Madam, - Eamon Ryan's views on alternatives to fossil-fuels are as rose-tinted as they are green ("Oiling the future's wheels", Book Reviews, July 24th).
He claims that "with the right wind turbines in place, we could become the energy moguls of the 21st century". In reality the entire countryside, as well as accessible off-shore areas, would need to be covered in wind turbines for wind energy to replace fossil fuels for electricity generation. And that is without touching the issue of what happens (or doesn't happen) when the winds don't blow.
Mr Ryan also says that "by the end of this century, Irish farmers could be jostling with the Arab sheikhs in Harrods, spending money made on new bio-energy crops". Again the reality is that, in order to replace petroleum products with fuels from bio-mass, all of the land underneath the whirling blades of the turbines would have to be given over to growing bio-energy crops.
There is a growing realisation, even among the most dedicated environmentalists, that nuclear power is the only solution to an energy crisis which is almost upon us. It will take decades to develop other options, of which solar energy may be the most promising. Until then, nuclear energy is the only realistic option, despite the undoubted dangers and drawbacks.
A debate on the issue is already overdue. By the time all of the moralising and hand-wringing is done, we shall probably end up with an Irish solution to an Irish problem, with the importation of electricity via undersea connectors to British nuclear power plants.
Conservation will have a role; so will wind energy; but they are not the answer. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN STAFFORD, Chesterfield Grove, Castleknock, Dublin 15.