Breakfast Briefing Events to guide your business to a Low Carbon Economy

Free Enterprise Ireland and Local Enterprise Office initiative to increase awareness around sustainability and the low carbon economy

MANUFACTURING businesses across the south east employing less than 10 people are being offered a unique opportunity to cut harmful emissions and make significant energy, waste, water and other savings through the landmark Green for Micro programme.

Local Enterprise Offices in Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary are pooling their resources, talents and skills for ‘Green for Micro’. The ground-breaking Enterprise Ireland-funded initiative will assist businesses in transitioning to a low-carbon economy and could be rolled out nationally, those behind the initiative say.

Hands-on tips, expertise, mentoring, audits and more will be provided by project collaborators, the 3 Counties Energy Agency (3cea). The independent, not-for-profit team of energy engineers at 3cea will help participating enterprises examine their energy, waste, water, procurement and transport needs and make more informed, environmentally-friendly choices.

The first in a series of free breakfast briefings explaining Green for Micro to industry and to increase awareness around sustainability and the low carbon economy begins on Tuesday, January 28 at Wexford’s Ferrycarrig Hotel, starting at 8.00am.

Sessions follow in Waterford’s Tower Hotel on Tuesday, February 11; Kilkenny’s Newpark Hotel on Thursday, February 13; Horse & Jockey in Tipperary on Tuesday, February 18 with the final, free breakfast briefing takes place in Carlow’s Woodford Dolmen Hotel on Thursday, February 20. Each breakfast briefing runs from 8.30am to 9.30am sharp.

Phase two of the project will then involve energy audits carried out on ten micro, manufacturing businesses – two in each of the five participating counties. The results of their findings will be showcased at a conference as part of phase three of the initiative. The final phase of the Enterprise Ireland-funded programme will see monitoring equipment installed at various enterprises.

Enterprise Ireland Regional Executive, Brian Fives said: “Micro enterprises across the South East are eager to play their part in transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Green for Micro shows them the way. Auditing their energy consumption, mapping the results and monitoring their transition will provide an invaluable insight into how every enterprise can play its part in Ireland meeting its 2030 climate targets. We are proud to be leading the way here in the South East.”

Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny’s Aileen McGrath : “We urge qualifying micro enterprises to attend the no obligation breakfast briefing, pick up an expression of interest form and see how even the smallest of changes in their manufacturing processes and general business decisions can make a big difference. While our primary target is manufacturing, micro enterprises in other sectors may also qualify and we encourage them to attend,” she said.

3cea Energy Engineer, Shane Faulkner, said: “We will provide each participating enterprise with up to nine days of expert help which will include audits, reports and mentoring. The level of buy-in from manufacturers in the region is extremely encouraging and are really looking forward to playing our part. The fact we’re working at a regional level rather than with individual manufacturing enterprises and in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices across the region makes Green for Micro a massive game changer for the entire South East, beyond even,” he said.

Green for Micro is one of three projects grant-aided to the tune of €345,000 by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD and lead by Kilkenny and Carlow Local Enterprise Offices in collaboration with the Local Enterprise Offices from Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.

The other projects include Initium South East and Incrementum South East. The Initium South East project is an innovative series of start-up programmes led by the South East Local Enterprise Offices, Enterprise Ireland, and the Ireland South East Office in partnership with South East BIC and IT Carlow. It aims to animate, develop and support the creation of 40 new specialised Start Up companies in the South East.

The Incrementum South East project is a targeted business development programme for the Local Enterprise Office Portfolio of clients over 10 employees which aims to increase their engagement in R&D and Export Activity.

About this event

Registration & breakfast for the event starts at 8 am, the first speaker will begin at 8:30 am.

The Breakfast Briefing events are free to attend but please register your attendance on Eventbrite or by contacting Mari or Patrick on 0567790856 or at events@3cea.ie

Wexford Event – Register Here

Waterford Event – Register Here

Kilkenny Event – Register Here

Carlow Event – Register Here

Tipperary Event – Register Here

There will be speakers representing local businesses to talk about what they have done in improving the environmental and cost competitiveness of their business.

Real life stories and case studies

At the first Breakfast Briefing event in Wexford, Killowen Farm and Kehoe’s Potatoes will give an overview of the projects they have undertaking including measuring and monitoring, reducing waste, installing LED lights, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity and putting a plan in place to to tackle their rising costs.

3cea will give a presentation on supports available to SMEs and how to access theses supports and grants.