That's a nice little site you found there cactus - I might replace slashdot with it on the feeds above. Yeah the Germans get paid four times the market price for producing electricity ... why can't we do that I wonder ? I'll tell you - the Green Party (or anyone else) would be stepping on the toes of the Execs at the ESB who need the money to power their personal McMansions of America homes and run their enormous Lexuses. Plus, they need the dough to also infect other countries abroad with their fossilisation of electricity production.
I'd say if the Greens want to make a real impression on the likes of me then Eamo will need to push that Smart Meter unit on us - I don't care, I'll be happy to pay for it as long as it's useful. It'll have to be plugable for solar panels and other electricity-producing devices plus it'll need to show you in graph form what you use per month or day etc. like our visitor stats here or your broadband stats on Eircom or whoever you're with. At the moment we're at the mercy of an ageing grid that isn't getting much investment by the looks of it yet I'm sure the ESB Execs are investing plenty in their own business and their personal purchases.
I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these now, ESB bills have increased by 20% in the last few months - anyone notice that ?
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Subject: Re: Clean Energy & Efficiency Sat Nov 15, 2008 2:22 am
What's going on at all ? Lots of options trading that oil will fall to €30 a barrel by February. Is someone trying to kill alternative energy altogether ?
It seems to me that geothermal energy is THE way to go. Technological developments in terms of reducing drilling costs mean that well depths of up to ten kilometres will be viable in the medium term. This will make geothermal viable practically anywhere.
The situation is analogous to 1938, when developments in metallurgy for high temperature turbine blades made the gas turbine practicable.
Quote :
When I read articles like this it just makes me more committed to packing my bags and heading off to Darwin, Australia. The Survivalist sites say find somewhere remote, where land is relatively cheap, population density is small and you have access to water. To which I might add temperature increases in the future will be moderated by nearness to the equator. Add in a touch of political stability and nearness to resources fuelling the present insanity and it seems as sure a bet for survival as can be found.
When I'm there I'll be making my own energy, something entirely unmentioned in the article. Doubtless it won't be much but frugality and ingenuity will be the result of that.
The method of energy generation assumed in the article is the usual top down, high centralized systems with enormous infrastructure requirements. This is hardly surprising since such systems are the lifeblood of big investors, who are in turn the lifeblood of The Economist.
However community power generation has long been recognized s being the most efficient. Furthermore it tends to generate jobs in the community. At least this is the experience of communities using the Natural Step, or the US Swamp Yankee system.
Sometimes I despair, not for me you understand, since my eyes are open to what the future is bringing and I am preparing for it. No I despair for all the people whose concerns do not take them past their next paycheck and who are blithely marching in lock step to their corporately marketed doom.
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Subject: Re: Clean Energy & Efficiency Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:26 pm
Isn't it all burgled already ?
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Irish oil and gas companies are being invited to attempt to find fossil fuel in the Rockall basin in the West of Ireland.
Junior Energy Minister Sean Power today announced the opening of the 2009 round of licensing.
Successful companies will search around 117,000 km for indigenous oil and gas supplies
Subject: Re: Clean Energy & Efficiency Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:16 am
Auditor #9 wrote:
Intel are coming out with a low-voltage chip that will use less power therefore put less CO2 in the atmosphere.
Another example of how the innovation, creativity and drive of private sector organisations is providing us with the tools necessary to graduate to a less energy-intensive society. Whether it be the cars, planes, trains, computers or houses in which we live; the private sector will provide solutions in this regard far better than any government and will be the key agent in switching us from the anachronistic Age of Oil to the Age of Hydrogen.
The Sunday Times Magazine had an interesting article about living a low-energy life in today's issue while the Economist had an article relating to new carbon sink technology under development here.
Guest Guest
Subject: Tralee IT reduces electricity consumption by implementing simple measures Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:26 pm
From the Examiner this morning :
Quote :
Energy project saves college €170 a day in electricity
By Donal Hickey BY DOING things as simple as switching off lights, people can make significant savings in their energy bills, a one-year project at the Institute of Technology (IT), in Tralee, has shown.
They did some relatively low-tech modifications to the 3,500-student Tralee IT and managed to save plenty of kilowatt hours and money since the implementations. The Examiner says they reduced "electricity consumption by more than 22%, as a result of energy-saving project, and is now spending €170 less a day in electricity".
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“One Sunday, we came in to see what was switched on and what we discovered really opened our eyes. Lights and equipment were all on 24/7,” Mr Donal Hunt [estate manager] said.
An action programme was soon put in place, with timer switches being fitted on 18 under-sink water heaters. The timers have since brought about electricity savings of more than €6,000.
Furthermore, motion detectors were fitted in all toilets so that lights switch off when facilities are not in use. Savings of €6,400 resulted.
Master switches fitted to heaters provided savings of €1,800, while fine tuning of the building management system has brought about more efficient use of heating and ventilation and savings worth €20,000.
Overall, the amount of energy saved — 332,000 kilowatts — would be enough to power one house for 65 years.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday cited $75 a barrel as a "fair price" for oil, the first time in years that the world's biggest exporter has identifed a target for crude prices.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said oil prices needed to return to $75 to keep the more expensive new projects at the margins of world supply on track. His comments may come as a relief to consumer nations fearful of a return to $100-plus oil.
U.S. crude was valued at $55 at the close of trade on Friday.
"There is a good logic for $75 a barrel," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, OPEC's most influential voice, told reporters in Cairo, where the producer cartel was meeting.
"You know why? Because I believe $75 is the price for the marginal producer. If the world needs supply from all sources, we need to protect the price for them. I think $75 is a fair price," he said.
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Subject: Re: Clean Energy & Efficiency Tue Dec 02, 2008 1:33 am
Auditor #9 wrote:
cactus flower wrote:
That is a worrying post, Auditor: I wonder how our energy costs compare with the EU generally.
In the UK and Germany now each household will be able to sell any extra electricity back to the grid. When is that coming in in Ireland?
That's a nice little site you found there cactus - I might replace slashdot with it on the feeds above. Yeah the Germans get paid four times the market price for producing electricity ... why can't we do that I wonder ? I'll tell you - the Green Party (or anyone else) would be stepping on the toes of the Execs at the ESB who need the money to power their personal McMansions of America homes and run their enormous Lexuses. Plus, they need the dough to also infect other countries abroad with their fossilisation of electricity production.
Theres a problem with the Germans paying four times the market price for home produced electricity. This makes it more expensive then buying electricity. Therefore you would make a tidy profit by buying two houses beside each other and simply taking electricity in one house, linking the houses together, and selling it back to the power company from the other house. The Germans are probably too honest for this though.
Guest Guest
Subject: Re: Clean Energy & Efficiency Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:15 pm
Art wrote:
Theres a problem with the Germans paying four times the market price for home produced electricity. This makes it more expensive then buying electricity. Therefore you would make a tidy profit by buying two houses beside each other and simply taking electricity in one house, linking the houses together, and selling it back to the power company from the other house. The Germans are probably too honest for this though.
That's a puzzle alright
Look at this - if this lasts for a while it'll bankrupture the Arabs. Could it also bankrupt America or be the precipitating impetus behind the fall of the petrodollar ?
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