Fuel Poverty and Sustainable Energy

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Fuel Poverty

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Sustainable Energy

some thoughts

Thankfully the Irish Government, in its recent hair-shirt budget, saw fit not to place the extra burden of another layer of carbon tax on solid fuels. This will be some small consolation to the many who depend on open fires etc. for their primary heat.

What I would love to see is the SEAI being set on a path to put small efficient multi-fuel stoves into the thousands of older homes with very inefficient fires. Then, as an additional measure, the promotion of eco-friendly fuels to burn in these stoves. This could be done by removing the 13.5% VAT on wood and bio-mass briquettes, and even by subsidising the price and fixing the maximum final retail price per kilo- so to stop the gougers cashing in on the deal.

Such a smple, inexpensive, and uncomplicated strategy would, I am sure, be beneath the dignity of, and not to the taste of SEAI. So a good idea would be to scrap the SEAI and set up a "Fuel Poverty" agency who's prime remit would be to tackle the immoral level of the problem, and as a secondary goal promote sustainability through the promotion and education about the use of eco-friendly fuels and appliances.

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