Sir, – Brendan Quinn (Letters, May 13th) reckons we should look to Norway for our energy policy, and concludes his letter thus: “Oh, to be Norwegian’'.
While Norway can flaunt its quite impressive green credentials – it is one of the world’s leaders in renewable energy use, and almost all of its electricity is generated by hydropower – it must be recognised that it has managed these remarkable achievements only by pumping astronomical sums of money into renewable energy technology.
Paradoxically, the funds used to finance these green energy projects come from Norway’s exceedingly lucrative oil and gas exports (the gift that keeps on giving).
If Norway – now a major fossil fuel exporter – can be seen as a bastion for sustainable energy, it’s only because it exports its pollution.
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I’m sure this irony is not lost on ordinary Norwegians. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Norway’s successful 50-year experience is an obvious road to follow.
Seemingly our governments and politicians can only think of giving away to dividend-hungry companies the endless wind energy blowing in our faces. Or are the small Corrib (and Kinsale) gas-field deals the only possibilities open to us?
Is subsidising energy bills the only way we can spend the massive tax windfalls of the next two years?
Or paying the unexplained extra cost of installing turbines in Ireland, far dearer than those in nearby Scotland?
Or is it the inexperience of running a Norwegian-style “€1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund’'?
Contracting experienced Statoil executives to run a state-owned wind-energy business and also to build up a sovereign wealth fund is an obvious long-term choice for the State rather than having private companies contracting them to their private advantage. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT CARTHY,
Dublin 3.
