Energy Security

[david]

Spanish building regulations target emissions

The Spanish government last Friday approved new building regulations updating 30-year-old technical specifications and introducing ambitious minimum requirements for insulation, water conservation and energy self-sufficiency. All new and renovated buildings, for example, will have to generate 30-70% of hot water by solar thermal means. Large non-domestic buildings will be required to install photovoltaic solar equipment. According to official estimates, the measures will reduce CO2 emissions per building by 40-55%. The building sector represents one-quarter of Spain's total CO2 emissions. See Spanish housing ministry press release http://www.mviv.es/es/pdf/notas/np170306a.pdf.
© Environment Daily

Only as it should be. Ireland is not just decades behind: it's never been in the running. All new builds should incorporate as much energy capture as is feasible for the site.

[SPN]

Mr Kennedy said one of the real problems was that the focus in Ireland on renewable energy was almost entirely on wind power to generate electricity - "yet that accounts for only 20 per cent of total energy, while heat [ for buildings] amounts to 40 per cent".

When people think of renewable energy, they often only think of wind turbines and photovoltaic solar panels.

We spend a lot more on space heating and water heating than we do on electricity, and thermal solar panels and biomass (wood, wood chip or wood pellet) are very simple ways of significantly reducing costs.

Waterford City Council are in the process of completing 34 Local Authority houses in Ballygunner which have higher insulation levels, condensing boilers and solar panels.

They are 40% more efficient than the National regulations call for.

The specifications set out in the three Fingal LAPs referred to in the Construct Ireland article (above) will lead to houses that use half the energy per sq/m of these Waterford houses.

This isn't difficult, it isn't overly expensive (and long term it is significantly cheaper), but for whatever reason the DOEHLG and the DCMNR can't seem to get their act together.

[talkie]

Hi SPN,

I read the articles - very interesting.

The moves by Finglas County Council are a genuine step towards sustainability - these rules should be standard across the country.

Sustainable Progress seems to be the buzzword of my local council (South Dublin) but I'm not aware of them going to any lengths to deliver on it.

Adamstown would have been a perfect project to introduce these kind of regulations.

[socialite]

The thing about using wood and biofuels is that theyre carbon neutral which means that the amount of carbon released when they are burned is equal to the amount they take in when they are growing. I only found that out recently but i suppose there will be someone complaining that im stating the obvious.

but for all those who dont know its an interesting fact. :idea:

[david]

The thing about using wood and biofuels is that theyre carbon neutral which means that the amount of carbon released when they are burned is equal to the amount they take in when they are growing. I only found that out recently but i suppose there will be someone complaining that im stating the obvious.

but for all those who dont know its an interesting fact. :idea:

There's more to it than that, both advantages and disadvantages.

For one thing, biofuels cannot replace petroleum. There isn't enough land although some other technology may sidestep this, such as fuel from bacteria.

As such, biofuel is additional fuel, not alternative fuel. It does nothing to curb demand, which is the problem which no government has the balls to tackle.

Burning wood, on the face of it, is 'carbon neutral'. But will you plant a tree for every one you burn? To do the job properly - to soak up the carbon you've already released using fossil fuels - you need to grow, I don't know, ten trees, probably more, for each one you burn.

You also have the problem of particulates. These are very fine particles which are of a similar size to those from vehicles. They really should be filtered out and collected (from wood-burners) and put back in the ground. In the air, they enter the lungs and the smaller the particle, the worse.

Not to be pessimistic though: things are slowly (not so surely) moving on.

[SPN]

EU energy chief calls for competition in electricity and gas markets

THE Government’s failure to open up the electricity and gas markets has led to Ireland having the seventh-most expensive energy prices among the 25 EU member states.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said yesterday said the Government must act to drive down high energy bills caused by a lack of competition to State companies ESB and Bord Gais.

Mr Piebalgs called for the unbundling of the electricity and gas markets to allow other EU operators enter.

.....

Mr Piebalgs said only 10% of Irish consumers switch to other operators - a figure which was very low.

“Competition should be brought in, but it is really for the Government to decide,” he added.

Mr Piebalgs also called for the development of the all-Ireland energy market which would introduce competition from Britain.

.....

He said: “I consider I will have achieved something if, by the end of this commission, all the necessary legal and regulatory instruments and bodies are in place to guarantee truly competitive European electricity and gas markets.

“There remain too many barriers to competition and too many differences between the rules of the game in the different member states.

