Ireland Exits Fossil Fuels

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

I didn't know Ireland was one of the worst performers in the Paris Agreement but it seems it is. It also hopes the total divestment from oil, gas, and coal will help it improve said performance. Anyone care to explain how? Thank you.

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

1 hour ago, Marina Schwarz said:

I didn't know Ireland was one of the worst performers in the Paris Agreement but it seems it is. It also hopes the total divestment from oil, gas, and coal will help it improve said performance. Anyone care to explain how? Thank you.

Rainbows, unicorn farts, and leprechauns running frantically on electricity-generating hamster-wheels. 

(The technical term for green-power-electrical-generation from leprechauns is Leprechaunicity).

Just put a wee pot of gold in front of the leprechaun-powered hamster-wheel and watch the little guy run like mad trying to get the gold, and produce the green electricity.

Simple, really.

 

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

Oh, wow, I'm sure leprechaunicity will soon hit headlines. Sounds very innovative, disruptive and transformative.

[NickW + 2,714]

6 hours ago, Marina Schwarz said:

I didn't know Ireland was one of the worst performers in the Paris Agreement but it seems it is. It also hopes the total divestment from oil, gas, and coal will help it improve said performance. Anyone care to explain how? Thank you.

Thats easy - Paris agreement is about reducing CO2 emissions - whatever the arguments for and against a kwh of wind energy it produces far less Co2 than coal

As a country which has virtually no fossil fuels (apart from a little gas) it is reliant on importing most of its energy which has energy security issues aside from any environmental concerns.

Based on this https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ei.html;

It gets 2.5% of renewable energy from Hydro and 29% from other sources which I assume is mostly wind and biomass in various forms.

West Coast of Ireland is the 'Saudi Arabia' of wind and tidal power (and wave if that technology can be developed). Ireland also has a massive potential for developing anaerobic digestion of organic wastes as it has more cattle than people, lots of pigs, sheep, poultry, and plenty of land.

 

 

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

But how does divestment from oil and gas companies help do that? That's what I couldn't fathom. The actual practical steps of increasing renewables production are obvious enough. Or do they plan to use the divestment money to boost renewable capacity? Hmm...

[NickW + 2,714]

1 minute ago, Marina Schwarz said:

But how does divestment from oil and gas companies help do that? That's what I couldn't fathom. The actual practical steps of increasing renewables production are obvious enough. Or do they plan to use the divestment money to boost renewable capacity? Hmm...

I assume they mean divestment from the use of coal, oil and gas (in that order preferably)

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

Oh, no, they mean selling their investment fund's stakes in the industry.

[NickW + 2,714]

6 minutes ago, Marina Schwarz said:

Oh, no, they mean selling their investment fund's stakes in the industry.

A link would have been helpful.

[Rodent + 1,424]

 

"In November 2017, the Environment Protection Agency said poor air quality is directly linked to about 1,500 deaths in Ireland every year. TheJournal.ie Factcheck found Minister Denis Naughten’s claim that four people die because of air pollution every day in this country mostly true. (Read more about that here.)"

http://www.thejournal.ie/paris-climate-agreement-costs-health-benefits-3879180-Mar2018/

[Rodent + 1,424]

3 minutes ago, NickW said:

Do you have a link?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/12/ireland-becomes-worlds-first-country-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

Thanks, @Rodent!

Sorry, @NickW, forgot to put the link in the original post.

[NickW + 2,714]

8 minutes ago, Marina Schwarz said:

Oh, no, they mean selling their investment fund's stakes in the industry.

I assume this is sale of shares held in their SWF

I suppose if you take the money from sale of shares in FF companies and reinvest in companies developing renewable energy this would help.

One option proposed at the time of the GFC in the UK was to use the $200bn of QE money  to build the Bristol channel tidal barrage and hold in a public fund. The Barrage would have had a life of approx. 200 years and produced 6-8% of the UK's electricity and acted as a massive tidal defence for the whole Severn - Wye estuary. The scheme would have created loads of jobs and the revenues would have at least covered capital and interest repayments.

Instead we gave it to the Banksters who sp**ked it on Ferraris, Coke, and top notch working ladies.

A millstone around our grandchildrens necks

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

Oh, well, it always ends up with the banksters, money...

But yes, if that's what they are going to do, it might help. That's what Denmark has been doing and yet... and yet, as one fictional character said on a Danish TV show "Without subsidies the Danish wind adventure is over." So, it's a complex issue.

[NickW + 2,714]

5 minutes ago, Marina Schwarz said:

Oh, well, it always ends up with the banksters, money...

