The Irish Government and the Minister for Energy Alex White has today (16 December) published the Government’s white paper on our aim of becoming a carbon-free society, but it will take us nearly 100 years. Minister White had last week attended the now-finalised COP21 talks, in which he revealed that the Irish Government was to reveal its energy white paper today, and it seems that today’s release shows that in the short term the priority is getting the environmental message out. However, it will take us another 50 years after that to become entirely free of fossil fuel energy, the paper says, with expectations that it will “fall to zero or below by 2100″. There will be the establishment of a new support scheme for the development of renewable energy technologies, as well as the eventual rollout of a new renewable heat incentive scheme. This white paper will change the way we live, very much for the better.”Sunset in Killarney mountains image via Shutterstock