Dublin - Irish homes increased their use of electricity by 62 per cent over the 16-year period from 1990 to 2006, national broadcaster RTE reported Tuesday, with a report showing larger TV sets to blame for some of the surge in power consumption.

The figure is due to be released later Tuesday in a report by Sustainable Energy Ireland.

The report is believed to say that Irish homes now have bigger TVs and more of them, and that Irish people are watching TV more often, leading to a massive rise in energy consumption, RTE reported.

The report is expected to say the result of the trend is more pollution and a contribution to global climate change.

Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions in 2006, the most recent year for which there are statistics, were 125.5 per cent of 1990 levels. The target set for Ireland under the so-called Kyoto Protocol is for 113 per cent of 1990 pollution levels by 2012. (dpa)