Energy Security

[david]

One of the aspects of nuclear which people can't grasp is the 'transfer of damage'. A simple example might be an electric car, powered by electricity from fossil fuel. You one driving it feels good, no emissions, no oil. The damage done has been transferred to the power station. Another might be incineration. Sure, the amount of toxic waste leftover might seem small but its toxicity compared to simply cutting down on waste is frightening.

I'm not great at putting it in words but the idea is you eliminate a part of one problem by substituting other problems in less obvious areas.

This is apart from the facts that a nuclear power station, while it produces electricity with no carbon emissions, uses huge amounts of fossil fuels in its building, in the extraction and processing of uranium - particularly as the 'easy to get' high quality uranium will run out very quickly - and in the construction, maintenance of the grid (as demand increases, the grid will not cope - this is what's happening in America) and finally in the decommissioning of stations.

The 'transfer of damage' really bites is in the nuclear waste, like the toxic ash from incinerators.

Our Dr Walsh needs to take a broader view. James Lovelock? Well, hmm. Sir David King? Working for the UK government, he subverts science for politics.

[SPN]

Energy crisis - We must harness other energy sources

In the vital area of energy supplies, this country has fallen very far behind other nations, with barely 2% of our total energy supply now coming from renewable sources. Largely because of foot-dragging by Government, Ireland is now being prosecuted by the EU for failing to meet the parameters for alternative energy set by Brussels.

With oil demand surging, resources inexorably dwindling, and with EU nations at the end of a Russian pipeline bearing uncertain gas supplies, national energy security is now a major issue.

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It is imperative that the Government goes further and actually commits itself to specific investments in a range of alternative energy sources — so far undeveloped in Ireland.

[St Disibod]

One of the aspects of nuclear which people can't grasp is the 'transfer of damage'. [...] I'm not great at putting it in words but the idea is you eliminate a part of one problem by substituting other problems in less obvious areas [...] a nuclear power station, while it produces electricity with no carbon emissions, uses huge amounts of fossil fuels in its building, in the extraction and processing of uranium - particularly as the 'easy to get' high quality uranium will run out very quickly - and in the construction, maintenance of the grid (as demand increases, the grid will not cope - this is what's happening in America) and finally in the decommissioning of stations.

According to Jarlath Molloy (University of East Anglia) in today's Irish Times, page 17, in a rather balanced critique of Dr Walsh's article she suggests that wind power will still produce 66% of the greenhouse gas emmissions when measured against Nuclear power when all the factors are totted up. Though no small variation, it's not overly large either.

[SPN]

Russia’s Gazprom Threatens to Halt Gas Supplies to Europe

Wednesday’s statement by Gazprom threatened to devote more of the company’s supplies to fast-growing markets elsewhere if plans to expand in Europe — where it has ambitions to move into downstream gas distribution — were thwarted. “It should not be forgotten that we are actively familiarizing ourselves with new markets, such as North America and China. Gas producers in central Asia are also paying attention to the Chinese market. This is for a reason: competition for energy resources is growing,” it said.

Gazprom said that, while it would fulfill its current contracts with European clients, any future relationship with these countries should take into account the Russian company’s ambitions to move into the downstream markets. Sergei Kupriyanov, a spokesman for Gazprom, told the Financial Times: “We just want European countries to understand that we have other alternatives in terms of gas sales. We have a fast-growing Chinese market, and a market for liquefied natural gas in the U.S. If the European Union wants our gas, it has to consider our interests as well.”

Gazprom’s threats follow an outline agreement between Russia and China to supply the Chinese market with gas from Western Siberia, which is also the main source of gas for Europe. Given that Gazprom’s reserves have been static for the past five years, the supply of gas to China will decrease the volume of gas available to European countries.

Putin hits at European investment ‘double standards’

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin yesterday stepped up his attacks on Europe over access to energy markets, accusing the continent of double standards towards Moscow.

Speaking in Tomsk, Siberia, after talks with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, he said: “When [European] companies come to us it’s called investment and globalisation, but when we go there it’s called expansion by Russian companies.”

