to €350. Grants for internal and external wall insulation were also reduced — previously these were €2,000 and and €4,000 respectively, but now separate rates have been introduced for different house types, with the maximum being €1,800 for internal insulation and €3,600 for external.

An unpublished 2005 Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland report found that new homes were failing to meet minimum energy efficiency, ventilation and fire safety regulations during the boom.

Environmental groups have criticised the EU's new Energy Efficiency Directive for failing to mandate member states to make big energy savings over the next decade.

According to the European Commission, the plan will deliver 20% energy savings across the union by 2020. However, Friends of the Earth said the directive would "not make savings to the extent promised, or on the scale needed to fight climate change".

Eamon Ryan newly elected as leader of the Green Party this afternoo with 71.6% of the vote. More to follow...

The government has published its draft national action plan on green public procurement (GPP). Environment minister Phil Hogan said the plan, when finalised later this year, will apply to all personnel involved in procurement across the public sector.

The plan aims to ensure the government purchases sustainable products and services in areas such as construction, energy, food and transport.

The government is withdrawing grant support for heat pumps and biomass boilers and reducing grants for other energy efficiency upgrades as part of its new Better Energy national building upgrade programme. The government has allocated an additional €30m to the programme this year in addition to the €60m set aside in this year's budget. It expects the extra funding to support an additional 2,000 jobs in the retrofit sector in 2011.

Government grant schemes for energy upgrade measures such as insulation, heating controls and renewable energy systems are running as normal, energy minister Eamon Ryan TD has told Construct Ireland. The minister said that €99m is set aside for the Greener Homes scheme, Home Energy Saving scheme and Warmer Homes scheme in 2011.

Government subsidies for energy efficiency and renewable energy have come through Budget 2011 unscathed in spite of swinging cuts across the economy.

Energy minister Eamon Ryan TD has announced a budget of €99m for energy upgrading Irish buildings in 2011 as the government ramps up for the launch of the National Energy Retrofit Programme (NERP).

One million residential, public and commercial buildings in Ireland will get energy upgrades by 2020 under the latest national retrofit strategy. A consultation was launched this morning on the plan, which will aim to deliver 8,000 GWh of energy savings between 2011 and 2020.

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan yesterday announced the government’s new support price structure for bio-energy. The guaranteed support price will range from 15 cent per kilowatt hour to 8.5 cent an hour depending on the technology deployed.

A new coalition of Irish business leaders has issued an open letter urging the government to leverage the State’s €17bn annual procurement spend to develop the green economy.

The CEOs and managing directors of companies including Siemens Ireland, Airtricity, Ecocem, Glen Dimplex and Bord Gais have signed up to Green for Growth, a coalition calling for the state to commit to buying greener goods and services to keep Ireland competitive domestically and internationally.

Green for Growth, a coalition of leading Irish businesses set up to demand strong government leadership on green procurement, will be launched tomorrow, Friday 14 May 2010 in The Annesley Suite, Alexander Hotel, Merrion Square, Dublin 2 at 12pm. The coalition has been organised by Construct Ireland magazine.

Energy minister Eamon Ryan has announced that the government plans to recoup some of the profits big electricity generators have made through the EU's emissions trading scheme. 

Over Eur1 million per week in energy retrofit grants are currently being paid out by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), a government official has said.

The energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, has announced details of a "green loans" scheme to help people pay for improvements to their homes to make them more energy efficient.

The scheme, which would see loans remain attached to the house where insulation, solar panels or other green technology was installed, aims to overcome the financial barriers and upfront costs people face when trying make their homes greener.

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan today announced the extension of the Accelerated Capital Allowance Scheme. The Scheme, detailed in the Finance Bill, allows companies to buy energy efficient equipment and write off its full cost against corporation tax in the year of purchase.

Construct Ireland’s recent lobbying and campaigning work has paid off spectacularly with news that two policy proposals have been adopted into the reneweed programme for government .

Editor Jeff Colley made detailed submissions to the Green Party on several issues, with proposals for a pay as you save policy to stimulate national energy upgrade work and a policy to dramatically increase the impact of Building Energy Ratings finding their way into the document agreed between Fianna Fáil and the Greens.

Environment minister John Gormley yesterday published the government's policy on architecture for 2009 to 2015, titled Towards a Sustainable Future: Delivering Quality Within the Built Environment. 

IRELAND CANNOT afford to wait before investing in the green economy, the director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said.

Speaking at the organisation’s annual conference, Mary Kelly said there were significant economic opportunities for Ireland in becoming a low-carbon and greener economy.