CLONAKILTY PUBLIC MEETING TO REPORT ON TRIP TO AUSTRIAN SUSTAINABLE TOWN
A joint delegation consisting of representatives of Clonakilty Town Council and Sustainable Clonakilty went on a brief trip to the Austrian town of Güssing last week to learn how that community became self sustaining in renewable energy over a period of 15 years and eradicated it's dependence on outside energy requirements. Located in the southeast of the country, the town is around a two hour drive from Vienna.
On this Thursday evening (13th), they will report on the findings at a public information meeting at the Quality Hotel at 8.00pm in what should be a fascinating illustrated presentation. The meeting is open to all, and there will be a chance to ask questions, and raise issues.
Included on the trip to Gussing was a visit to the European Centre for Renewable Energy (ECRE) to meet with the Managing Director who outlined how and why the town (which has around 4,000 people) went down this road.
Afterwards it was onto the Biomass Plant and District Heating Plant Güssing. Here the Clonakilty delegation saw at first hand how locally grown wood is processed as woodchip in a plant to create heat which is then piped to houses and offices, just like water is done here in Ireland.
In fact, at the biomass plant the main product is gas which is converted to electricity and biofuel, with heat production just being a by product of the process.
It was then onto a nearby village called Strem, where the local Biogas Plant was visited. Raw materials of maize and grass silage are used to produce gas, and the organic waste is returned to the land as fertilisers and the heat by product to local homes.
After lunch the group met with engineer Reinhard Koch, Managing Director ECRE who conceived and delivered The Güssing Model in conjunction with Town Mayor Peter Vadasz in 1992.
Thursdys meeting tonight will ask how the Clonakilty area could possibly also become an energy self sufficient town/district, and already there are plans afoot to start this process. These will be outlined at tonight's meeting, and to be successful, will require a wide interest from the general public.
The Sustainable Clonakilty Group has an Energy Working Group sub-committee in place since February concentrating on this project, and they have the year 2020 fixed firmly in their sights for the dream to become a reality. As well as doing it for environmental reasons, there are sustainable jobs to be created from this project as well as huge financial savings for households and busineeses in their annual energy bils.
In Gussing, there are approximately 1,100 directly employed because of its transition to energy self sufficiency.
Those who participated on the trip were: Mayor Cllr. Michael O' Regan, Justin England (Town Clerk), Alison Wickham, (Secretary, Sustainable Clonakilty and Energy Working Group ) and fellow members Robert Lambert, Peter Madden, Cllr. Robert Walsh and Cllr. Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin (PRO).
Also on the trip were Trevor Buttimer, Managing Director of Clonakilty based Renewable Energy Management Systems Ltd. and Bob Hilliard, Hillback Developments.
See www.sustainableclon.com for further details.
A joint delegation consisting of representatives of Clonakilty Town Council and Sustainable Clonakilty went on a brief trip to the Austrian town of Güssing last week to learn how that community became self sustaining in renewable energy over a period of 15 years and eradicated it's dependence on outside energy requirements. Located in the southeast of the country, the town is around a two hour drive from Vienna.
On this Thursday evening (13th), they will report on the findings at a public information meeting at the Quality Hotel at 8.00pm in what should be a fascinating illustrated presentation. The meeting is open to all, and there will be a chance to ask questions, and raise issues.
Included on the trip to Gussing was a visit to the European Centre for Renewable Energy (ECRE) to meet with the Managing Director who outlined how and why the town (which has around 4,000 people) went down this road.
Afterwards it was onto the Biomass Plant and District Heating Plant Güssing. Here the Clonakilty delegation saw at first hand how locally grown wood is processed as woodchip in a plant to create heat which is then piped to houses and offices, just like water is done here in Ireland.
In fact, at the biomass plant the main product is gas which is converted to electricity and biofuel, with heat production just being a by product of the process.
It was then onto a nearby village called Strem, where the local Biogas Plant was visited. Raw materials of maize and grass silage are used to produce gas, and the organic waste is returned to the land as fertilisers and the heat by product to local homes.
After lunch the group met with engineer Reinhard Koch, Managing Director ECRE who conceived and delivered The Güssing Model in conjunction with Town Mayor Peter Vadasz in 1992.
Thursdys meeting tonight will ask how the Clonakilty area could possibly also become an energy self sufficient town/district, and already there are plans afoot to start this process. These will be outlined at tonight's meeting, and to be successful, will require a wide interest from the general public.
The Sustainable Clonakilty Group has an Energy Working Group sub-committee in place since February concentrating on this project, and they have the year 2020 fixed firmly in their sights for the dream to become a reality. As well as doing it for environmental reasons, there are sustainable jobs to be created from this project as well as huge financial savings for households and busineeses in their annual energy bils.
In Gussing, there are approximately 1,100 directly employed because of its transition to energy self sufficiency.
Those who participated on the trip were: Mayor Cllr. Michael O' Regan, Justin England (Town Clerk), Alison Wickham, (Secretary, Sustainable Clonakilty and Energy Working Group ) and fellow members Robert Lambert, Peter Madden, Cllr. Robert Walsh and Cllr. Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin (PRO).
Also on the trip were Trevor Buttimer, Managing Director of Clonakilty based Renewable Energy Management Systems Ltd. and Bob Hilliard, Hillback Developments.
See www.sustainableclon.com for further details.