He said the recent warnings by Russian energy companies that they would expand supplies to non-European markets were caused by “repeated attempts to spread anxiety” in Europe about dependency on Russian energy

Russia Should Cut Oil to Europe, Cut Discounts on Urals Crude — Transneft

Russia’s planned oil pipeline to Asia will help cut deliveries to Europe, which is currently being oversupplied with Russian crude, the head of Russia’s pipeline monopoly Transneft told a newspaper, the Reuters news agency reported.

“We have overfed Europe with crude. And every single economic manual says that excessive supplies depress prices,” Semyon Vainshtok told the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta in an interview published on Monday.

“As yet we cannot reduce supplies, as all our exports are going to Europe. But as soon as we divert (flows) to China, South Korea, Australia and Japan, that will immediately take away crude from our European colleagues,” he added.

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Russian critics say Gazprom’s comments mean the Kremlin is increasingly active in using energy as a weapon in a situation when Europe relies on Moscow for a quarter of its gas needs and Russia produces every ninth oil barrel in the world.

Khirstenko calls for transparency in questions of energy security

MOSCOW, April 27 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko said in an interview with Izvestia on Thursday that the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg would discuss energy security and assess the energy risks existing in the world.

Russia has made energy security the main topic of the forthcoming summit because this country is the largest producer of energy resources, their major consumer and transit carrier.

“Better than anybody else, we see all the growing energy security risks which other countries also have. The more so that energy is the key factor in the development of global economy,” Khristenko went on to say.

“A possible deficit of resources, not only in Russia, is a source of everybody’s and not just European concern,” the minister of industry and energy noted.

He added that various assessment of risks and reserves lead to speculation in the market and permanent price leaps.

In this connection, Russia would like to understand and assess the policy of consumer nations in order to control demand and its dynamics, Khristenko went on to say.

He is convinced that the entire energy production process – from deposit to a gasoline station - should be transparent.

US seeks to limit Gazprom hold on Europe

The Bush administration is seeking to curb Moscow’s influence in the Caucasus and central Asia and weaken Gazprom’s growing hold over gas supplies to Europe with an effort to promote new oil and gas corridors that would bypass Russia and exclude Iran.

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But analysts are concerned that an overall hardening of US policy towards Moscow could drive Russia and Iran, which together hold nearly half the world’s gas reserves, into an energy-based alliance.

A senior financier told the Financial Times that Iran, which is competing with Gazprom to provide gas to the Caucasus, was considering a switch in policy by selling its gas to Russia through central Asia because the US was blocking its access to Europe and India.

Lack of investment by Gazprom, which supplies Europe with about a quarter of its gas, means that Russia will be increasingly reliant on buying gas from central Asia or Iran to help meet its subsidised domestic needs and export commitments. Cliff Kupchan, analyst with the Eurasia Group consultancy, said he had a different understanding: that Russia and Iran would co-ordinate their gas export policies, with Moscow selling to the west and Iran to the east.

Russia's shy man of energy

Eleven days ago in Moscow, about 30 European ambassadors and diplomats sat down for lunch at the Austrian envoy's mansion with the man who sells the continent one-quarter of its natural gas: Alexei Miller. Slightly to their surprise, the chief executive of Gazprom placed a digital recorder in front of him, then spoke for an hour and a half – right through the potato soup and wiener schnitzel. He took two questions, then slipped away. A few hours later, Gazprom put out a press statement about the meeting that would ignite a ­firestorm.

After some soothing language about how the Russian gas monopoly was a guarantor of European energy security came a thinly veiled threat. Blocking Gazprom's plans to expand its activities in Europe "would not lead to good results". "Not by chance" was Gazprom developing new markets such as China and North America. Competition for energy resources, Mr Miller was quoted as saying, was intensifying. The statement stoked anew the debate over whether Europe was too reliant on Russian energy that has raged since Gazprom cut off gas to Ukraine in a pricing dispute in January. Even the White House weighed in this week, voicing support for securing oil and gas supply routes to Europe from the Caucasus and central Asia that would not pass through Russia. President Vlad­imir Putin responded with a warning echoing Mr Miller's comments a week earlier, that if Russia faced blocks "to the north, south and west", it would shift its focus of expansion to energy-hungry Asia.

