We are delighted to sponsor Waterford PPN Awards – Nominations now open!

Nominations Now Open

Waterford PPN are delighted to announce the launch of the 2022 Waterford PPN Community & Voluntary Awards. This year’s awards are in collaboration with Waterford City & County Council, Waterford Volunteer Centre, South East Energy Agency, BHP Insurance, Local Link Waterford, Expressway and the Dept of Rural & Community Development. The awards scheme is the only platform in Waterford that recognises and celebrates the commitment and vibrancy of the community and voluntary sector and the value of the voluntary contribution made by community and voluntary groups and volunteers. The awards acknowledge groups and individuals who, through their commitment to voluntary and community activities, have played a significant role in enhancing the quality of life in their communities. The awards gala ceremony, where the winners will be announced will take place on November 24th where all nominees will be invited to attend the evening. Read more

Greener HGV - reduce fleet costs

Greener HGV Programme – ECO Driving Championship

We attended the ECO Driving Competition at Kilcullen Circle K in Co. Kildare on the 16th of July, where Ireland’s best energy-efficient drivers competed for a spot to represent Team Ireland at the 32nd UICR Professional Driver’s World Championship in Zagreb, Croatia.

Irish Fleet companies can still avail of the Greener HGV programme, where they can benefit from a grant that subsidises the use of innovative technology & professional driver training. This programme will deliver real fuel savings and is subsidised by the Climate Action Fund as part of Project Ireland 2040. Not only does the programme help with the Climate Action Fund’s aim to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 80%, but helps reduce fuel costs by thousands of euros every year. For more info on the Greener HGV Programme visit the link below

Energy Poverty Advisory Hub & Best Practice Guidebook

3cea Energy Engineer Colm O’Mahony is currently attending day 2 of the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub, where there are great discussions on the main issues, challenges and barriers to help alleviate Energy Poverty.

Energy poverty is persistent and potentially on the rise in Europe. In 2020, one in 12 European citizens were not able to afford to keep their homes adequately warm. One in 16 were in arrears on their utility bills. Many European citizens find themselves struggling to pay their bills due to soaring energy costs, hitting the lowest income households the hardest.

3cea in partnership with Empower and the Southern Regional Assembly has published an Energy poverty Best Practice Guidebook, which displays 9 inspirational good practice projects relating to Energy Poverty and how they can be implemented at local, regional, and national levels to help reduce Energy Poverty.

Wicklow SEC: Energy Awareness Day 2022

3cea were in attendance at the Wicklow Sustainable Energy Community Energy Awareness Day on Saturday 18th June in the Pastoral Centre Wicklow.

The event featured:

•16 electric vehicles from 10 dealerships
•A range of electric bicycles
•Installers of solar panels, air to heat pumps and electric car chargers
•Suppliers of LED bulbs, eco-friendly paints, ultra-quiet electric lawnmowers and other electric powered garden equipment
•Launch of the Energy Master Plan for Wicklow
•Technical advice from a one-stop-shop on appropriate measures that can be taken to reduce emissions
•Advice on behalf of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on available grants
•Information on the proposed Codling Wind Park off the Wicklow Coast
•Fun activities such as a smoothie bike where you can make your own refreshing drink without a plug and an electric game to test hand eye coordination
•Face painting and energy awareness activities for children

Find out how your community can become an SEC and develop renewable energy options in your area.👇

Meet the Buyer/Supplier, 3cea’s Dynamic Purchasing System Event

Great presentations and fantastic innovation, great to see progressive thinking in our industry and groups of like-minded people coming together.
– April McHale /Technical Sales Engineer at Daikin Ireland

On Tuesday 21st of June, 3cea hosted the Meet the Buyer/Supplier DPS event at the Hoban Hotel in Kilkenny.
The event provided basic information about our Dynamic Purchasing System for potential contactors in the energy efficiency, renewable energy and retrofitting field.

Thank you to all who attended the Meet the Buyer event which was a massive success, further developing existing and new partnerships between 3cea, building contractors and suppliers.

