Environmental Indicators Ireland 2016

• Ireland’s primary energy requirement increased from 9.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent (t.o.e.) in 1990 to 16.3 million t.o.e. in 2008, before falling to 13.3 million t.o.e in 2014.

• Final energy consumption as a proportion of the primary energy requirement has increased from 76% in 1990 to 82% in 2014 in Ireland.

• Transport accounted for 42% of Ireland’s final energy consumption in 2014, which was the joint fourth highest proportion in the EU.

• Renewable energy accounted for 6% of Ireland’s total final energy consumption in 2014, which was the joint fifth lowest proportion in the EU. Latvia had the largest share of renewable energy in 2014 at 31% of final energy consumption and Malta the lowest at 2%.

• Ireland had the second lowest energy intensity in the EU in 2014 at 75 kilograms of oil equivalent (kgoe) per €1,000 of GDP.

• The use of renewable energy sources as a proportion of total primary energy production in Ireland increased from 5% in 1990 to 44% in 2014.

• Natural gas, as a proportion of total primary energy production, has fallen from 54% in 1990 to 6% in 2014.

• Peat products reached a low of 24% of total primary energy production in 2012, before increasing to 57% in 2013 and then falling to 47% in 2014.

• Wind has become the main source of renewable energy production in Ireland in recent years, increasing from less than 1% of total primary energy production in 1990 to 22% in 2014.

• The share of biomass in total renewable energy production has increased from 3% in 1990 to 13% in 2014.

• The use of renewable energy sources in the generation of electricity in Ireland increased from 5.3% in 1990 to 22.7% in 2014. The EU Renewable Energy Directive 2010 target for electricity for Ireland was 13.2%.

• Wind is the main source of renewables used in electricity generation, with its share growing from 0% in 1990 to 18.2% of total electricity generation in 2014.

• Ireland’s use of renewable sources in total electricity generation in 2014 at 22.7% was 14^th highest among EU countries and was below the European Union average.

• Austria had the highest proportion of renewable sources in total electricity generation: 70% of its electricity generation was from renewable sources in 2014.

• Consumption of heat from renewable energy sources in Ireland has grown from 2.6% in 1990 to 6.6% in 2014. Biomass accounted for 5.2% of total heat consumption in 2014. The national target for heat from renewable energy sources is 12% by 2020.

• Renewable energy sources for transport have only been used since 2006 and have grown to 3.1% of total transport energy consumption in 2014. Biodiesel and biogasoline accounted for almost all of renewable transport fuel sources over the 2006-2014 period.

• The national target for transport use from renewable energy sources is 10% by 2020. This target was announced in the 2007 Energy White Paper.

• Ireland’s imported energy dependency increased from 69% in 1990 to 85% in 2000 and has fluctuated between 85% and 91% since then.

• The import dependency on oil has fallen from a peak of 59% in 2005 to 48% in 2014. The import dependency of gas peaked at 30% in 2010 before falling to 26% in 2014.

• In 2014, Ireland had the fourth highest level of imported energy dependency in the EU at 85%. Malta had the highest level of import dependency in the EU at 98% in 2014. Estonia had the lowest at 9%.

• Ireland’s imports of fuel, expressed in tonnes of oil equivalent, peaked in 2008 at 15.1 million tonnes then fell in subsequent years before rising in 2013 and falling again in 2014.

• The proportion accounted for by imports of natural gas has grown from zero in 1990 to 31% in 2014.

• Other oil products (such as diesel, gasoline, LPG, kerosene and jet kerosene) accounted for 32% of Ireland’s fuel imports in 2014. Crude Oil and Coal imports at 24% and 10% respectively in 2014 were the other significant fuel imports in that year.

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