"Green" policies are destroying this country

You said you're a trained civil engineer. If I took you to a motorway that's still in construction and said to you 'Not a single journey has been made on this road. We need to abandon the project" you'd laugh at me.

We are in the beginning of decarbonising our grid. It is a process that we hope to have 80% completed by 2030 and fully 100% complete by 2050

We haven't built the infrastructure yet, so pointing at low generation capacity for a few weeks last year is a red herring.

I have already shown evidence that during this period of low wind onshore, there was loads of wind energy off our south and west coast and along the Irish sea

I don’t pay higher prices at peak times.

I have t activated my smart meter.

Still on the old plan.

This is just a basic stupid statement. It has always been Global warming, ie an average rise in temperature across the globe. Global warming causes Climate Change, ie a change in the weather patterns over an extended period (30 years to be precise) in a local region of the planet.

It was never one without the other.

Can you imagine the uproar if an energy saving policy like this was introduced here in Ireland. I'd say these things will become the norm in coming years.

It is equally as stupid as talk about how millions are going to die if we do not do something. Like increase carbon tax, and getting rid of half of our herd. While majority of the world population could not care less.

All that talk about renewables and some magical battery storage is make believe stuff not backed by any reality. There is no affordable technology invented yet not to mention built to support even bigger EV adoption but sure lets ban ICE cars and hope for the best.

Sorry but most of what you think that is going to happen is just crazy talk.

Do the Greens really think they can compel farmers to reduce their numbers of cattle? Don't they know that it would be unconstitutional to confiscate livestock?!

What's the point in reducing the national herd when beef is still imported from Brazil?

What's the point in banning peat-harvesting and turf-cutting when Ireland imports such fuel from abroad?

So the govt is going to confiscate livestock from any farmer who doesn't co-operate with the herd-reduction plan? It could lead to a battle going all the way to the European Court of Justice.

They installed one at my place last year but I've quite happily stayed on my existing plan. Got an email about a week after installation pushing the new plans but all I could see was that it would end up costing me more - no thanks.

I think Eamon Ryan or similar was talking about these new plans being made the default post install, but with an opt out option available for those who wanted it.

Then there's this of course....

You can be sure that those costs will be passed on.

Tbf fair Shoog you've got a fair few of basic facts wrong in this thread todate

The most recent being not knowing that its EirGrid and not the ESB who are responsible for providing Wind generation connections to the national grid and contrary to your assertions that

"much of the wind has been installed in suboptimal locations where it was convenient for the ESB to offer connections - not in the best wind locations"

When even a quick check shows that currently that wind generation is developer-led with wind farm developers selecting the sites and EirGrid being obliged to provide the connection to the grid or even that most wind farm developers have gone after the cheapest locations possible to install wind turbines which unfortunately too often have been marginal land in environmentally sensitive and/or remote areas

Looks like the E.U. learned from the water charges fiasco and got ahead of the posse on cattle numbers. The Irish government were telling a few porkies on the E.U. requirements for domestic water charges being set at a particular level and E.U. fines being imposed for non-compliance. They even dragged the then E.U. Commissioner for Environment into it attempting to sell it, with him making a few vague statements as to it being factual. Problem was it was all a lie and the European Court of Justice had already ruled it was none of the E.U. or the Commissioner`s business.

It was an embarrassment for the E.U. Commission and one they are not going to repeat. The E.U. Agriculture Commissioner in Dublin two months ago said it was not the intention of the E.U. to reduce herd numbers and that their concern was food security. If an Irish government was insane enough to attempt confiscating cattle based on these cuts set by nobody other than this present government, then they will be on their own.

The IPCC say there is a 18% chance that ECS is greater than 4.5c but there is very little study of how that will be reached. There are also lots of studies that have found climate change happens non linearly (ie, there can be sudden abrupt changes) We should be studying these possibilities so we can be prepared for them.

You are not a risk taker, you've made it clear that you think Ireland's energy supply is insecure and this should be addressed by building more gas infrastructure. But what of the other risks that we know are plausible worst case scenarios (just like the 'plausible worst case scenario that Britain will cut us off from gas)

Should we not be creating policies to prepare for eventualities like sudden mass migration into Europe, food shortages, political instability caused by resource shortages? Or do we just sleep walk into disaster like we do with everything else?

You have to apply for a smart meter tariff. You won't be allowed to use any of the 'Smart' features of your meter unless you do, but the energy companies are being extremely opaque with their pricing and its very difficult to know what your bills will be until you move, and then they won't let you move back (by some accounts I've heard)

You are not a risk taker, you've made it clear that you think Ireland's energy supply is insecure and this should be addressed by building more gas infrastructure. 

I do not claim to know the future. And nope, its not me who "thinks" Irelands energy supply is insecure. That has already been well established by our Energy Regulator and others far above my pay grade.

Natural gas has been identified as a necessary transition fuel. We need to keep the lights on, whether we get inundated with hordes from outer Mongolia, our national cows run dry, Fianna Fáil decides to implement the next great cultural revolution or whatever.

There are all types of potential disasters out there. Thing is we have to be able to walk before we can run.

You've kinda proven yourself in the post above this one (#12035) why it's not a good idea to be wholly dependent on one source of energy - and you're right, the pricing arrangement and information offers no incentives beyond a vague notion of "more control" (which only applies anyway if you're in a position to be more flexible in your usage)

I currently am on a levelpay plan for my gas supply which means that I pay a fixed amount monthly regardless of the actual bill. Over the course of the year it evens out and by Autumn I generally am in several hundred euro in credit on the account. No bill shock or panic then in the winter when you do need the heating on - especially in a poorly built/insulated rental property that the landlord doesn't want to invest in/properly maintain.

I'm in no rush to move to a "smart" plan (also I have a very basic timer on the gas that doesn't allow any separation of rad/water heating or any real scheduling either) and given the last point above, I don't think I'll be seeing any heat pumps anytime soon either.