Venezuela buys Russian oil to avoid defaults
Venezuela Signs $2Bln Oil Deal with Russia to Avoid Default on its Contracts

Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, has struck a $2 billion deal to buy about 100,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Russia until the end of the year, the British Financial Times reported on Friday, April 28.

Venezuela has been forced to turn to its ally Russia, because the Latin American country faces a shortfall in its own production, a person familiar with the deal told the paper. This in turn puts the country in risk of defaulting on contracts with “clients” and “third parties”. Venezuela could incur penalties if it fails to meet its supply contracts.

[SPN]

Oil challenge needs to be met with energy

WE CANNOT afford to be at all complacent about rising oil prices. Historically, increases have sparked economic recessions with far-reaching consequences. In the short term, we are looking at increased costs for transport and domestic energy bills.

Petrol prices are already up, air fare surcharges are being introduced, and as businesses, particularly in manufacturing, revise profit projections, jobs could be at risk. Next winter we will be paying more in heating bills.

As the price of oil affects so many everyday items from food packaging to cosmetics, the cost of the average shopping basket will rise. The ECB has warned that inflation is at risk and that could help to push up interest rates, thereby affecting mortgages.

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We simply cannot afford to explore our energy options piecemeal, in an island economy on the periphery of Europe. To become less dependent on oil, we must devise workable strategies. This means long-term changes . . . energy conservation and increased use of alternative energy sources. Tax incentives and rebates to promote alternative energy must be further explored. Our future growth and prosperity depend on getting this right.

Consumers face ESB price hikes every two months

Rising oil and gas prices could lead to an increase in electricity bills every two months, instead of once a year, if a new billing system is accepted by the energy regulator.

A public consultation will be held by the regulator in the next two months to assess the feasibility of a new ‘‘fuel price variation’’ clause in electricity bills from next year. Under the system, charges could be modified as much as six times a year to mirror the volatility in oil and gas markets. Fuel costs make up about 25 per cent of the total electricity tariff.

The new system would specify the exact cost of fuel on the bill. The regulator has rejected suggestions that, based on current upward trends, such a change would mean smaller price hikes every two months instead of a sharp increase once a year when new prices are announced.

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Bank of Ireland economist Dan McLaughlin said there was merit in more frequent price adjustments, provided a proper mechanism was in place to ensure costs come down when prices drop.

Meanwhile, two electricity price determinations will be made next year by the regulator to prepare for a single electricity market for the Republic and the North.

Based on upward trends, this would mean a second price hike in July as well as January, though the regulator insists an increase in July is not a foregone conclusion. The regulator’s determinations always lead to tariff hikes since the regulator took responsibility for electricity prices in 2001.

NTR's biofuel arm shows it's becoming increasingly profitable to be a hippie

NTR's new biofuel subsidiary, Bioverda, is on the march, snapping up landfill gas producer Irish Power Systems for 38m last week and announcing a 37m investment in biodiesel plants in Germany.

It's a sure sign that there must be something to this green fuels lark after all.

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Bioverda finds itself at a similarly opportune juncture. Oil isn't likely to start getting cheaper and the environmental lobby isn't growing any weaker.

The EU has already set targets for the adoption of biofuel in member states over the next five years and many, including Ireland, are providing tax breaks to producers.

Not convinced by the hippies? Feel the cold, hard facts. According to an analysis by Cambridge Energy Research Associates and the Economist, bio-diesel becomes an economically viable alternative to petrol when oil prices hit $80 a barrel.

For absence of doubt: Biodiesel and PPO are used in Diesel engines, Ethanol is used in Otto engines.


Oil crisis sparks call for coal

A SENIOR Irish economist believes that the Government should be actively seeking the answer to the country's emerging energy crisis - in South America or in Australia.

In a week when the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, set his face against nuclear energy, economist Jerome Casey says that the only large-scale and sustainable resource that will effectively answer the medium-term energy dilemma is coal!

And he believes the Government should reassess the investment policy of the National Pensions Reserve Fund and allocate some of the fund's investment billions on buying a couple of coal mines on the far side of the world.