If you missed the event, you can view the presentation slides here

For more information on 3cea’s Dynamic Purchasing System visit the link below
https://3cea.ie/join-our-team-as-a-building-contractor/

Save the Date for the 2nd Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH) International Conference

The 2nd Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH) international conference will take place on 28-29 June 2022 in Zagreb under the theme “Moving towards energy autonomy: How to guarantee social inclusion”. The conference is co-hosted by the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub initiative, the city of Zagreb and DOOR, the civil society organisation devoted to the promotion of sustainable energy development. Register here.

The geopolitical context and the energy market reality that it creates have made it even more challenging for not only energy-poor consumers but all EU citizens to cope with soaring energy prices. The pressing need for just energy transition is now more needed than ever. REPowerEU is the EU’s new plan aiming to diversify gas supplies, speed up the roll-out of renewable gas and replace gas in heating and power generation with the ultimate goal of phasing out the dependence on fossil fuels from Russia before 2030. The ambiguous plan comes as a response to soaring energy prices and as a complementary plan to the European Green Deal, the EU’s overarching growth plan to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

This shift towards a faster and more sustainable energy transition for all can become an opportunity for mitigating energy poverty. What are the lessons learnt from the current geopolitical crisis and how can the EU, national and local governments work together in turning this challenge into an opportunity for tackling energy poverty and ensuring just and sustainable energy for all?

During the conference of the leading EU initiative on local action against energy poverty, EPAH will bring together local governments, EU representatives, policymakers, energy agencies, civil society organisations and all stakeholders active in energy poverty. The agenda will include a mix of keynote speeches, debates, interactive workshops and field visits that will allow the participants to debate, learn from each other and share practices as to how the EU, national and local actors can work together to contribute to the rapid energy transition and reduce energy poverty for all including energy-poor and vulnerable consumers

The EPAH International Conference is open to all interested stakeholders to join in Zagreb upon registration. Some sessions will be broadcasted online.  Stay tuned on the EPAH website for more information and spread the word across your network. The agenda is also available on the EPAH Website.

Housing 4.0E Conference Comes to a Close

The Housing 4.0E conference was hosted in late May 2021. This conference joined the Floriade Expo in Almere, Netherlands. This was a fitting setting for the event given the theme of the Floriade Expo being ‘Growing Green Cities’. It featured guest speakers from our partner organisations as well as industry experts and shared insights the pilots have yielded thus far. The conference was set up to inspire attendees and highlight the accomplishments of the project thus far. It featured keynote speakers, debates, and practical workshops.

The event was opened by Ank Bijleveld (NL), Mayor of Almere, and hosted by Natasja van den Berg (NL), an expert in citizen participation and sustainability. The keynote speakers included (click for presentations):

The two debates held across the two-day conference covered; “What are the major lessons learned with the pilots and what needs to be done with it?” and “How to Scale-up and Innovate in the Building Industry”. These debates were a mixture of H4.0E ambassadors, partners, and stakeholders.

The Floriade Expo is a world horticultural exhibition that takes place in the Netherlands once a decade. This iteration is taking place in Almere and runs from 14th April 2022 to 9th October 2022. The theme for the expo this year is ‘Growing Green Cities’ in collaboration with national and international participants at the Expo. Floriade’s theme Growing Green Cities presents the creative, green, sustainable solutions required to make this a reality. This theme is more important than ever as by 2050, some 68% of the global population will live in cities on a mere 2% of the earth’s surface area.

Some Highlights From The Conference

“Enter the arena” and “Keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground” were some of the calls to action that were made by Jan Rotmans at the H40E conference.

 

Presentation of The Guidebook by Ivar Diekerhof.

 

Joke Dufourmont shows the advantages and processes of building homes from sustainably grown timber.

 

“Being an Ambassador is about Connection” Marion Jammet, Chris Troniseck, and Nathan Van der Bossche take part in the Ambassadors Debate. The debate discussed the major lessons learned with the pilots and what needs to be done with it?”

 

Ralf Kampe leads one of the breakout rooms during the conference where he presented the Low Carbon Fabric First Approach.

