Author: Diarmuid Torney, June 2018
Year: 2018
Ireland has strict decarbonisation targets to meet by 2050. This study is concerned with which governance institutions could enable this transition to a low carbon economy and society. Through analysis of the roles and mandates of a number of governing state institutions in the energy sector, the study makes a number of recommendations for how governance arrangements could be strengthened to better facilitate decarbonisation.
Authors: Laurence Gill, Joanne Mac Mahon, Jan Knappe, Salem Gharbia and Francesco Pilla, May 2018
Year: 2018
This study has produced a set of guidelines for owners of septic tanks and packaged treatment systems to help to address the lack of understanding among homeowners of how their domestic wastewater treatment systems operate and to encourage responsible operation and maintenance.
Authors: Laurence Gill, Vincent O’Flaherty, Bruce Misstear, Laura Brophy, Christopher Fennell, Donata Dubber, David O’Connell, Kathryn Kilroy, Maria Barrett, Paul Johnston, Francesco Pilla and Phillip Geary, May 2018
Year: 2018
This research project evaluated the impact of domestic wastewater treatment system (DWWTS) effluent as a health hazard to consumers of groundwater from private wells and also a source of nutrient water pollution to surface water in small catchments.
Authors: Eva M. Mockler and Michael Bruen, May 2018
Year: 2018
Nutrient enrichment and eutrophication can negatively impact on freshwater ecosystems, estuarine and coastal waters. As a result of improvements in nutrient management and regulation, there has been a large reduction in total phosphorus, total ammonia and total nitrogen emissions from Irish catchments in recent decades.
Author: Simon O’Rafferty, May 2018
Year: 2018
Sustainable consumption and production demands behaviour changes. Policymakers and regulators already apply a range of interventions and incentives with a view to changing individual and organisational behaviour. This includes fiscal incentives, subsidies, pricing mechanisms and market-based instruments, standards, eco-labels and communication, business support programmes and curriculum development.
Authors: Leonard A. Barrie and Frank McGovern, May 2018
Year: 2018
The North Atlantic Ocean is flanked by four major continental regions, and is impacted by emissions from these regions, including those from the major conurbations and industrial regions, as well as by emissions from intercontinental and regional transport systems.
Authors: Rowan Fealy, Cindy Bruyére and Catriona Duffy, May 2018
Year: 2018
The model simulations represent Ireland’s contribution to the European component of the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (EURO-CORDEX), a World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) initiative to address climate information needs at the regional level.
Authors: Fiona Regan, Lisa Jones, Jenny Ronan, Denis Crowley, Evin McGovern and Brendan McHugh, April 2018
Year: 2018
Passive sampling (PS) techniques are rapidly developing as very cost-effective state-of-the-art tools for identifying and measuring ultra-trace micropollutants in water.
Authors: Michael Bruen and Mawuli Dzakpasu, March 2018
Year: 2018
The purpose of this study was to identify and review the main types of natural disasters that may be impacted by anticipated climate change; identify the key agencies involved; assess their roles and capabilities; and identify existing and new potential data streams to assist with warning and disaster management.
Authors: John Coll, Mary Curley, Séamus Walsh and John Sweeney, March 2018
Year: 2018
Long instrumental records are rarely, if ever, homogeneous and most decade-to-century-scale time series of atmospheric data have been affected by changes caused by climatic and/or non-climatic factors. Nevertheless, accurate climate data are a prerequisite for basing climate-related decision-making on, and quality-controlled homogenised climate data are becoming integral to efforts across many countries to deliver climate services.
Authors: Michael Johnson, Kathleen McMahon and Colin Fitzpatrick, March 2018
Year: 2018
This report provides a range of recommendations aimed at supporting preparation for re-use of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) that will support the extension and development of this activity in Ireland.
Authors: David Morgan, Liwen Xiao and Aonghus McNabola, March 2018
Year: 2018
In Ireland, most urban areas are drained by combined sewer systems, which convey wastewater and stormwater in a single pipe. During rainfall the capacity of combined sewers may be exceeded, leading to untreated discharges to receiving waters via storm water overflows (SWOs), which are a source of microbial pathogens.
Authors: Florence Renou-Wilson, David Wilson, Caítlin Rigney, Ken Byrne, Catherine Farrell and Christoph Müller, February 2018
Year: 2018
Ireland contains large areas of peatlands that constitute some of the most ecologically diverse habitats in the country. In natural peatlands, permanently waterlogged conditions prevent the complete decomposition of dead plant material leading to the accumulation of carbon rich peat. However, less than 20 % of the original peatland area is considered to be worthy of conservation.
Authors: Vincent Carragher and Sarah McCormack, February 2018
Year: 2018
This research critically reviewed community interventions and sustainable-behaviour change programmes identifying drivers (enablers) adopted by those interventions. The aim was to distinguish key characteristics of success while also identifying barriers to sustainable transition and change.
Authors: Eleanor Doyle and Mauricio Perez-Alaniz, January 2018
Year: 2018
Decoupling economic growth from environmental quality is an imperative for Ireland, as with other modern developed economies. Not only has economic growth been linked with environmental sustainability impacts, but more recently social sustainability has also been highlighted in terms of its relationship to, and impacts from, the economy.
Authors: Daniel Norton, Stephen Hynes and John Boyd, January 2018
Year: 2018
This technical report demonstrates the data sources and methods that can be used to estimate the value of a number of coastal and marine ecosystem service benefits.
Authors: Gerard Kiely, Paul Leahy, Ciaran Lewis, Matteo Sottocornola, Anna Laine and Ann-Kristin Koehler, January 2018
Year: 2018
Irish grazed grasslands are a sink for carbon dioxide and a source for methane and nitrous oxide. Irish forests and pristine peatlands are sinks for carbon; however degraded peatlands are sources for carbon.
Authors: Gerard Kiely, Paul Leahy, Philip McVeigh, Ciaran Lewis, Matteo Sottocornola, Anna Laine and Ann-Kristin Koehler, January 2018
Year: 2018
Pristine peatlands are mostly sinks for carbon, while harvested or cut-away peatlands are sources of carbon. The principal pressures on Irish peatlands are associated with anthropogenic activities over the past few hundred years.
Authors: William Brazil, Brian Caulfield, December 2017
Year: 2017
Eco-labels are a widely used means of providing consumers with information regarding the environmental and energy impacts associated with various products and services. Given the opportunity that such labels represent, and the resources devoted to creating them, there is a need to ensure that they are effectively communicating the relevant information to the general public.