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To this end Jerome Casey believes that part of the national savings currently locked into the Pensions Reserve should be released to buy coal mines in either South America or Australia "while they are still relatively cheap". "While the country shows no enthusiasm for nuclear power coal would appear to be one viable alternative."

Economists!


Smart buyers are thinking green

THERE was a time when environmentally friendly properties were the preserve of oddball eco-warriors. But with oil prices hitting record levels, heating costs skyrocketing and new energy-efficient building rules on the way, green is going mainstream.

Smart property investors with an eye to future trends are embracing green technologies to safeguard their investments.

Energy efficiency will become one of the determining effects in the resale value of a house, according to Gerry McCaughey of Century Homes. And with the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings due to come into force next year, less astute investors may find themselves trading at a disadvantage.

[david]

Smart buyers are thinking green

THERE was a time when environmentally friendly properties were the preserve of oddball eco-warriors. But with oil prices hitting record levels, heating costs skyrocketing and new energy-efficient building rules on the way, green is going mainstream.

Smart property investors with an eye to future trends are embracing green technologies to safeguard their investments.

Energy efficiency will become one of the determining effects in the resale value of a house, according to Gerry McCaughey of Century Homes. And with the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings due to come into force next year, less astute investors may find themselves trading at a disadvantage.

"THERE was a time when environmentally friendly properties were the preserve of oddball eco-warriors."

This kind of sentiment is getting expressed in very similar terms more and more often. I've seen several articles (particularly from the states) starting off with similar sentences.

Still, the yanks are notoriously bad at irony. Or should that be 'good at irony'?

Whatever, if such sensible trends as reported above continue, we'll be able to say 'I told you so'.

[SPN]

Tackling the energy monopoly

The proposed increase is the latest in a series that has seen the price of gas increase by more than 50 per cent over the last four years - it rose by 9.1 per cent in 2003, 10.9 per cent in 2004, and a 25.26 per cent in 2005.

A similar, though less dramatic, path is being followed at the ESB, with electric prices rising by 50 per cent in the last five years. ESB has yet to make a submission to the CER for this year’s increase, and while the company would not speculate on its needs, any increase sought, it is widely believed, will be in double digits.

The bad news is that these increases are just the beginning.

‘‘We are really only at the start of a process of economic difficulty for businesses and households as a result of the continuing spiking of energy prices,” said Gerard O’Neill, chief executive of Amarach Consulting which recently carried out an energy review for Forfas Ireland.

‘‘People are beginning to realise that this is significant.

“We were lulled into a sense of false security in the 1990s. But businesses that we deal with are waking up to the fact that this isn’t an aberration, this isn’t just a little shock, this is actually only the start of a phase.”

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Ireland’s rising energy needs are also part of the problem.

Since 1992, our energy consumption has soared by 57 per cent.

‘‘Our ongoing love affair with the motor car has meant that we now have a very high level of oil consumption per capita and that’s not a situation that’s going to change very quickly,” said O’Neill.

Ireland’s complete lack of a cohesive energy policy has also made matters worse. Donal Buckley, of employers’ group Ibec, said that the absence of an energy policy made it difficult for people to invest in Ireland’s energy market.

‘‘If we suddenly went for interconnectors left, right and centre, or if we currently said that renewables are going to be 35 per cent of the market, you might be left with a power plant with nowhere to sell it to,” he said. ‘‘So we need to put a bit of shape on the market before people will put money in.”

Putting ‘‘a bit of shape on the market’’ is an immediate task for Noel Dempsey, the Minister for Energy.

Next month, he will publish a report on the energy market, which he commissioned from consultants Deloitte. Soon after he will publish a green paper, which will be the first building block for Ireland’s energy policy.

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As for the long-awaited green paper, neither Ibec nor O’Neill is holding out much hope. Ibec is concerned that it could be a ‘‘whitewash’’ and too vague to be meaningful, while O’Neill said it would be ‘‘lofty’’.

‘‘It can’t be anything but lofty, because until the British publish their white paper this summer anything we decide to publish on Ireland’s energy options is academic,” he said.

