Madam, - The ESB has already shown its contempt for Kyoto by building new turf-burning generating stations, and by claiming that the elimination of resultant noxious gases would be prohibitively expensive. Now it has gone a step further by obtaining a directive controlling the development of more windfarms "because this source produces only a varying amount of current".
Global warming, a very real and serious danger, is caused mainly by the use of fossil fuels, and every alternative must urgently be considered. Wind and wave power, which are currently being developed, are both by their nature fluctuating, but surely there is some way to store peak production to offset valley periods.
Tidal currents at sea, however, are absolutely constant, continuous, and predictable, and in Ringsend and Tarbert, for instance, they flow right across the doorstep of existing ESB stations.
Neither wind, nor wave, nor tide produce emissions, and the ESB would be better advised to develop these energy sources rather than cramping them. - Yours, etc.,
PETER A. GREHAN,
Caherdaniel,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.