Calls have been made to shut down LED billboards in the capital for most of the day in an effort to reduce energy demand as the risk of blackouts this Winter worries the public.
It comes as residents in Rathmines are haunted by a new billboard which they say are causing sleepless nights. They say that those living near it were not properly consulted and that there are further plans to put more of them throughout the city centre.
One electronic billboard uses about three times as much energy as the average household, according to a UK survey on energy consumption published last year. Dublin Senator Lynn Boylan is now calling for the Irish Government to follow the example made by Germany and limit the hours LED billboards can be lit.
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Sinn Fein's Boylan said: “The German Government are restricting LED Billboards to just 6 hours of illumination per day. Surely given Ireland’s risk of blackouts and the State’s agreement to reduce demand by 15%, billboards should, at a minimum be switched off during the peak hours of 5-9pm and 7-9am?
“Large LED Billboards use vast amounts of energy. Over a year the typical screen would use the equivalent electricity of nine Irish households, with some having the capacity to reach the equivalent of 33 homes.
“Across Dublin and other urban centres we are seeing more and more LED advertisement screens appearing, adding more and more pressure to an already constrained energy system. The German Government have rightly identified this type of energy use as non-essential and has introduced legislation to restrict it.
"The Irish Government should follow suit by insisting that their illumination is restricted during the hours of peak demand."
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