EU seeks to cut gas use by 15% from August To March

But not windy enough to make the turbines trip out... 🙄

We can thank the Green Party for this. Ireland really should have built an LNG terminal well before now.

🙄

2004 1.4 petrol low emission car = €385 tax

Diseaselgate recent model big German bus = €120 a year

It's subsidising pollution. Diesel particulates directly cause illness and death. This is the second government they've been in since they introduced this and it still hasn't been changed.

And we all know why the Shannon LNG proposal went nowhere.

The Greens are finished either way. They aren't going without share of the blame for what's coming. They won't be the only ones. All Green parties around Europe are going to get a lot of grief from the public.

And it's not undeserved.

Environmentalists won't be the only ones.

Wind turbines don't rotate when there is no demand for their energy. Typically peak energy demand is 4pm.to 7pm. When there is no need for them to turn they tilt the blades. When wind is very light they can tilt the blades to make best use of very light wind.

Back to the OP. Gas was and is used as it's very cheap (cheaper than oil and coal), and most power stations do have some options to use oil or coal as back up to some extent. The Russians are putting pressure on Germany etc to not support the war enough to have a real impact on who will win and it's working. The Russians turned down the gas taps months ago to ensure Europe could not fill up their reserves during the summer and so if/when the gas is turned off the impact would be very quick. Russia needs the billions in gas money to fund the war and day to day running costs so they don't want to shut it off fully.

I'm terms of wind, without our existing wind we would be even more reliant on gas. On suitably windy days gas power stations can turn off, saving gas, and they can switch quickly back on when wind drops.

The green party/government policy has been anti new liquid natural gas terminal, They delayed the rubbish burning/)waste to energy Dublin plant even after it had permission by delaying permits for decades. It shows even with permission that actually getting these things up and running can be a big problem here.

The gas in mayo was delayed decades too. The plant was fully finished for many years but could not be used.

If gas is highly restricted there is some options. Increase gas prices to homes so they don't use gas and instead light the fire etc. They have already told data centres that between 4pm.and 7pm they may be required to use their back up generators to save the electricity grid.

We should expedite a liquid natural gas terminal and fast track more wind turbines, but in the short term they won't arrive fast enough.

With the new smart meters we already increase electricity prices at peak times. They should immediately increase peak prices, meanwhile installing automatic ways of reducing power at peak times such as putting timers on everyone's water heater/immersion so it cannot be used say 4pm.to 7pm.

Newer electric car home chargers can in theory switch off when grid is struggling and switch on when there is excess wind.

We should install solar PV panels on 90% of houses but typically they only work well 12-2pm in summer.

We should assume the shortages of gas will last 2-3 years and in the long term it makes sense to have more alternatives. Long term gas, oil and coal are getting more expensive as we are using up all the worlds fossil fuels.

Coal is a killer. Smoky coal should have been banned nationwide long before now. Turf is little better, it was only allowed in "smokeless" zones in Dublin for political / economic reasons in the 80s. It's terrible for the environment where it's harvested as well as where it's burnt.

To be specific about motor vehicles, it's diesel which is the problem. Petrol cars are much cleaner but continue to be penalised by the motor tax system, which is crazy.

The actual gas infrastructure site of Bord Gais remains in state ownership as Gas Networks Ireland / Ervia. They also own the backbone network in Northern Ireland, albeit Carrickfergus/Belfast is owned by British Gas and the rural network is owned by SGN.

One of the three interconnectors is owned by British Gas, the other two (and the link to the Isle of Man) is owned by GNI.

Bord Gais that was sold was the customer supply side. The state still owns a gas customer supply firm - Electric Ireland.

Ah it's almost like the "good old days" when every week we'd have posters screaming about how Enda Kenny was selling us out to the EU so he'd get a nice cushy EU job.

What's he up to these days again? 🙄

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your post but isn't our lack of a connection with France a good thing in the current context? Had we had one, we'd be obliged cut our consumption like the rest of the connected countries. The lack of one means we're exempt as an island nation.

True about the electricity connector however the poster also bemoned the lack of a gas connection, which would have, if we had it, put is in the same position as the continental countries being prevailed upon to cut their gas consumption.

There's a huge amount of cash being fired at "sustainable aviation fuel", e.g. something from plants or animals which will have consumed/eaten carbon to be formed.

e.g. this thing that will make flying non-vegan

This really isn't going to solve anything. But we are stuck on a sodding island, with an incompatible train gauge as well as a nuclear arms dump in the way on the shortest land route to anywhere else for trains; so flying is going to remain vital here.

If there was to be another pipeline, I think I would choose a direct line with Norway rather than an interconnect with an EU country. Not sure about the economics of it but we would be less vulnerable to the EU cutting us off to save the core EU countries in the event of a major energy crisis. But, yes, I agree with the general principle of not relying on one single pipeline.

Aviation is about 2% of global emissions IIRC

You mean like if a Scandinavian version of Putin got in power up there and threatened cutting of countries' gas if he didn't get his way?

The Norway to UK pipelines are the second largest undersea pipelines in the world, Nordstreams are just a bit bigger. How much would it cost Ireland to build a pipeline to Norway to deliver gas and how long will it take do you think ?

Also both of those pipelines have huge markets on the end of them, not a piddly little one, not a hope in hell of this happening.

Unfortunately the Greens are going nowhere. They will be needed by sf to form a government so like many times in the past they're a handy mechanism to make up the numbers.

However, in the past their ramblings seemed fairly harmless (like a dozy,socially awkward teenager who suddenly gets really into a school project, you'd nearly be happy for them) Those days are long gone,their policies are ludicrous in places,are not based in current real world realities and are downright dangerous to the country.

Yet they will still be dragged into government again,I guarantee you.

To have any chance of being in government they will need TDs. That's far from a given.

No it's really not. They've blocked an LNG terminal and banned gas drilling in Irish waters, so we're dependent on imports even though known reserves are there. (Never mind their braindead stance on nuclear power)

So far their plan is somewhat like this:

Ban Hydrocarbons

?????

Profit!

Technologies which don't exist, don't work, or aren't affordable to the rescue!

Green party are far too urban based