With oil prices going through the roof and a downturn in the economy, there has never been a better time to look into renewable energy. Marie Madden spoke to Ann Kehoe of the Green Energy Growers Association about the benefits of going green and how the West can take advantage of this emerging phenomenon.

Ann Kehoe, a farmer and former member of the Advisory Committee to the EPA, knew that it would take leadership, investment and knowledge to design and implement a national strategy that would ensure the development of the essential 'green energy' industry in Ireland. The strategy was badly needed if the Irish economy was to maintain its competitive advantage, but she quickly realised that nobody was doing anything about it.

As a farmer, she decided to take matters into her own hands and contracted the services of an international energy and business advisor, Gavin Maxwell of Coolfin Partnership, to design a national framework. Ann launched GEGA, the Green Energy Growers Association, a national non-profit organisation established to enable enterprising farmers produce and deliver carbon neutral energy to consumers and industry, in May 2006. GEGA is now committed to reducing Ireland's dependence on imported fossil fuels, which currently represents 89 per cent of our current usage.

"The Green Energy Growers Association was officially launched in May 2006, after 12 months of intensive research into global energy supply chains and the many aspects of climate change. Ireland is a small island off the West coast of Europe and is very vulnerable to rising oil and gas prices, depleting reserves and international purchasing competition and the Kyoto Protocol is going to make the burning of fossil fuels every more costly. Ireland has some of the best assets in Europe for the development of large-scale renewable energy production including solid, liquid, wind and biogas, but it was eight to ten years behind other countries. Renewable energy is a sustainable clean energy which can be produced faster than it is consumed, for example, solid and liquid bio-fuels, wind, solar and hydro," explains Ann.

GEGA has developed since gone from strength to strength and have developed seven GESCOs, or Green Energy Service Companies, throughout Ireland and is at present, developing a GESCO in the Galway region, which will offer opportunities for Galway's farmers to grow specific biomass crops such as miscanthus, industrial hemp and switchgrass. This also provides farmers with an opportunity to become shareholders in this farmer-led regional business.

"A GESCO is a rural based business that grows, stores, processes and supplies bio-energy products to local consumers and industry. A local GESCO brings many benefits to its area – provides an efficient cost base for investment in a new energy, provides a secure supply chain for consumers, gains consumer confidence, provides career opportunities in rural areas and plans local delivery, so that transport costs are kept to a minimum. In bringing together the national resource of agri-renewable production and hosting, GEGA has identified and addressed Ireland's long-term energy needs and balances the supply chain between producers of energy and energy consumers," Ann continued.

The concept of renewable energy is one that has gained momentum considerably over the last number of years. Ann puts this increased interest down to the mounting pressure being put on families by spiralling energy costs, and says that people are now much more open to finding out the facts about green energy.

"The desire by many families to find a lower or more sustainable way to provide for basic heat and power is not just desirable but essential. The fact is that energy costs are now affecting everything we do. I suppose the real questions are… what should I install in my home or business? What will it cost? And most of all, can I obtain a secure supply of a quality fuel to justify the cost of the change to green energy?"