The winds of change always entail profit

Patrick L O’Brien (‘The Renewable Energy Debate is Just Hot Air’, 7/1/14) decries energy policy that promotes the use of local, sustainable, clean sources to reduce our consumption of imported, scarce and dirty fossil fuels.

It is too easy to condemn policy without proposing an alternative. How do we satisfy our energy needs if we don’t take the clean, local option? Do we rely on foreign cartels and burn valuable natural resources that release toxic compounds, and millions of tonnes of CO2, into the atmosphere? Do we commission a nuclear power plant and, if so, where should we put it? Our energy future is likely to be a complex mix of fuel sources and technologies. The wind doesn’t always blow, but do we know how much oil and gas will cost a year from now? Do we know what the geo-political landscape will look like in five years’ time and what effect that will have on the price of fuel? No. But the wind will blow through revolutions in countries most of us have never visited, but which affect the price of the energy we use. Ireland is blessed with resources that we can harness in a sustainable, cost-effective way. It won’t be done without investors, labour and the possibility of a profit. It’s naive to expect that energy can be harnessed and supplied without financial gain.

James McCarthy