A new awareness campaign to encourage the public to use energy more efficiently has been launched.
Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey said he hoped the "Power of One" campaign would achieve a "sea-change" in the behaviour of Irish consumers in relation to their use of energy.
"The concept of Power of One is that the sum of individual effort by consumers as well as enterprise can, and will, make a national difference. In essence, this is about creating a momentum."
A Green Paper on energy policy, to be published next Sunday, is expected to stress that Ireland is overly reliant on imported fossil fuels and needs to use energy more efficiently. Energy consumption has risen by over 60 per cent since 1990, and CO2 output is also rising.
Irish houses consume 35 per cent more energy than the EU average, while their CO2 emissions are almost twice the EU average.
The new campaign aims to persuade consumers to take simple steps to save energy.
"We're asking people to change the habits of a lifetime, to break habits we all have," Mr Dempsey told the press launch yesterday.
Asked how he was changing his own habits, the Minister admitted he had been "a little bit careless" about energy efficiency up to now.
However, he had bought some long-life bulbs for his home, started using a thermostat and had begun to switch off the television when unused, instead of leaving it on standby.
"This campaign is not about regulating behaviour or restricting lifestyle choice. It is about motivating and informing behaviour and offering a better lifestyle. Energy efficiency is good for the individual, good for business and ultimately good for the economy, the environment and society."
The average spending on energy in each house is more than €1,500 a year and the number of houses has increased by almost a half since 1990, according to Sustainable Energy Ireland.
Mr Dempsey denied the campaign amounted to window-dressing for a wider failure to control the State's energy consumption. "The easy way out is to say it's someone else's responsibility, that the Government should be doing something or the power company."
However, he acknowledged that "we need to do more" to meet Ireland's obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, and said it was not possible to do much in the short term to reduce transport emissions.
More than €7 million is being spent on the two-year campaign, which is already getting under way with a major advertising blitz. Further information and tips on saving energy are available at the associated website, www.powerofone.ie