But yes, if that's what they are going to do, it might help. That's what Denmark has been doing and yet... and yet, as one fictional character said on a Danish TV show "Without subsidies the Danish wind adventure is over." So, it's a complex issue.

A major incentive for your average Dane,  who lives on a sand dune with an average height of 30 metres above sea level is that if global warming isn't abated Denmark will cease to exist within a few hundred years.

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

Not sure they can do it with wind farms alone, though... I personally lean towards the "It's already too late" school of thought, if it is a school of thought but, well, better late than never.

[NickW + 2,714]

1 minute ago, Marina Schwarz said:

Not sure they can do it with wind farms alone, though... I personally lean towards the "It's already too late" school of thought, if it is a school of thought but, well, better late than never.

No singular response will resolve - there is no silver bullet. Any action buys a little more time for other responses to kick in.

 They had a longer term view which was that as a rich country they could use their resources to do the heavy lifting (Germany took a similar approach with solar) to get these technologies into the mainstream. Wind and solar are now the most common new power generation technologies deployed other than gas.

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

The subsidies bother me, though. If solar and wind can't survive without them, they're not really sustainable. And I'm leaving aside a whole line of argument about the life cycle greenness of both solar and wind.

[NickW + 2,714]

1 minute ago, Marina Schwarz said:

The subsidies bother me, though. If solar and wind can't survive without them, they're not really sustainable. And I'm leaving aside a whole line of argument about the life cycle greenness of both solar and wind.

Nuclear has received huge amounts of subsidy

Oil and Gas too in many locations.

In the area of domestic solar installations I would take the view that the installation should be subject to tax relief as its an investment in energy production facilities. Big companies get this so why not domestic consumers?

Personally Id simplify the scheme (im talking UK here)  by offering consumers a flat rate 30% tax relief on installations and zero rate as regards VAT. Thereafter no subsidy - use the power or export and get the wholesale rate as an export credit.

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

1 hour ago, Marina Schwarz said:

Oh, no, they mean selling their investment fund's stakes in the industry.

Aaaaah, I misinderstood.  I thought were saying that Ireland was going to stop using all hydrocarbons.  Hence my facetious response.

[Sefko Trafikant + 35]

While Scotland is on target 100% renewable energy by 2020

[Epic + 390]

 

16 hours ago, Tom Kirkman said:

leprechauns running frantically on electricity-generating hamster-wheels

12 hours ago, Marina Schwarz said:

I'm sure leprechaunicity will soon hit headlines

Oh, it will hit headlines soon!  It's gonna be huge.  In fact, have you considered investing in the leprechaun initial coin offering (ICO)?  Its called LepreCoin! 

Buy now and you are guaranteed to be the next multi-trillionaire!  To the mooooon!

 

 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

41 minutes ago, Epic said:

Oh, it will hit headlines soon!  It's gonna be huge.  In fact, have you considered investing in the leprechaun initial coin offering (ICO)?  Its called LepreCoin! 

Buy now and you are guaranteed to be the next multi-trillionaire!  To the mooooon!

Heh heh, you should patent LepreCoin - the lucky green BitCoin.

[Sebastian Meana + 278]

On 7/13/2018 at 9:43 AM, Marina Schwarz said:

The subsidies bother me, though. If solar and wind can't survive without them, they're not really sustainable. And I'm leaving aside a whole line of argument about the life cycle greenness of both solar and wind.

There's a much bigger problem with solar power in ireland

go to Ireland, look to the sky, and is cloudy

there's no such thing as solar power in Ireland, because the sun doesn't shine there.

[NickW + 2,714]

21 hours ago, Sebastian Meana said:

There's a much bigger problem with solar power in ireland

go to Ireland, look to the sky, and is cloudy

there's no such thing as solar power in Ireland, because the sun doesn't shine there.

Which is why most of their focus is on wind, biomass, and hydro. 

http://www.wasp.dk/dataandtools#wind-atlas__european-wind-atlas

Edited July 15, 2018 by NickW

[Jason Lavis + 55]

On 7/13/2018 at 2:11 PM, Tom Kirkman said:

Rainbows, unicorn farts, and leprechauns running frantically on electricity-generating hamster-wheels. 

(The technical term for green-power-electrical-generation from leprechauns is Leprechaunicity).

Just put a wee pot of gold in front of the leprechaun-powered hamster-wheel and watch the little guy run like mad trying to get the gold, and produce the green electricity.

Simple, really.

 

Tom, you make it seem so simple. 

Quote

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

- Leonardo da Vinci
 

Edited July 16, 2018 by Jason Lavis