‘Levies need to be removed from biofuels’
If renewable biofuels were introduced to the household heating market, Ireland would stand a far more realistic chance of hitting its 2030 carbon emission target.
That’s according to Fianna Fáil Cllr Gobnait Moynihan who this week urged Minister for Environment, Climate and Communication, Eamonn Ryan TD, to consider introducing hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as an alternative fuel for home heating.
HVO is a fully renewable, low carbon fuel made from oils and fats such as vegetable oil and is considered a cost-effective replacement for kerosene, which is currently Ireland’s most commonly used household heating fuel.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting of Cork County Council, Cllr Moynihan highlighted that both Lidl Ireland and An Post have introduced HVO fuelled vehicles into their fleets and that it is now time to see it used in the household.
She said: “It’s not a new thing. It's in the transport industry but it's not in the household heating industry. For them to be able to compete in the heating market taxes and levies need to be removed from biofuels.”
In 2021, An Post launched Ireland’s first trial of HVO for use as fleet fuel, and between September 2021 and April 2022, An Post trucks travelled over 119,000km on HVO fuel, resulting in a 91.8% reduction in carbon emissions when compared to diesel fuel, with no performance difficulties.
Cllr Moynihan continued: “At the moment, Government is pushing the retrofitting of houses but the move is not happening fast enough to meet these net 0 targets.
“This is partly due to the cost of retrofitting households.
“There are 700,000 liquid fuel boilers around Ireland, mostly in rural areas, mostly using kerosene. You can convert these 700,000 boilers to use HVO instead,” she said.
“It only costs €300, It’s literally a 2 hour job, so it’s very cheap for one household to convert to HVO. But it’s the price of the HVO at them moment with the tax and the levies, it’s not reachable for a household.”
Launched on 21 December 2022, Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2023 aims to halve the county’s emissions by 2030 and to reach net 0 emissions no later than 2050.
Supporting Cllr Moynihan’s motion was Fianna Fáil’s Ian Doyle who pointed out leading UK biofuel supplier Green Biofuels Limited has just opened Ireland’s first renewable biofuel terminal in Cork Harbour.
“They have just invested €30 million on a 3 acre site with a massive storage facility HVO in Ringaskiddy and negotiated a long-term lease on a jetty which will pipe HVO directly from the vessels into storage tanks which can store between 50 and 60 million litres of HVO.
“It will give their customers 24/7 access to HVO in Ireland with no supply issues,” added Cllr Ian Doyle.