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Research 357: Ireland’s Atmospheric Composition and Climate Change Network

Authors: Damien Martin and Colin O’Dowd, November 2020

Year: 2020

The Atmospheric Composition and Climate Change network is a valuable established national research and monitoring infrastructure. This fellowship has enabled and sustained scientific work on a national monitoring network. Infrastructure has been continually developed over the course of the fellowship that will facilitate long-term sustainable measurements.

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Research 356: Development of Proof-of-concept Portable Sensors for Detection of Heavy Metals and Organic Pesticides and Investigation of Anti-biofouling Materials

Authors: Alan O’Riordan, Michael Nolan, Pierre Lovera, Julio Gutiérrez Moreno, Robert Daly and Benjamin O’Sullivan, November 2020

Year: 2020

One important challenge in the 21st century is the ability to provide a clean and pollutant-free source of water. This project aimed to develop electrochemical and optical-based sensors for detection of organic contaminants (herbicides) and heavy metals. This research has shed light on the potential for the development and optimisation of novel environmental sensors and anti-biofouling strategies.

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Research 355: Sensing Our World: How Digital Cultural Practices Can Contribute to Changing Social Norms Around Consumption

Author: Trish Morgan, November 2020

Year: 2020

This research project assesses the potential for novel cultural practices to communicate environmental data and issues to the public in Ireland against the backdrop of local and international environmental pressures. It makes recommendations towards developing solutions to the communication of environmental data to publics and developed a solution in the form of an online database of novel cultural practices.

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Research 352: Synthesis of Literature and Preliminary Modelling Relevant to Society-wide Scenarios for Effective Climate Change Mitigation in Ireland

Authors: Barry McMullin and Paul Price, November 2020

Year: 2020

Rapid global warming due to emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) caused by human activities is negatively affecting global climate and ecological systems. This research assesses the international literature to inform climate mitigation policy in Ireland and provides a preliminary tool for comparing policy within the Paris Agreement commitments.

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Research 354: IE-NETs: Investigating the Potential for Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) in Ireland

Authors: Barry McMullin, Michael B. Jones, Paul R. Price, Alwynne McGeever and Paul Rice, November 2020

Year: 2020

It is now scientifically understood that effective climate action sets a finite limit on total future net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from human activities, and may require dependence on large-scale “negative emissions” or CO₂ removal from the atmosphere. The IE-NETs project provides the first review of the technical potential for CO₂ removal in Ireland and an assessment of the security of long-term carbon storage.

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Research 353: Investigation into the Causes, Impacts and Measures to Deal with Algal Blooms in Vartry Reservoir

Authors: Yunhong Shi, Dunzhu Li, Laurence Gill, Bruce Misstear, Ian O’Donohue and Liwen Xiao, November 2020

Year: 2020

Vartry Reservoir is a very important drinking water source in Ireland. This project collected and analysed historical water quality and ecology data from 2016 to 2018 and a series of laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate the causes of diatom blooms to identify the pressures. The study also monitored nutrient levels in both the feeding rivers and the reservoir.

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Research 351: Identifying “What Matters” for Community Wellbeing with the Irish Public Participation Networks

Author: Simon O’Rafferty, October 2020

Year: 2020

The Public Participation Networks (PPNs) were established through the 2014 Local Government Reform Act in order to “provide a mechanism by which citizens can have a greater say in local government decisions which affect their own communities”. This report presents the findings from an action research project in which a toolkit to develop visions of community wellbeing was co-designed with four PPNs.

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Research 350: Towards a Definitive Historical High-resolution Climate Dataset for Ireland – Promoting Climate Research in Ireland

Authors: Jason Flanagan and Paul Nolan, October 2020

Year: 2020

There is strong and constant demand from various sectors for long-term, high-resolution gridded climate datasets. This report describes the available datasets and how, using a variety of available observational datasets, appropriate uncertainty estimates and skill scores have been calculated for the model outputs.

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Research 349: Develop a LEAP GHG Ireland Analytical Tool for 2050

Authors: Tomás Mac Uidhir, Fionn Rogan and Brian Ó Gallachóir, October 2020

Year: 2020

This report describes a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions model of Ireland’s energy and agriculture sectors, which were responsible for approximately 61 million tonnes (Mt) of GHG emissions in 2017. The Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) software was used to build the LEAP Ireland 2050 model, which simulates the development of future possible decarbonisation pathways for Ireland.

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Research 348 Toolkit: Connecting with Nature for Health and Wellbeing

Authors: Caitríona Carlin, Gesche Kindermann, Easkey Britton, Martin Cormican, Christine Domegan, Mike Gormally and Diarmuid O’Donovan, October 2020

Year: 2020

This toolkit accompanies EPA Research Report 348: Nature and Environment to Attain and Restore Health (NEAR Health)

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Research 348: Nature and Environment to Attain and Restore Health (NEAR Health)

Authors: Caitríona Carlin, Gesche Kindermann, Easkey Britton, Martin Cormican, Christine Domegan, Mike Gormally and Diarmuid O’Donovan, October 2020

Year: 2020

The NEAR Health project was jointly funded by the EPA and the HSE to investigate how nature and environment can help society attain and restore health. It investigated (1) how people value and experience nature, health and wellbeing, (2) the barriers and bridges to connecting with nature, (3) what people want from their healthy future environment and (4) nature-based activities that benefit people’s health and wellbeing.

