Energy policy lacks imagination

I FEEL the whole energy and global warming debate in Ireland, and our response to it, displays a complete lack of joined-up logical thinking.

Take, for example, the energy-saving light bulb. It is true that CFLs use only one-fifth of the electricity of a conventional incandescent light bulb to produce the same amount of light.

But where is the ‘wasted’ energy of the ordinary light bulb going — it is producing heat. Because we all heat our houses for a considerable part of the year, the energy really isn’t wasted at all. This is also true for the televisions, computers and all the other gadgets that we tend to leave on standby.

The future of electricity generation in Ireland is a very serious concern. At present we produce 50% of our electricity needs from natural gas.

By the time the Quinn Group has its two gas-fired plants in operation, the ESB completes its new Aghada gas-fired station and Bórd Gais commission its Whitegate power plant, we as a country will be almost entirely dependent on natural gas for our electricity generation capabilities.

As Ireland is importing nearly all of its natural gas needs, our security of supply could be seriously compromised.

Natural gas is a finite resource and will run out. It should be saved for the uses for which it is best suited — industrial processes and for heating our homes. The bioethanol industry is going to cost this country billions of euro. The Government will have to forego the abundant excise duty that it would have collected on the oil-based fuels used to power our cars and trucks.

The cost of food is going to rocket and drive up inflation as farmers divert arable land to the production of grain and sugar beet for use in bioethanol plants or to oilseed rape for the production of vegetable oils.

It would make a lot more sense to use land to produce energy crops such as miscanthus and willow. Marginal land will produce a good return, but better land should be producing food. These crops, when burned in power stations, are truly carbon neutral as they only re-release the carbon they have taken from the atmosphere.

They produce a truly green energy without the considerable investment necessary to produce wind power, for example. These energy crops could make a significant contribution to building sustainable rural communities by employing local people close to where they live and would make Ireland less dependent on importing our energy needs. The Government doesn’t appear to have any vision or imagination on how to tackle the issues of global warming and the security of our energy supplies.

Are real policies and a little innovative thinking too much to ask for?

Hendrick Verwey

Old Church

Cobh

Co Cork