Green Party candidate makes howler on Pat Kenny this morning

[vincenzo1975]

You can use windpower to generate electricity which can be used however you like but compressing air would not be a very good idea. Have a look at Spiritofireland.org website for some very useful information of the practical problems associated with using windpower. Although they are an organisation promoting windpower and pumped storage, they are technically competant and not just wishful thinkers.

nice website, a very early technology, but if it were to happen, great.

[TommyO'Brien]

George was caught out too.

He claimed that it wasn't his intention to sell An Bord Gais immediately, while at the same time claiming that funds from the sale could be used to stimulate the economy.

Actually he is quite correct. That sale is only one of a number of means by which a fund would be raised to stimulate the economy. You don't have to raise all the money from Day 1. It would be a long-term rolling project. Selling ESBI, BGE etc does not all have to be done at once. There are numerous sources of income in the stimulus package, each kicking in at different times, according to the paper FG published that is on their website.

[TommyO'Brien]

I read the description of the Green candidate's howler and presumed that, as usual, it was more hyperbole on here than an accurate description of what happened. I have now listened to it on the RTE website, and this thread is not exaggerating. It was a class A howler, one in which the listener was left in no doubt but that the candidate had monumentally put their foot in it. It was very very very bad. When you hear the stupidified silence of other panelists and Pat Kenny trying to break the fact to her gently that she was utterly wrong, followed by her stuttering attempt to recover, before fading her own sentence out as she realised she really had no idea what she was talking about, it is car crash radio. That was so bad it will go down in the annals of broadcasting alongside the 'mature recollection' and 'don't burst the party' moments when listeners wondered "did they just say that?" I almost feel sorry for the woman. It was really really bad. (Anyone who hasn't heard it should listen to it. It is a genuine show-stopping moment, of the wrong type!)

[121.5]

Gangreen ?

[clowns2drighttofme]

At last, a numpty worse than Nessa Childers. Trust the Greens............of course both of them are greens

[myksav]

Nice idea, but this is not how these plants work due to the losses in energy that would occur if wind generation was used to pump water to a hydro plant. A Hydro plant requires a natural water source such as a dammed river. These are great plants, very very green, but I am not sure if we have the locations in ireland to build them on a large scale. There is also a significant environmental impact to these plants, as they cause severe changes to the ecosystems in the rivers and surrounding areas where they are built.

Also, your idea would be dependent on an overabundance of wind generated energy, which will never be the case, as it is too unreliable to get to a place where it iwould the dominant energy in a national grid.

See thread:
http://www.politics.ie/environment/6...much-more.html

[QuizMaster]

A very bad performance, no question. Obviously what she meant was that Natural gas is the cleanest and least greenhouse gas emitting of the fossil fuels, but failed spectacularly to make that clear. Oh well.

I haven't cringed so much in years.
And as you can see from the above posts, we will all be branded with that little piece of ignorance.

Luckily for our Sheenagh, RTE is not very popular in these parts.

[goosebump]

dont like to keep bursting your bubbles but....

Poulaphouca (Irish: Poll an Phúca, meaning "The Ghost's Hole") is a tiny village located in County Wicklow, Ireland, on the border with County Kildare. It is primarily known for its hydroelectric generating station and artificial lake, known as Poulaphouca Reservoir, Poulaphouca Lake, or Blessington Lake. The once famous Poulaphouca Waterfall has little water running over it any longer due to the hydroelectric project.
Reservoir
The reservoir at Poulaphouca has been designated as a Special Protection Area by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and is of international importance for its Greylag Goose population. The reservoir was created in the late 1930s and early 1940s by damming the River Liffey as part of a collaboration between the ESB and Dublin City Council to build a second hydroelectric station in Ireland while the reservoir could be used to supply water to the Dublin region

Poulaphouca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

not the best example to use from a green perspective. seems to run in the family huh?

Not really sure how to respond to your compressed air idea, would that be compressed Hot air?

Poulaphouca is an example of power harnessing and managed release that does not require a natural water source. Its Irish name, its location and its conservation status are irrelevant, although thanks for cutting and pasting all the same.

The reservoir is man made. At night, when there is low demand for power, water is pumped up into the reservoir. During the day, when demand increases, the water is let flow from the reservoir through the hydro plant.

The same principle can be applied to wind power. When the wind is blowing, the power can be used to pump water up into reservoirs. When the wind stops, you allow the water to flow through hydro plant. In that way, none of the wind power is wasted.

[kerrynorth]

Pat Kenny just whipped Eamonn Ryan's ass over this on the radio. Pat played the clip. Eamonn agreed that gas is a fossil fuel and Pat replied that he might communicate that to your candidate in Dublin South. Ryan did not even advance the argument that other Green posters have suggested that she meant it was a greener energy than oil or coal etc.

[goosebump]

Pat Kenny just whipped Eamonn Ryan's ass over this on the radio. Pat played the clip. Eamonn agreed that gas is a fossil fuel and Pat replied that he might communicate that to your candidate in Dublin South. Ryan did not even advance the argument that other Green posters have suggested that she meant it was a greener energy than oil or coal etc.

In fairness, that was a bit childish on Kenny's part.

Very embarrassing for Ryan though. She's the candidate in his constituency.