Renewable energy - Help fuel a sane debate

YESTERDAY’S suggestion that, given appropriate investment, renewable energy sources could supply up to 80% of the world’s energy needs by 2050 was as inspiring as it was brave.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that governments would have to spend significantly more money and integrate renewables into existing power grids.

As the world’s insatiable appetite for energy grows, and as fossil fuel sources approach exhaustion, all alternative sources — including nuclear — will have to be considered.

The debate surrounding renewables has been fraught.

The same can be said about discussions on nuclear power. It might bring some sanity to the debate if our Government — or any other independent entity — could establish a website where the sources of Ireland’s energy could be identified at any given moment.

If a cost per unit figure could also be published daily it would make a very valuable contribution to a debate that will only intensify.