Protecting and developing Ireland’s green and blue spaces to benefit our health and wellbeing

Year: 2020

Human health protection is a fundamental aspect of environmental protection. Our health is impacted by the air we breathe, the water we drink, the noise levels we experience, the food we eat, the spaces we spend time in, and our sense of wellbeing. This Brochure provides an overview and key findings of the three research projects jointly funded by the EPA and the HSE.

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Research 346: National Risk Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change: Bridging the Gap to Adaptation Action

Authors: Stephen Flood, Shona Paterson, Ellen O’Connor, Barry O’Dwyer, Hester Whyte, Martin LeTissier and Jeremy Gault, October 2020

Year: 2020

Ireland’s climate is changing in line with global trends and this trend is expected to continue. This report presents its findings according to the NAF’s four themes: natural and cultural capital, critical infrastructure, water resources and flood risk management, and public health. The impacts of climate change will have direct relevance to the achievement of planning and development objectives and priorities within these themes.

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Research 344: Citizens’ Views of Climate Action in Ireland: Insights on Media Use, Trusted Sources and Perceptions

Author: Brenda McNally, September 2020

Year: 2020

As the physical impacts of climate change become more urgent and the subject of wider public concern, greater understanding of the societal responses will be needed. This project investigated citizens’ views of and media consumption about climate actions in Ireland. The report supports environmental policymaking by providing data to tailor communication about climate action and to broaden citizen engagement with climate change.

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Research 342: Ecohydrology, Greenhouse Gas Dynamics and Restoration Guidelines for Degraded Raised Bogs

Authors: Shane Regan, Michael Swenson, Mark O’Connor and Laurence Gill, September 2020

Year: 2020

This report presents the results of an integrated scientific study on two raised bogs, Clara Bog, Co Offaly and Abbeyleix Bog, Co Laois, which are considered to be representative of lowland peatland conditions encountered in Ireland. To assess the restoration potential of degraded raised bog systems, and the level of management required to address the degradation, a simplified set of guidelines is provided as a summary in this report.

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Research 341: Assessing the Potential of Drones to Take Water Samples and Physico-chemical Data from Open Lakes

Authors: Heather Lally, Ian O’Connor, Liam Broderick, Mark Broderick, Olaf Jensen and Conor Graham, September 2020

Year: 2020

Water sampling remains a key component in the monitoring and assessment of aquatic environments. Sampling requiring the use of a boat can lead to issues around accessibility, particularly at remote lakes where there may be a lack of a slipway. This research has successfully demonstrated that water chemistry data collected using drone water sampling methods are not statistically different from those produced by boat sampling.

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Research 340: Valorisation of Composted Organic Fines and Sewage Sludge Using Pyrolysis (OF-PYR)

Authors: Marzena Kwapinska, David A. Agar, Bart Bonsall and James J. Leahy, September 2020

Year: 2020

In Ireland, organic “fines” residue, derived from the separation of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants, are currently processed for disposal as wastes. The Valorisation of Composted Organic Fines and Sewage Sludge Using Pyrolysis project (OF-PYR) investigated the potential of slow pyrolysis as a technology for their treatment as an alternative to other disposal options.

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Research 339: High-resolution Climate Projections for Ireland – A Multi-model Ensemble Approach

Authors: Paul Nolan and Jason Flanagan, September 2020

Year: 2020

In this study, regional climate models were employed to dynamically downscale the coarse information of Global Climate Models to provide detailed projections of 21st-century regional climate change in Ireland. The projections were run at high spatial resolution (4 km grid spacing), allowing a more accurate evaluation of the local impacts of climate change.

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Research 343: Elucidating Levels and Pathways of Human Exposure in Ireland to Brominated Flame Retardants and Perfluoroalkyl Substances

Authors: Stuart Harrad, Daniel Drage, Mohamed Abdallah, Nina Wemken and Marie Coggins, September 2020

Year: 2020

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been used extensively in applications such as electrical goods, soft furnishings and building insulation foam. The ELEVATE project generated data to facilitate the assessment of human exposure to these chemicals.

Research 345: Furthering Understanding of Emissions from Landfilled Waste Containing POPBFRs and PFASs (FUEL) cover

Research 345: Furthering Understanding of Emissions from Landfilled Waste Containing POPBFRs and PFASs (FUEL)

Authors: Stuart Harrad, Daniel Drage, Martin Sharkey and Harald Berresheim, September 2020

Year: 2020

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been used extensively in applications such as electrical goods, soft furnishings and building insulation foam. The FUEL project measured these chemicals in leachate from landfills, and collected air, soil and groundwater samples traceable to these landfills to further investigate.

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