The EPA are to be congratulated on their latest initiative regarding AERs.  The trialling of a spreadsheet template to capture the information to be reported in an AER is a move that will cut costs for the EPA.  Perhaps of more important to industry is that it will cut the costs of producing AERs.  Environmental Efficiency would certainly be happy to pass on the savings to its clients. 

For some licensees the annual report is seen as a public relations exercise with plenty of graphics and lots of text.  However, these AERs, often running to 100 pages or more often contain no more detail than an AER of 20 pages.  The new initiative will standardise the way AERs are presented and will save both the EPA and other interested parties much time in reviewing them.

However, it is puzzling why the spreadsheet has to be submitted as a PDF.  If the AER was returned as a spreadsheet, the data could be automatically analysed and collated and  abnormalities identified for further investigation.

Many firms have surplus computers piled in some stock room.  These may be just PCs that are too slow, have older  versions of Windows or other software and because of the age of the PCs, they are not worth updating.

The Computers for Schools initiative is a useful way for firms to dispose of their stock of older computers and make a worthwhile contribution to schools.  This initiative takes in working computes that are no longer needed and refurbishes them for use in schools.

Are there similar schemes for other types of equipment. e.g. laboratory equipment, test and measurement equipment that would benefit schools and college in this country or in the developing world.  If any knows, I would be happy to pass on details.

I have just finished reviewing proposals for water monitoring for a number of quarries and sand pits in Leintser.  What struck me was the lack of consistency in the parameters required to be monitored in surface water.  For example, some sites had to be monitored for Ammonia, some for Total Ammonia, some for Ammonium and some for Ammonium as N.  Asking one quarry to monitor for Total Ammonia and the quarry over the road to monitoring for Ammonium as N just does not make sense to me.

My take on this is that everyone should be focusing on reducing costs and improving efficiency.  Central to this is clarity of purpose and standardisation.  Having one set of standard parameters for monitoring of surface water, or failing that, just one variety of each parameter (e.g.. for ammonia just specify Total Ammonia and ditch all other varieties) would reduce costs and improve efficiency.  This would happen as the job of laboratories would be simplified (e.g. just gain accreditation for Total Ammonia and forget the rest); the job of applying for and granting permits would be simpler, and there would be less confusion in reporting.  However, this is an engineer’s view and I may be mistaken, if so someone please let me know.

The sad thing about the recent spill of over 2,000 litres of Heavy Fuel Oil in West Limerick was that it in all probability would have been preventable if the oil tanks were located in a bund.  The water supply difficulties would then have been prevented and 1,500 homes would not be now without water.

Unfortunately, there is no general requirement in Ireland for the commercial and industrial sectors to build bunds around oil tanks.  This contrasts with the situation in the UK where all oil drums and tanks over 200 litres in size have to be bunded. 

Bunding is a very simple but effective method of preventing oil escaping from tanks.  The usual method is to build a wall around the tanks so that if the oil tank bursts then the oil is retained on site.  If the bund is correctly sized and constructed as per CIRIA163 then such accidents as in West Limerick would be prevented.

Often the major stumbling block to improving energy efficiency in a company is finance department.  This is because energy efficiency is seen as a cost burden, not a benefit.  It is therefore refreshing to read a report from Doloitte that suggests that every company should become an energy company.  The authors’ premise is that a decade from now, a company without an “energy and sustainability” department could be as unusual as one without a human resources department. Either that, or it might be out of business.

The publication of the Green Enterprise Guide by four state agencies is to be welcomed.  This new joined up thinking by government has produced a clear and accessible document that lists the supports available to various sectors to reduce environmental impact, implement management systems and reduce energy and water costs.

The state agencies include the EPA, Enterprise Ireland, IDA and SEAI.

To view the guide click here

Environmental Efficiency has significant experience in most of the programmes on offer including the Cleaner Greener Production Program, ISO 14001 and EN16001 implementation, life cycle analysis, carbon footprinting and energy audits.   Naturally, we are keen to work with you to get the most out of any state support.  If you have a requirement in mind, please feel free to contact us.

With domestic demand greatly reduced and likely to fall further, exporting is the key to survival for most food and manufacturing industry in Ireland.  However, exporters faces challenges when entering new markets, whether exporting to consumers or commercial and state bodies.  Amongst these challenges are the so called ‘green credentials’ of the exporter and these includes such issues as packaging, carbon foot print, sustainability,  environmental management systems and perhaps energy management systems.

The first step is to identify which, of these green issues is important in your market.  For example, if exporting to the UK Public Sector, an environmental management system certified to ISO 14001 is essential.  For the consumer market, again in the UK, 9 out of 10 households bought products with carbon labels and the total value of these purchases was €2.3 billion in 2010 (The Economist).

Whatever the green issues that are important in your export market Environmental Efficiency can help you step up to the challenge.  For example, we have successfully implemented Environmental Management Systems for major exporters, some in as little as four months from start to certification.  For some we have worked to identify their carbon footprint and how to reduce it.  For others we have helped with eco-labelling and Life Cycle Analysis.

The good news is that Enterprise Ireland has a series of grants to help exporters tackle these issues and Environmental Efficiency has a long history of co-operation with Enterprise Ireland.  Whatever your product, Environmental Efficiency can help you improve your green credentials and maximise the grant aid for the project.

Last week’s blog re Enterprise Ireland grants generated a lot of interest. Many of the emails I received wanted to know whether there were grants available for energy efficiency improvements.  By coincidence, SEAI have announced substantial grants for energy efficiency. 

The new SEAI grant scheme is the ‘Better Energy Workplaces 2011’ scheme.  In summary

• Grants are available for energy upgrades to buildings, services, facilities and processes
• Support of up to 35% of eligible costs is available
• Grant support is between €20,000 and €500,000
• Eligible costs include external labour, materials, equipment, hardware and control systems and subject to review of a case by case basis, additional specialist costs
• Projects must be completed by, and paid for, by 1 December 2011.

Following on from a recent one to one meeting with Enterprise Ireland, it came as a pleasant surprise to this blog that there is still grant money available to industry.  In addition, the  money is there to be given out but there are very few takers.

To avail of the grant money you must be an indigenous Irish manufacturing company.  If you are such a company you will probably be of the view that the only sales you are going to make are in exports and this is exactly where Enterprise Ireland  wish to help.  To get ahead in export markets you need certification for ISO 14001 (the environmental standard) and possibly ISO 18001 (the health and safety standard).  Some markets may also be asking for Carbon Footprinting.  The good news is that there is grant money available for all these issues.

The recent review of the EPA, published by the EPA Review Group makes 58 recommendations.  For those with IPPC and Waste licences, there are some recommendations and remarks worth highlighting

• The Review Group notes Ireland’s poor current financial climate and that this has impacted on the EPA adversely.  It is obviously important that the EPA is adequately funded to order that the environment is adequately protected; however, some recognition that industry is also affected adversely by financial pressures would perhaps haved helped give more balance to the review.
• The Review Group notes that licence application fees have remained unchanged since 1994 and recommends upwards revision.  This blog has calculated that if the Consumer Index is applied, a typical licence application fee of €5,078 would now be €7,714, an increase of 52%.  It is not clear from the review, but presumably the recommendation is that these increases would also apply to reviews, revisions and surrender of licenses.
• The recommendation that the role of the Ombudsman be extended to the EPA is welcomed.  It makes sense for there to be an independent mechanism for review where there are allegations of maladministration, this would help maintain confidence in the EPA amongst the public and industry and such confidence is ultimately to the benefit to the EPA.