‘‘We need to know things like: is Britain going to embark upon an aggressive programme of expanding its nuclear policy? We need to know will they actually have the surplus capacity to provide us with energy.”

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‘‘As it becomes more expensive to use cars and heat your home with gas, people will look for ways in which they can actually reduce both,” he said. ‘‘So they would get better insulation in their homes, they’d use public transport and not use the car for every single little trip.

‘‘I have no problem with valid pr ice increases being passed onto consumers because that is the only way the market mechanism will change people’s behaviour.”

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O’Neill said he was also worried that the political climate wasn’t right to find a solution to the energy crisis.

‘‘Politicians are going to have to do and say some unpopular things,” he said. ‘‘I’m not sure if they are ready and willing to do that, for the simple reason that there is no apparent energy crisis.

‘‘Okay, Bord Gais say their prices are going up, but frankly most people can afford to heat their homes. We can all still afford to drive pretty much as much as we like.

‘‘My worry is that the most politically expedient thing to do will be to fudge, and that it leaves us even more vulnerable to some of the difficulties when they finally come.”

That is a very good, and informed article.

I do, as always, take issue with the writer's need to couch the issue in politically correct terms - competition has sod all to do with this, but the coming crisis offers loads of profit opportunities for anybody who can get into the business in time. The reason we don't have competition in the domestic supply is because there is no profit opportunity. To get competition in domestic supply, we would have to raise prices - and the increase would go in profit to the NewCo suppliers.

I'd prefer that money stayed in MY ass pocket - but thank you all the same!


SEI: Ireland importing 90% more energy

Ireland is importing 90% more energy than last year according to provisional figures announced by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).

The figures also showed that electricity generated from wind energy increased by 70% in 2005.

The figures also indicate that while economic activity increased by 4.7% in 2005, overall primary energy use has continued its de-coupling trend since 2002 with this figure increasing by 2.4% in 2005.

[SPN]

Stewart ‘upset’ by pro-nuclear comments

At an energy conference in the University of Limerick, the television presenter repeatedly shook his head during a pro-nuclear talk given by the university’s former president Dr Ed Walsh.

Mr Stewart said yesterday he was upset by the comments. He returned to the venue yesterday and warned Ireland was facing a major energy crisis but argued the so-called nuclear option was not the way to tackle it.

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Mr Stewart said: “There is a huge energy crisis on the way and we need to find solutions to suit our country — the nuclear option is not the way forward. It does not fit our situation for a small population.

“We must look at renewable energy which we are not using. We need to harness wind and tides. We have huge potential and if we used these energy options we could reach a situation where we could become an exporter of energy to the rest of Europe.”

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“We are only wasting our time discussing it as it does not fit into our future strategy regarding energy. We have the solutions, if we only started using them.”

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Dr Martin Leahy, who chaired the conference organised by the Limerick Clare Energy Agency, said the main consensus of the two-day meeting was that renewable energy was the way forward.

[SPN]

Obsession with privatisation is the real cause of the energy struggle

Between 2001 and 2004, ESB operating costs, including the purchase of increasingly expensive oil and natural gas, went up by only 5% a year. Meanwhile, electricity prices increased by over 40%. Since the price increase can't be put down to rising fuel costs or some fantasy 'wage racket', what is going on?

The government wants what the authors want in the name of 'competition' and 'liberalising the market' . . . private sector companies producing electricity. But ESB prices have historically been so low that private companies couldn't turn a profit.

To entice private operators, the government increased energy costs through price rises, stealth taxes and levies. People are paying for an ideological experiment in liberalisation and the eventual privatisation of significant sections of ESB.

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It is an economic and environmental imperative that we switch from a fossil-fuel based economy to a renewable energy-based one.

But the article painted a backward-looking landscape of competing private companies wholly owning the generation plants. That was tried in Ireland and failed so completely that the government of the time had to establish ESB.

Back in the 1920s, we had a plethora of private companies in the energy market. They made good profits but couldn't do the thing they were supposed to: provide electricity on a national scale.

An epochal shift from fossil fuels will not be carried out by a fragmented and incoherent market. This is not a statist argument. This development can, and where possible should, take place with a range of partners such as private companies, multi-nationals, local authorities and non-profit organisations.

