Vehicle emissions main cause of pollution

CARBON dioxide emissions from vehicles is the biggest cause of pollution in Ireland and is the main reason we are not meeting our obligations under the Kyoto agreement.

Figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office show transport emissions increased by 67% in the eight years up to 2005.

The Environmental Accounts revealed that in 2005 the country produced 46.6 million tonnes of CO2 gases — an increase of 17% on 1997. In that time our energy demand rose by 33%.

It also found agriculture, forestry and fishing are still producing the highest level of harmful greenhouse gases when other materials apart from CO2 are included.

Research from University College Cork’s Environmental Research Institute said harmful agricultural waste could be directly converted to environmentally friendly transport fuels.

Principal researcher Dr Jerry Murphy said Government policy was failing to grasp the potential to transform organic waste, animal by-products and crops into energy.

“At the moment we are buying our coal from Poland and our natural gas from Kazakhstan and we are not able to convert bio-mass energy.

“You simply cannot get planning permission for production facilities. You have companies like Bio-verda, who can go to Germany and get planning permission in three months and be open in three years. Here it takes 10 years,” he said.

A spokesman for the Environment Minister John Gormley said the increases in national emissions were the key issue in tackling climate change.

Construction of a Metro in Dublin, Luas lines in the cities of Galway and Cork, promotion of bio fuels and encouraging the public to use alternative means of transport would be central to reducing carbon emissions over the next 10 years, he said.

“The overall message of these figures today is the same: transport is the single greatest driver of carbon emissions and as a country we are going to have to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels.

“Climate change is the minister’s number one priority and the priority for the Green Party in government. There are ambitious targets in the programme for government and the Minister is committed to meeting them,” he said.