A couple of points:

1) We had the second lowest prices in the EU before the "Liberal Markets" ideology was brought in.

2) High energy prices are as a result of the increasing costs of inputs. Gas and Oil are rising in price due to many factors, not least depletion, but the existence of "competition" in Ireland has Jack Diddly to do with it.

3) Home owners cannot access independent supply yet. The reason for this is that newcomers cannot make a profit at the price the ESB charges to homeowners. If we want "competition" we will have to have higher retail prices first.

4) Access to Energy is going to be an important issue in the coming decades, as the Commissioner completely understands, so it is incumbent that the control of Energy be for the the public good, and not at the whim of private multinational energy companies.

Ideology is all very well, but when it doesn't work we should move on to something that does.

[david]

A couple of points:

1) We had the second lowest prices in the EU before the "Liberal Markets" ideology was brought in.

2) High energy prices are as a result of the increasing costs of inputs. Gas and Oil are rising in price due to many factors, not least depletion, but the existence of "competition" in Ireland has Jack Diddly to do with it.

3) Home owners cannot access independent supply yet. The reason for this is that newcomers cannot make a profit at the price the ESB charges to homeowners. If we want "competition" we will have to have higher retail prices first.

4) Access to Energy is going to be an important issue in the coming decades, as the Commissioner completely understands, so it is incumbent that the control of Energy be for the the public good, and not at the whim of private multinational energy companies.

Ideology is all very well, but when it doesn't work we should move on to something that does.

Very good points. I'm loathe to say your points are obvious - they are in one sense - but all other senses, those points need making and making often because they appear to be not understood by the majority of our representatives here in Ireland.

Competition without strict and enforceable regulation does not, in the medium to long term, bring down prices: the opposite is true. Lining shareholders' pockets is not in the 'public good' but instead is the sole aim of 'liberalisation'. The obscene profits reported by the oil companies recently is proof of that. Individual energy/pollution quotas is ultimately the answer.

Prices will rise dramatically before anything serious is done about energy security in this country. But sure, we've loadsa money. We'll moan about the bill but we'll stump up.

Point 5) It is virtually impossible for ordinary citizens to capture local energy (wind/wave/solar/geo) because of the extortionate cost of private installations and even if you have that sort of money, most system can never pay for themselves; net metering is essential as is a system of grants/loans/expertise and back up.

If they're going to sell the ESB, then the money received should go back to householders - the ones who own it - in the form of grants for renewable energy or community-owned generation.

[david]

Interesting stuff found on Feasta's board:

Then

Politics in mid 19th century Ireland was dominated by O'Connell's repeal movement and the land question. The government of Ireland was a British military occupation on the eve of the famine. The basis of the land question was denied by the, largely profligate debt burdened landlord packed Devon Commission. In 1842 an estimated £10 million in rents was being remitted out of Ireland, largely to placate the recipientís creditors.

Despite the horrifically hard conditions under which the majority of people lived, the population rose rapidly, primarily because there was an abundant source of easily obtained cheap food available, in the form of the potato. The census of 1841 reported an official population of 8 million.

This increasing population produced a huge demand for and the sub division of land resulting in enormously high opportunistic rents and prices. If an Irish labourer could not get hold of a patch of land to grow potatoes on his family would starve. Plots were divided and sub divided until families were attempting to live on less than an acre.

Before the major crop failure of 1845 there had been numerous other failures of varying severity dating from 1728 most recently in 1839, 1841 and 1844. The possibility of failure of this indispensable support to Irelandís human carrying capacity, albeit with the majority of the population existing under harsh conditions, was therefore not unknown.

Nevertheless when first news of the potato Murrain broke the British Government continued to be optimistic assuming any failures would be local as often the case in the past. there is such a tendency to exaggeration and inaccuracy in Irish reports that delay on acting on them is always desirableî wrote Sir Robert 'Orange' Peel, the British prime minister.

Further delay, procrastination and denial followed. Vested interests and political careers were at stake - repeal of the Corn Laws was a poisoned chalice. The British home secretary, Sir James Graham, wrote to Peel in October 1865 that no steps need be taken yet as the truth abut the Irish potato crop could not be ascertained until digging was completed!


Here it is not intended to describe the increasingly horrific human misery, death and displacement that followed, which has been widely reported elsewhere, but rather to indicate the continuing inadequacy of official response.

A major problem then was that the cause of potato blight, and how it might be treated, would not be scientifically understood until many years later. This ignorance did not prevent the scientific establishment of the day advancing all sorts of useless quack cures in a breath taking display of arrogance and hubris.

