Leading the Green Revolution
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)
Prof. Owen Lewis, Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Brian Motherway, Chief Operations Officer
First there was the Industrial Revolution, which
changed the way that humans lived entirely,
and began the migration from rural areas to
cities that continues today. More recently, it was
followed by the Information Revolution which
has fundamentally changed the way that we
communicate with one another. The wheels of
the next seismic shift in human development are
currently in motion.
Driven partly by necessity, partly by the profit
motive, the “Green Revolution” is set to change
the way that we consume energy, with a view to
putting the future evolution of humanity on a more
sustainable footing. This necessarily involves, as Al
Gore’s clean tech-focused investment firm, Kleiner
Perkins Caulfield put it, “nothing less than the reindustrialisation of the entire planet”.
Professor J. Owen Lewis is the Chief Executive
of the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland
(SEAI), the state agency charged with the tasks of
advising government and determining strategy with
regard to reducing energy demand and promoting
national uptake of sustainable energy products and
services with a view to reducing the nation’s carbon
footprint. It envisages Ireland becoming a global
leader in the area, with a society fully engaged with
the green agenda and an economy fully exploiting
the global opportunities that it gives rise to.
Prof. Lewis believes reducing our reliance on fossil
fuels and their associated carbon emissions and
improving our resource efficiency, are global trends
that are already starting to define the future of
technology and business - a future in which Ireland
can be at the forefront.
Prof. Owen Lewis,
Chief Executive Officer, SEAI