WELL-known Irish architect, environmentalist and media personality Duncan Stewart will be visiting Donegal next week for the SECURE launch conference at Glenveagh Visitors Centre on the grounds of the stunning Glenveagh National Park.
This conference which is being hosted by Donegal County Council will take place on Wednesday 9 November and will focus on how we can foster smarter energy communities through the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions.
This conference is being held to officially launch the SECURE project which is being led by ERNACT and part funded by the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) Programme. The project aims to study, transfer and pilot new solutions to improve energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in public housing, buildings and infrastructure in the participating regions. The participating regions include Donegal, Leitrim, Derry & Strabane, Finland, Sweden, Faroe Islands and Canada.
“We are delighted to have someone of the calibre of Duncan Stewart attending this conference. Duncan has spearheaded the environmental cause in Ireland for many years and his passion and commitment to getting people to take notice of what is happening to our environment is inspiring. We all need to play our part, to think outside the box and to see what we can achieve by working smarter and by working together to reduce our carbon footprint and making all our facilities more efficient” says Paddy Mullen, Facilities Manager with Donegal County Council.
Next week’s conference will see participants from each of the participating regions visit Donegal and according to Paddy Mullen this type of transnational project has a lot of benefits for the county.
“We have a great opportunity to pool our ideas, experiences and learning with other regions that share similar characteristics to Donegal. For example many of these regions are rural in nature with a widely dispersed population and they have an abundance of natural resources that can facilitate energy efficiency and innovative renewable energy solutions.”
The SECURE project has ambitious targets to meet. Each region will establish a Smart Energy Community in a village, rural area or neighbourhood and a programme of activities will be completed in these communities to engage and empower citizens to become energy leaders. The programme will also seek to build up local authority expertise and this will be supported by transferring 15 energy solutions, increasing energy efficiency by 5% in at least 3 public building and installing alternative or renewable energy solutions in public infrastructure.
Other speakers at the conference will include Caitriona Strain from Ernact, Michael O’Brien from the Northern & Western Regional Assembly, Emma Norton from the Ecology Action Centre in Canada, Ruth Buggie from Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Donal Doyle from RPS Group Plc and Mary Daly from Letterkenny Institute of Technology.
The conference will take place from 9.30am to 2pm on Wednesday 9th November 2016 in the Glenveagh Visitor Centre and admission is free but booking is essential. Book your place by emailing paddy.mullen@donegalcoco.ie
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