Only the minimum of 'least cost' measures were put in place and withdrawn at the earliest opportunity

Now

Politics in 21st century Ireland is dominated by economic, social and infrastructural issues. We can no longer blame the Brits for any shortcomings in our social and economic institutions and development programmes. Massive funds continue to be remitted out of Ireland in purchasing oil and gas, general imports, profits repatriated by multi nationals here and to placate the recipientís creditors.

Despite the stretched financial circumstances and the increasingly extreme debt burden under which the majority of people live, the population is rising rapidly. Primarily this is because there is an abundant source of easily obtained fuel in the form of currently cheap oil. The recent census reported an official population of over 4 million and growing.

The increasing population is producing a huge demand for credit and the sub division of land resulting in enormously high rents and prices of land and property. Plots are being divided and sub divided until families are attempting to live on less than half an acre.

Before the coming fuel supply failure there have been numerous other interruptions of varying severity the most recent being 1973 and 1979 and this winterís events in the Ukraine. The possibility of failure of an indispensable support to Irelandís human carrying capacity is therefore not unknown.

Nevertheless when first news of oil or gas supply difficulties breaks the Irish Government will probably continue to be optimistic assuming any failures will be local as often the case in the past. there is such a tendency to exaggeration and inaccuracy in Oil and Gas reports that delay on acting on them is always desirable has probably already been written by some civil servant advising their minister.

Further delay, procrastination and denial will certainly follow. Vested interests are at stake ñ fossil energy demand control through increased fuel duties and a carbon tax is a poisoned chalice avoided to date. A civil servant has also probably written to their minister that no steps need be taken yet as the truth abut potential oil and gas shortages cannot be ascertained until all further drilling and exploration is completed!

Here it is not intended to describe the increasingly horrific human misery that may follow, which has been widely reported elsewhere, but rather to indicate the continuing inadequacy of official response.

A major problem is that the cause of oil and gas blight and how it might be treated may not be understood widely until many years hence. This ignorance will not prevent the scientific establishment of today advancing all sorts of useless palliative quack cures in a breath taking display of hubris.

Only the minimum of 'least cost' measures will continue to be put in place and withdrawn at the earliest opportunity.

copyright Roger Adair

[SPN]

Greener energy mix to follow EU-inspired rule shake-up

IRELAND'S energy mix will turn greener and more continental as part of a major EU-inspired shake-up, the Government signalled last night.

We must face up to the growing threats to the security of supply to both gas and oil, which still provide the vast majority of our energy needs, said Finance Minister Brian Cowen.

At a special summit concentrating on energy and economic reforms, he said the Government strongly backed new European efforts to improve connections for gas and electricity, linking Ireland through Britain to the European grids.

It also supported moves, he said, to boost the use of renewable energy such as wind and biofuels, to reduce reliance on imported oil and to share national controls to guarantee secure supplies of gas and oil across Europe.

Good to see Europe pulling us, kicking and screaming, in the right direction on Energy Security.

The most important line being the Government's realisation that "... we're at the end of that pipeline."

[SPN]

Quite a lot of discussion on energy this week in the media, particularly after the release of the Forfas Report A Baseline Assessment of Ireland's Oil Dependence.

Many in the media lost their knickers because the report points out that Nuclear Power might have a role to play. Instead of evaluating the alternatives, looking at the options we have available to us, and drawing out the possibilities different approaches can make, some of Ireland's best known Journalists and Broadcasters, from Miriam O'Callaghan to Matt Cooper to Pat Kenny all jumped to the conclusion that Nuclear is a viable alternatives, and adopted a patronising attitude to anyone putting forward a different reality.

They didn't put forward any rationale for their positions, didn't point to any credible source for their position, and completely ignored the stated positions of Government Ministers, Senior Civil Servants with a role in the area, and many people in the Energy Industry.

Somebody is feeding them a line, they are accepting the line uncritically, and they are dismissing the credible positions of a whole range of informed people in a patronising way because they appear to think that they know more about the subject than we do.

The fact that the best they could do for "Experts" on the subject were McGuirkJ and Ricky Waghorne tells you a lot about the "other side" of the argument.



On Wednesday the Mansion House hosted an event entitled Energy Futures chaired by David McWilliams which went into great detail about Energy issues. The speakers included Colin Campbell of ASPO and Gerard O'Neill of Amarach Consulting who co-authored the Forfas report referred to above.



