After 2,400MW of wind farm installations, one could be forgiven for thinking that Ireland might have reduced it's dependency on fossil fuels imports. When you dig through the SEAI reports, you will find that actually all we have done is reduced our import dependency by 1% - from 90% in 2006 when we had no wind energy whatsoever on the grid to 89% in 2013.
This is evidence that our power stations are still running all the time regardless of how much wind we have and the new interconnector from England has simply replaced a power station in Dublin (Huntstown) which itself was dependent on gas from UK.
Ireland exports 120 billion Euros of goods and 60 billion worth of services annually. The world buys our exports and yet we complain bitterly about importing 6 billion Euros worth of fuel. We don't want nuclear power and accept that even if wind energy worked perfectly, it can only save 1.5 billion Euros worth or a quarter of fuel imports. When I claim turbines use enough electricity to power Drogheda and Mullingar and suggest that they are only appliances, no one sees anything wrong with it. Those who sell fuel to us rely of the revenue to buy our exports in the course of normal trade, to feed their families. How much more selfish can we get? We want to be self sufficient in everything, what about cars, oranges, tractors, grapes? Energy is a tiny but essential part of commerce and we agree to hand control to government and their appointed monopolisers of it without any vote or debate.
ReplyDeleteLocal radio station in Cavan / Monaghan Shannon Side Northern Sound Radio is sponsored by Eirgrid, an enthusiastic stakeholder in carbon reduction, green levies on fuel and wind energy. The station is offering a listeners lottery prize of one tonne of coal. The coal is being supplied by Clogher Fuels, based in Northern Ireland. No carbon levies are charged in Northern Ireland, so the station is by passing the Irish levies and encouraging listeners to import coal without paying the levy. Meanwhile coal merchants in the Republic are being driven out business due to unfair competition. So the term running with the hare and hunting with the hound springs to mind.
ReplyDeleteWhere do I values lie comes to mind reading this...
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope readers do not think I am hogging the comments here. With over 62,000 hits, this blog is obviously reaching a wide audience and I understand it is being linked to important web sites in the UK. With that level of readership, there must be a wide international participation. So Hi there!and do comment. I consider myself a very deep and true environmentalist and am a member of several environmental organisations.
ReplyDeleteSo can I come up with something different to whet your apatite? See my recent posts on the article of the 3rd January, 2016, "John Gibbons, climate change". This whole climate change and renewable energy racket is entirely dependent on state intervention from elected governments. How long will their voters support them? I accept Canada installed a warmer Prime Minister John Trudeau, but Merkal is wabbling in Germany and Trump's odds to be the next US president fell with Paddy Power Bookies from 8/1 to 3/1 recently. Could some of us be in a situation that we could profit from betting against this scam? Check those comments.