Spiritofireland.org - suggests energy independence in five years and much more

[DS-09]

Very interesting discussion on the Today with Pat Kenny Show this morning concerning Wind Energy. Electrical Engineer Graham O'Donnell and Professor Igor Shvets from Trinity College discussed a wind energy project that could save all of Ireland's energy problems. It was also confirmed that politically even to Government level that the proposals have been greeted with enthusiasm.

The mission of Spirit of Ireland seems to be a breakthrough National Project which is supposed to create tens of thousands of jobs, achieve energy independence in five years, save €30 billion importing fossil fuels, create potential to add €50bn to our Economy and slash carbon dioxide emissions.

This is their Website for further details: Spirit of Ireland – A breakthrough National Project aiming for energy independence within five years. The project aims to create tens of thousands of jobs, inject a €10b stimulus to the economy, secure savings of €30b importing fossil fuel

The discussion on the Today with Pat Kenny Show is here (starts at about 34 mins in): RTÉ.ie Media Player: RTÉ Radio 1

Apparently there are "adverts" in the National Newspapers today as well re the above

"save €30 billion importing fossil fuels, create potential to add €50bn to our Economy and slash carbon dioxide emissions" HOLY s*it thats about 20% of our economy going to imported fossil fuels- and about a 33% increase in our GDP if that €50 billion figure is accurate. The economy is put by wikipedia to be worth about €161 billion- so instead of having €131 billion when you take out energy costs, we could have €211 billion including energy independence. That means that we only have about 60% of the money we could have

[Dillinger]

Hopefully we can get it going. But the likelyhood is we'll make a balls of it, just like everything else this pathetic nation does.

Hopefully the cronies/gombeens will be gone, and unable to get their claws in, fecking it all up, while trying to flip it for a profit. We live in hope.

[silvamuppet]

I couldnt find any Graham O'Donnell in Electrical Engineering with a quick Google.

I hope this is real - the full page colour ad in the IT (Indo too?) cant have been cheap.

Like the web page it is very fluffy and lacking in content.

Quite possibly another Steorn???
A pity if they are.

[Vega1447]

Quite possibly another Steorn???
A pity if they are.

It all seems very odd - Steorn indeed!

Listened to the RTE clip - PK asked no hard questions.

O'Donnell mentioned Sisks and also having talked to the political parties with positive reaction.

The latter at least is surely easily checked.

Any backroom pols on p.ie heard about this?

[Riadach]

Can we have a hydrolysis plant as well, in case those Honda Clarities take off?

[zeleneye]

"save €30 billion importing fossil fuels, create potential to add €50bn to our Economy and slash carbon dioxide emissions" HOLY s*it thats about 20% of our economy going to imported fossil fuels- and about a 33% increase in our GDP if that €50 billion figure is accurate. The economy is put by wikipedia to be worth about €161 billion- so instead of having €131 billion when you take out energy costs, we could have €211 billion including energy independence. That means that we only have about 60% of the money we could have

There are plenty of people that have been screaming for this for years. It has been a fundamental plank of Green policy, while Eddie O'Connor is credited with the idea of the European super smart grid.

The evil EU has also just given Ireland €110 million to build an interconnector to Wales, agreed by the European Parliament yesterday. The finding package is far from perfect but it does give some money for upgrading Europe's grid and offshore wind.

The real disgrace is why no government has gone all out to promote it before the Greens got to power. Instead, the mainstream political economica formula centred on the deregulation of vulture financial institutions, exagerated construction of cardboard houses and roads to nowhere.

[EoinMn]

Windfarms with Pumped Storage. Hardly a new idea.

[Vega1447]

Windfarms with Pumped Storage. Hardly a new idea.

The original part is using sw-facing rias and damming the seaward end & then pumping sea water up into them using wind-power.

O'Donnell said at end of clip that he is meeting Mary Coughlan this afternoon.

Whatever most people think of her if they have that level of access then they are not to be dismissed.

But the scale of the civil engineering involved is huge as is the investment required.

It could easily be spun along for a decade of feasibility studies burning money and generating nothing...

Hope that is not what it is about.

[Finbar10]

Sounds like potentially a great approach but the devil will be very much
in the details. Ardnacrusha on the Shannon supplies about 2% of Ireland's
electricity needs. We'd effectively need 50 wind-powered equivalents of
Ardnacrusha to supply and store all our energy. I really wonder if this will
turn out to be a practical scheme. The scales involved seem a bit too vast.
Using wind powered electricity to produce hydrogen or methane, I'd guess,
may ultimately turn out to be a more practical form of storage. Possible to
store energy with these methods at similar densities to fossil fuels.

Very interesting discussion on the Today with Pat Kenny Show this morning concerning Wind Energy. Electrical Engineer Graham O'Donnell and Professor Igor Shvets from Trinity College discussed a wind energy project that could save all of Ireland's energy problems. It was also confirmed that politically even to Government level that the proposals have been greeted with enthusiasm.

The mission of Spirit of Ireland seems to be a breakthrough National Project which is supposed to create tens of thousands of jobs, achieve energy independence in five years, save €30 billion importing fossil fuels, create potential to add €50bn to our Economy and slash carbon dioxide emissions.

This is their Website for further details: Spirit of Ireland – A breakthrough National Project aiming for energy independence within five years. The project aims to create tens of thousands of jobs, inject a €10b stimulus to the economy, secure savings of €30b importing fossil fuel

The discussion on the Today with Pat Kenny Show is here (starts at about 34 mins in): RTÉ.ie Media Player: RTÉ Radio 1

Apparently there are "adverts" in the National Newspapers today as well re the above

[Gruffalo]

I have only had a quick scan of the website but if this can be done it would be excellent. Cutting foreign imports of fuel, stabilising energy costs, reducing carbon emmissions and one added bonus would be that it would be based in the west, bringing much needed investment and development.

Even if they could only achieve a fraction of it, it would have benefits.

Still though, I find it hard to see how they could build enough of the Infrastructure in just 5 years. How many of these setups would be required.