There have also been a couple of threads on Polly with related topics:
Ireland may need nuclear power- Forfás
At last - Eco Grants
They are slightly Troll infested, but are useful to note for reference.



Today's Tribune has a very good article on the subject from the perspective of energy in the home.

'We're not eco-warriors and I'm not hugging trees and we've knocked a third off our heating bills'

THE new Greener Homes government initiative has arrived rather late in the environmental day. The scheme, which started last month, will provide a creditable 27m in grants to the ordinary householder so that sustainable energy can be part of the family home.

But there are already renewable energy pioneers who brought this technology in to their homes at their own expense some time ago, simply because it made sense. How have they found that alternative technologies have fitted in with family life? The problems are fairly simple. For example, 40% of domestic energy is spent on heating water.

.....

Her biggest problem was finding people who would install the new technology. "Some plumbers told us that underfloor heating would burn our feet." Although she received no grant for any of the new technology, Doran has no regrets. "Shortly afterwards, oil went through the roof. The solar panels and tank cost £3,500.

Matt Cooper continues his uninformed ranting on the topic in today's Sunday Times.

Doh, let’s ignore our need for nuclear power and it’ll go away

So what will we do in the absence of the nuclear option? Energy efficiency is a worthwhile aspiration, but it is naive to believe conservation will be the solution given the projections for economic growth up to 2020. By all means let us press ahead with plans to construct better-insulated housing stock, to ban one-off houses in the countryside, to increase investment in public transport at the expense of roads, and to encourage biofuel cars through tax incentives. But none of these will be enough if we are to reduce our dependence on oil.

Personally, I think anyone who believes those growth predictions is naive in the extreme. They assume a business-as-usual scenario in relation to energy availability and energy prices.

I would also love to know who told him that "none of these will be enough if we are to reduce our dependence on oil" as it is patently untrue.

Any scientific evidence produced to overturn the 1999 law that bans the construction of nuclear plants in Ireland would be drowned out by scaremongering. The spurious arguments put forward by Nimbys to ensure that Ireland remains a nuclear-free zone would be even more extreme than those used to prevent the construction of other controversial infrastructure projects. Incinerators have long been considered essential to cope with the huge amounts of refuse the country produces. But, because of objections, building will only get under way in the next year, despite firm evidence of their economic benefits and despite technological advances that have made them environmentally safe.

I don't know who Matt is taking his talking points from, but he is obviously very badly informed on a range of subjects!



In the Sunday Business Post we have a Grade A WingNut(tm) attack on the Forfas Report from a Peter Nolan, a member of the "Stockholm Network", and the Politics.ie Creche

Energy wasted on Forfas report

Instead of addressing these problems and the internal market reforms and multilateral solutions being undertaken by our European partners, Forfas has instead opted to peddle the ‘‘peak oil’’ theory promoted by a fringe group of environmentalists, based on an report carried out by American engineering consultant Robert Hirsch.

A fringe group of Geologists, my dear boy. People who have made their professions working in the Oil Industry - as opposed to someone who traded paper energy in the energy markets.

Dr Campbell’s scientific analysis is contested by other experts and none of the authoritative studies of the world energy - by the US Geological Survey, the IEA or the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - gives it credence.

Interesting that he doesn't tell us which "experts", and while I can't be arsed fact checking his claims about the USGS, IEA and UN-IPCC, I can point to US's second biggest Oil Company - Chevron for support for Campbells analysis. Will You Join Us

Following a full-scale enquiry into the energy sector, competition commissioner Neelie Kroes has concluded that EU energy markets show an unhealthy concentration of market share among coddled ‘‘national champions’’ - such as the ESB - leading to higher prices for energy users.

Consumers and industry in Britain have paid out an extra stg£10 billion, according to Gordon Brown, British chancellor of the exchequer, because the French and German governments insist on their utilities hoarding gas domestically rather than shipping it elsewhere in the EU, even when prices are much higher. The commission sees the liberalisation of these markets as a key part of its Lisbon agenda to make Europe more competitive.

Of course, the fact that the EU have TOLD Governments to start building stocks of Gas to cover a rainy day is conveniently ignored.

Much of the rest of the blather in the article has been frequently debunked on this Forum, so it can be left fester without further comment.

For those who want to know more about the Stockholm Network, here is a report on them from Corporate Watch

(Whoever thought that the motto "Never let a WingNut Lie go unchallenged" would be appropriate to a thread like this?)