Government must focus on families to drive down energy usage, expert says

Senior research fellow in clean energy futures at the UCC-based MaREI centre for energy, climate and marine research, Dr Paul Deane, said: "We have large potential to generate clean electricity in Ireland." Picture: Larry Cummins

The government will need to focus more on families who use electricity rather than the firms who produce it if ambitious climate change targets are to be achieved.

That's according to one of Ireland's foremost energy experts, who was speaking following the publication of the Climate Change Advisory Council's (CCAC) first two 'carbon budgets', covering periods from 2021 to 2025 and 2026 to 2030.