Chapter 5 I Climate Change and the Environment
and currently hosts the largest electric vehicles fleet in the local authority sector and supports the roll-out of infrastructure to cater for electric vehicles across the city. 5.43 Chapter 9 Environmental Infrastructure contains development objectives on standalone, renewable energy projects within the City. These are supported in principle, but care is needed to ensure the proposals do not have significant adverse impacts on residential amenity, economic activity, the environment, biodiversity, transportation and utility services. The proposals also need to adhere to policy objectives contained elsewhere in the Development Plan. Urban Drainage and Green and Blue Infrastructure 5.44 As climate change and the impacts from climate change gradually become more severe and unpredictable, we can expect more heavy rainfall events and more periods of extended heatwaves and drought. Cork City Council will seek to promote measures to climate-proof buildings and the wider city to better manage stormwater and solar gain, reduce impacts on biodiversity and create a more liveable and environmentally sustainable city overall as outlined in the following pages.
Geothermal Energy
5.41 Ireland has widespread shallow geothermal resources for small and medium-scale heating applications, which can be explored online through Geological Survey Ireland’s Geothermal Suitability maps for both domestic and commercial use. Their Geothermal Suitability maps can also be utilised to determine the most suitable type of ground source heat collector for use with heat pump technologies. Ireland also has recognised potential for deep geothermal resources. The Assessment of Geothermal Resources for District heating in Ireland and the Roadmap for a Policy and Regulatory framework for Geothermal Energy documents can also be referenced on this area.
Decarbonising Transport
5.42 In Ireland, the transport sector was the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with road transport being responsible for 95% of emissions within the sector in 2019. In addition to delivering a more sustainable transport network in Cork City as set out in Chapter 4 Transport and Mobility, we also need to decarbonise the transport network and support greater uptake of Electric Vehicles. Cork City Council has sought to lead on transitioning towards low carbon transport
153
Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028 I Volume 1
Powered by FlippingBook