IN the chill days and long, wintry nights of January it’s worth noting two startling statistics: around 60,000 Irish households are estimated to live in ongoing fuel poverty and a further 160,000 experience occasional fuel poverty.

Balcas, a Fermanagh-based timber miller and pellet manufacturer, is leading the way for its new environmentally friendly fuel with the opening of a depot in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.

The UK’s largest renewable energy plant went on-line in Co Fermanagh today.