Forget that the Earth is already as warm as it has been for 10,000 years and that it's within one degree celsius of being at its hottest for one million years, according to Nasa's Institute for Space Studies. Forget that crocuses or cherry blossoms are popping out in February. It makes the place look nice. When annual gas bills start hitting over 1,200, it begins to focus most people's minds. The water may get heated for 10 minutes less in the morning. The heat might be turned down a degree lower.

But consumers should expect more price hikes in coming years as pressure on oil and gas supplies tightens even further.

Against this backdrop the government last week published its long-awaited energy green paper. It calls for 30% of the country's electricity to be produced from renewable sources by 2020. That would still leave the Republic highly reliant on fossil fuels. What's equally intriguing in the green paper is the notion that "energy efficiency" should improve by 20% by 2020. The paper is vague on how such reductions will be achieved, but says that the "strategy will be to build on achievements to date, target those sectors capable of delivering more efficient use of energy and work to achieve real and measurable change in behaviour and consumption patterns by economic sectors and individual consumers".

Chairman of the Irish Wind Energy Association and head of energy at Cork-based SWS, Tim Cowhig, said last week that he welcomed the targets set down in the green paper, and thinks they are realistic and achieveable "if the correct policies are put in place". However, while generally positive about government aspirations, Cowhig points out that there's a lot of work to be done to get various government agencies and departments that impact policy to gel effectively.

"You have the Commission for Energy Regulation which has a requirement to secure energy at the cheapest prices it can today for consumers. Then you have Eirgrid which has a mandate to effectively make sure the lights don't go out, " explained Cowhig "The Department of the Environment and Local Government has to direct the country towards meeting its Kyoto undertakings, while the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is looking at alternative sources." Cowhig maintains that those bodies don't seem, as of yet, to be talking effectively to each other to provide an long-term plan for coping with future energy demand, prices and usage.

With more wind power, comes more public opposition.

Although Cowhig stresses that there is general support for wind energy, he admits that it is probably time for an improved approach in relation to planning rules, for example, which for transmission lines date back to the 1930s and effectively "allow people to put up transmissions lines around the country".

Last week an anti-wind energy group, Wind Energy Truth Alliance, was established with the aim of preventing a "careless" spread of windfarms.

Spokesman Peter Crossan has queried whether wind energy is indeed 'green', questioning the cost of construction in economic and environmental terms.

The same argument is often put forward in relation to nuclear energy. The green paper has reiterated the government's position against the use of nuclear power. That's at a time when new technology, such as so-called pebble-bed modular reactors currently being built in countries such as the US and South Africa, greatly reduce risks of radioactive release due to safer design and can be constructed on a small scale.

Irish consumers already use power generated by nuclear stations in Britain, so it seems consumers here are happy to use such a power source as long as it's not on Irish soil.

"People are terrified of the word 'nuclear', " said Philip Walton, a professor at University College, Galway, and a founder of a pro-nuclear energy lobby group, Better Environment for Nuclear Energy.

"They've been hoodwinked.

Despite Chernobyl, there are roughly 440 reactors around the world that are running for over 20 years or so, " claims Walton. While anti-nuclear lobby groups point to Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the former's meltdown was in large part the result of appalling plant management. Earlier this year State-agency Forfas said in a report that Ireland may have to consider building a nuclearpowered station in the future if it is to meet energy demand.

Although substantial sums are being invested in Ireland's electricity transmission network, operated by Eirgrid, some in the industry argue such upgrading is merely keeping pace with current electricity demand and not properly planning for future needs.

Eirgrid refutes that. A spokesman said last week that Eirgrid "carries out detailed and regular analyses of the need for infrastructure" and that "all generators have the option of making proposals in relation to our plans".

With consumers are being hit with a double whammy, small businesses are also feeling the pinch, according to ISME, a representative body for Ireland's small and medium-sized companies.

Chief executive Mark Fielding described the government's decision not to break up the ESB, as recommended by consultants Deloitte, as typical "shilly-shallying" with a fear of confronting strong unions still evident, especially in the face of an impending general election.

"If the government is serious, " he claimed, "it should break up the ESB." The government has said that it does not want to break up the incumbent electricity generator and said "strategic electricity assets should remain in State ownership for the long term". As a sop, it has suggested the creation of a landbank near existing power stations that could be used by competitors to build new facilities with direct access to the national grid.

The ESB is currently retrofitting the 915MW Moneypoint power station at a cost of 368m. It provides roughly onequarter of the Republic's power.

The retrofit is designed to slash carbon pollution from the facility, which burns coal.

Viridian, which operates the privately-owned Huntstown power station in north Dublin, told the Environmental Protection Agency this summer that the government has earmarked Moneypoint as a "mustrun" unit. That, claimed Viridian, is "alarming and of huge concern" to any new entrant or potential new entrant to the market.

The green paper is designed to be a discussion document and as such it will prove contentious.

While the targets may be admirable, achieving them will require fundamental shifts in thinking amongst government and consumers. Higher gas and electricity bills might just be the catalyst for change.