Benefits and Savings

Quattuor Solar Shed

Investment in renewable energy is beneficial in terms of regional and national energy independence, innovation and job creation, wealth creation, reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and countless other environmental benefits. For example, a small school in Sweden has reduced its operating costs by a millions dollars a year and a modern wind turbine provides free energy for the greater part its 20 years of operation. A small farming community in Bavaria with a population of 2,600 is earning nearly $6 million a year from clean energy generation.

Modern wind turbines are increasingly cost effective.

The average wind farm will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within three to five years of operation. A modern wind turbine is designed to operate for more than 20 years and at the end of its working life, the area can be restored at low financial and environmental cost. As a result, a wind farm generates clean, renewable and free energy for all but a few years of its operational life. The benefits and savings from this alone are enormous for Ireland and beyond.

The Bagenalstown Better Energy Project is saving an energy equivalent of up to 50%.

The efficacy of green energy is particularly relevant for wee rural communities that are heavily dependent on oil. Muine Bheag, Cheatharlach, a small community with a population of circa 2,500 adopted the Bagenalstown Better Energy Project led by the Carlow Co. Council. Savings from the project which include efficiency, geothermal and solar photovoltaic systems, are estimated as 30% electrical and 55% thermal with a payback period of about 7.5 years. This project was awarded the Community Sustainable Energy Award 2013 by the Sustainability Authority of Ireland (SEIA) citing an energy savings of 23% to date and up to 50% over a full year equivalent to €52,000.

Prudent communities are saving vast sums from green energy generation.

Another example of some of the many positive effects of best environmental and economic practices being realized is the Storfors Energy Efficient School:

1. Oil consumption has fallen from 23m³/year to zero, resulting in emission reductions of nearly 80 tons/year.
2. District heat consumption has been reduced by 1261 MWH/year.
3. Electricity consumption has declined by about 110 MWH/year.
4. Operating costs are about 1 million dollars less per year.

The school is highly insulated and is heated for a large part of the year by the people who are present in its buildings. The need to buy in energy is further reduced by solar panels and photovoltaic cells. The project is a good example of how thoroughly considered project planning can lead to buildings with extremely good energy performance.

The Bavarian village Wildpoldsreid, with a population of about 2,600, embarked on the path of renewable energy sustainability in 1997. Now, 15 years later, the town boasts an economy that produces over 300% of its energy needs with solar, windmills, hydropower plants, biogas digesters and a natural waste water system and sells its overproduction of energy back to the national grid for a sizable profit of $5.7 million annually.

Wildpoldsreid, Bavaria earns millions annually from green energy overproduction.

The initiative was based on the simple principles of building innovative local industries and not creating any debt.

Mayor Zengerle of Wildpoldsried explains the town's success succinctly: "The mitigation of climate change in practice can only be implemented with the citizens and with the Village Council behind them 100 percent of the way. This model cannot be forced from only one side."