€9m for developers of A2 rated housing

A major forum of over 300 building industry professionals was told today that significant upskilling is required across the industry if government targets for the energy performance of buildings are to be achieved. The event, ‘Sustainable Architecture Now’, was organised by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) in association with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and the Office of Public Works (OPW).

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan TD today announced that the Greener Homes Scheme (GHS), having made over 22,000 grant commitments to householders towards the installation of new renewable energy heating systems, will move immediately to Phase III of the scheme.

New third-level unit to research energy and environmental issues.

Delegates at a seminar in Cork on Thursday will hear results of an energy audit of social housing schemes across Ireland. Attendance is free and a limited number of spaces are still available.

The Department of the Environment and the Irish Architecture Foundation are to hold a series of public meetings to consult on new architecture policy, which will put more emphasis on environmental sustainability.

Aervent-Lindab offers higher BER ratings through SAP approval on heat recovery ventilation.

Oil supply increases but prices remain high

Construct Ireland can exclusively reveal that Energy Minister Eamon Ryan has today announced the launch of the pilot Home Energy Saving Scheme.

Irish group attends passive house event in Germany

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan has welcomed the approval by the Board of ESB of a Strategic Framework to 2020 which should see the electricity supplier halve its carbon dioside emissions.

An ice shelf about the size of Connecticut is breaking up and "hanging by a thread" from the Antarctic Peninsula because of global warming, the British Antarctic Survey said on Tuesday.

The fourth meeting of the "Gleneagles dialogue" on global warming ended last week with no sign of a consensus on a new global climate policy after the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions expires in 2012.

MAYO councillors are confident that their bid to overhaul planning rules in rural Mayo will stand up to scrutiny from the Minister for the Environment.

AN TAISCE is opposing the construction of a new €160 million women's, children's and maternity hospital in Sandyford.

A DEVELOPMENT society in Derrybrien, Co Galway, scene of a massive bogslide in 2003, has won its High Court challenge to the manner in which Galway County Council extended planning permissions for the erection of a wind farm on a mountain in the area.

Dublin City Council's decision to grant permission for a high-rise cluster in Ballsbridge has no real basis in planning policy, writes Frank McDonald .

CAMPAIGNERS AGAINST the M3 motorway claim they have stepped up their campaign by occupying a tunnel they say they have secretly dug under the proposed route that passes through the Tara Valley in Co Meath.

Hempire Building Plaster, a new high-performance natural material that competes with more commonly used products in terms of performance and ease of use but can actually make for better, more pleasant buildings has been developed in Ireland.