 

Alastair Parvin from Open Systems Lab opens day 2 of the Conference. Alastair i presented the Platform in development as part of the H4.0E project which will allow individuals to design their own NZEB and ZEB houses.

 

Debate between H4.0E partners, ambassadors, and stakeholders on ‘How to Scale-up and Innovate in the Building Industry’.

 

“Scale, speed, quality, affordability, and low energy – How do we do it?” Ireland needs 30,000 houses in 5 years. 3cea senior engineer and Chair of Association Irish Energy Agencies, Alexandra Hamilton, discusses how do we get there while keeping emissions low and quality high.

 

Architect and Irish TV producer, Duncan Stewart closes the Housing 4.0E Conference recapping some of the lessons from the speakers and having a discussion with attendees.

 

Sustainable Energy Communities & Wexford County Council Workshop 2022

On Friday 10th of June, 3cea had the pleasure of attending a workshop between Wexford County Council and Sustainable Energy Communities in Wexford County. The workshop was designed by both the SEC Programme and Wexford County Council with the overall goal of creating a framework for cooperation and collaboration between Wexford County Council (WCC) and the Communities for the development and achievement of community projects and goals.

Sustainability is about so much more than carbon emissions, rising sea levels and soaring energy costs. It’s about community welfare, inclusion and creating opportunities for communities to thrive socially and economically. Both the SEC Programme and WCC recognise this and the important role that each Community plays as we transition to a more sustainable way of living.

Start your sustainable community journey and join the SEC network today: https://3cea.ie/sectors/community/

The South East SEC Team Day – Putting smiley faces and ticks on a new strategy

There’s a lot to look forward to over the next year.

The SEAI Sustainable Energy Communities programme has grown at an incredible rate even through Covid-19 with the number of communities in the Southeast growing from 50 communities in 2019 to 71 today.

All of these communities are working towards reducing their carbon footprint with the help of their County Mentor and Regional Coordinator with a lot of this work being done remotely or our in the communities themselves.

Monday the 16th of May was the first time since 2020 when all four County Mentors – Marina De Costa Carlow, Therese Curran Kilkenny, Yvonne Byrne Waterford and Fiona O’Loughlin, got to meet in-person with Gráinne Kennedy of 3cea the Regional Coordinator.

The purpose of the day was to come up with a strategy for how best we can support our communities for the next year. Everything was discussed from each county’s successes to the projects that can be prioritised to the skills that communities need to be resilient and to engage successfully with everyone in their community. We have come away with many actions to work on and with solidarity that together we give our communities what they need to transition to a sustainable energy future.

Start your sustainable community journey and join the SEC network today: https://3cea.ie/sectors/community/ 

Meet the Buyer: 3CEA’s Dynamic Purchasing System Event

The DPS Information Event will take place on Tuesday 21st of June from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm at the Hoban Hotel in Kilkenny.

This in-person Information Event will be seeking contractors to be part of our Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for the provision of goods and services for energy and climate action consultancy projects and for the provision of energy efficiency, renewable energy and retrofit works (2 lots).

The aim of this event is to provide basic information and introduce the recently published Dynamic Purchasing System to potential contractors in the energy efficiency, renewable energy and retrofitting field. We will provide helpful tips on how to register as a contractor and what you need to do to be successful.

3cea is committed to delivering the National Retrofit Programme and attracting significant investment in energy efficiency and low carbon projects in the region towards 2030. Through the DPS procurement system, 3cea will be partnering with contractors, suppliers, industry experts, technical specialists and associates to help deliver energy efficiency in the South East and beyond.

This DPS is being established for a period of ten years in accordance with the European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations 2016 (SI 284 of 2016) (‘the Regulations’) for the purchasing of certain energy-related goods and services and the provision of energy efficiency, renewable energy and retrofitting works divided into two lots in order to support 3cea’s strategy to deliver energy-related projects and partner with experts in particular fields.

The event will offer a chance for all attendees to:

• Meet the 3cea team & briefing on potential works/projects to 2030

• Understand the upcoming DPS framework and its procurement process

• Ask questions on how to get on the framework as a contractor