But we will need a substantial player with decades of experience on a national scale. We will need large-scale industrial planning. We will require considerable investment in research, design and integration, especially in the area of wave and tidal power which has even greater potential than wind.

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We need a national vision similar to that being developed in Sweden, which is working for an oil-free economy by 2020. What we don't need are pricing policies and ideological experiments that create obstacles to efficiency and damage business, living standards and our environment.

The nuclear way to produce hot air

If there is any topic that demonstrates the shallowness of Irish political debate, it is nuclear power. Let's be clear about something first-off: nuclear is not a panacea for all our energy needs. There are genuine reasons to be concerned about the safety of nuclear energy, its cost and the very real environmental issue of how to dispose of nuclear waste.

The nuclear option must be considered

There are, of course, legitimate issues, particularly in relation to the disposal of nuclear waste. Nor is it sensible to suggest that we could easily solve our crisis by agreeing to stick up a couple of nuclear plants. However, if buying power from Britain is a key part of our energy policy, then part of our supply will inevitably be generated by nuclear power.

There is also an urgent need to look at the entire mix of energy we are consuming - including alternative sources - and to map out a strategy for what we can buy and what we can generate in the long term.

This, of course, needs to recognise our contribution to the Kyoto targets. But so far, rather than reasoned debate, our political leaders prefer to tilt at the windmills of nuclear power, while ignoring our long-term energy needs and environmental obligations.

WIND OF CHANGE - Eddie O'Connor: Airtricity chief executive

He reckons he got the MPs' attention, though. "Britain has just had its gas supply turned off. It was the master of its own universe for a long time, with lots of coal, but that began to get a bit dodgy. Now Britain is losing its last vestige of energy independence."

O'Connor, a fast talker, tells a good tale on the potential of wind energy. As the world shifts from fossil fuels, he says he hopes Airtricity will provide a "huge part of the answer" to energy needs. There are limitations to options such as nuclear power, he pointed out.

"The world seems to have decided that the private sector is the only way to fund energy projects, " he said (though noting that "socialist" Bertie Ahern hasn't yet been converted). "How can you do nuclear in the private sector when you have streams of liabilities that go on for 1,000 years?"

Carbon fines will force new ESB price hike

Electricity users face more price hikes as the costs of penalties for exceeding carbon emission targets are passed on to the public. Ireland is exceeding its targets and will come under increasing pressure to cut emissions further as the European Union tightens its rules.

A European Commission report found Ireland exceeded its allowance for carbon emissions by 17 per cent last year, the highest level in Europe.

That meant that the ESB and other carbon-intensive companies had to buy more so-called ‘carbon credits’ from environmentally friendly businesses to meet their targets.

The EC is now expected to cut Ireland’s emission targets further, threatening to add further to electricity costs.

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An ESB spokesman said that the cost to electricity users would depend on increases in the cost of credits. The ESB bought credits to cover 20 per cent of its emissions last year, and carbon costs accounted for about 2 per cent of the price paid by end users.

The government is under pressure to restructure the electricity market and limit price rises. Noel Dempsey, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, w ill publish a report on the energy market shortly, together with a green paper on the future of the sector.

Petrol station closures to limit market competition

Motorists will face a much more limited choice of petrol stations in the coming years, with the prospect of just a handful of stations operating in city-centre areas.

Industry analysts said that because of the increasing number of service stations being sold and the exit of companies such as Shell and Statoil, competition will be hit and Irish drivers may have to pay more at the pumps.

Five Esso stations - the company’s outlets in Tallaght, Rathfarmham and Swords in Co Dublin, in Naas, Co Kildare, and Durrow in Co Laois -were put on the market last week. Esso has been downsizing its Irish business over the last two years and now operates exclusively on the east coast. Texaco is also believed to be preparing for a sale.

[david]

Back in the 1920s, we had a plethora of private companies in the energy market. They made good profits but couldn't do the thing they were supposed to: provide electricity on a national scale.

A telling statement; think (particularly in the UK) water, rail, health etc etc.