Features
Burning our future
The average Irish home is responsible for 3.3 tonnes of CO2 emissions as a result of our electricity use each year, the vast majority of which is produced by oil, gas and coal burning power stations. We have seen considerable improvement in the efficiency of our energy production, and increases in the proportion produced from renewable sources, in recent years. However, it is clear that a major shift in our methods of production, and in our attitudes to power consumption, is required to reduce the environmental damage wrought by our insatiable demand for energy.
The efficiency of our electricity production has continuously increased as natural gas has replaced coal as the primary fuel used in electricity production in Ireland. The CO2 output per kilowatt produced has also been significantly reduced by this shift. However welcome this is, our dependency on fossil fuels remains overwhelming. By 2006, renewable sources accounted for just 8.6% of our electricity consumption, mostly from hydro and wind energy sources.
Renewable innovations
There is a boom in innovation in the field of renewable energy throughout the world as our fossil fuel supplies run out, with new methods of harnessing natural energy appearing all the time. We are by now familiar with the rows of wind turbines that account for a lot of our renewable electrical output, but efforts in other areas are also bearing fruit.
One source of energy that remains largely untapped in Ireland and worldwide is ocean power. Deriving power from the movement of the tides is not a new idea. Tide mills have existed since the middle ages, and, although there are only three in existence, power stations using this energy were first built in the 1960s. These work similarly to traditional hydro-electric power plants - relying on water falling from a higher to a lower level to turn turbines to produce electricity.
More recently, the tidal stream generator has been proposed. This would work on a similar principle to a wind turbine, drawing energy from the flow of currents. Various prototype trials have been carried out, and Irish company OpenHydro became the first tidal energy company to be connected to the UK's national grid last May with their Open-Centre Turbine off Orkney, Scotland. Tidal energy would have little impact on the environment, particularly the modern tidal stream generator, which doesn't rely on the construction of a barrage as the existing methods do.
The ocean can also provide us with energy from the movement of waves. In 2005, The Ocean Energy Test Site was established in Galway Bay to facilitate research into successfully harnessing wave energy for electricity production. It was the first site to have two prototype devices successfully producing energy from the oscillating motion of the waves. Following the success of the tests, and depending on further full-scale testing, we may see wave energy added to the national grid in the future.
Individual responsibility
Even with these innovations in renewable energy sources and decreases in our dependence on fossil fuel, awareness and reduction of our individual fuel consumption will have to be a major factor if we are to combat the environmental damage caused by our power needs. Power consumption in the average home has continuously escalated over the years as we fill our homes with more and more consumer electronics.
Legislation will of course play a role in this. The planned ban on incandescent light bulbs from Energy Minister John Gormley, for example, could reduce our CO2 emissions by 700,000 tonnes per year without requiring any changes in lifestyle from consumers. Similarly, EU draft legislation to enforce energy efficiency in the use of stand-by and off modes in electrical appliances could provide a significant reduction in energy use without cost to consumers. With a quick glance around the average sitting room you will likely see televisions, DVD players and stereo systems all idly drawing from the grid.
However, individuals will have to make lifestyle changes to reduce our CO2 output. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources' "Power of One" campaign is trying to affect change in household consumption to achieve this, with relatively painless suggestions such as buying energy efficient appliances, not turning on dishwashers when they're half full and switching off lights in unoccupied rooms. Although individually of minor impact, the combined effect of a concerted effort to make these multiple minor changes on our national electricity consumption would be significant.
We need to be aware that our energy decadence can't last forever. But by combining ingenuity in, and expansion of, our renewable energy production coupled with individual awareness of our energy consumption, we have a chance to create a genuinely sustainable national grid.
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