Sir, – The article by Pat O'Doherty, chief executive of the ESB, is excellent as far as it goes, but leaves a key question unanswered ("Ireland must cut its dependence on oil in daily life", Opinion & Analysis, September 18th).
Mr O’Doherty is correct in saying that the energy we use for transport and heating must by 2050 be radically decarbonised, and that this must entail a massive switch from fossil fuels to electricity. This, as he says, can be brought about through the use of electric vehicles for transport, and heat pumps for space heating.
But obviously such a change only achieves its purpose if the generation of electricity is itself massively switched from fossil fuels to non-fossil sources of energy. In this regard, Mr O’Doherty points to the substantial progress we have made in the generation of electricity from renewables, notably wind. However, it is accepted that because of their intermittency, and for other technical reasons, only a proportion of our electricity can ever be generated from renewables, with 40 per cent being considered an ambitious target.
The question that Mr O’Doherty does not address is this: what non-fossil source is the bulk of the remaining 60 per cent of our greatly increased electricity requirement going to come from? Unpalatable though the idea may be to some, is it not inevitable that sooner or later the inclusion of a nuclear component in our energy mix will have to be seriously considered? – Yours, etc,
TOM O’FLAHERTY,
Malahide, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Pat O’Doherty informs your readers that “oil is used for less than 1 per cent of electricity generation [in Ireland]”. However, he neglects to tell us what percentage of electricity is generated by other fossil fuels, such as peat, gas and coal, at the ESB’s power stations. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Pat O’Doherty writes that, “Electric vehicles are three times more efficient than conventional cars and offer a potential solution”. Mr O’Doherty does not state what the problem is that electric vehicles “offer a potential solution to”but the context of the article clearly implies that it is emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by conventional vehicles. The statement that electric vehicles are “three times more efficient than a conventional vehicle”, which although accurate in the context of mechanical and thermal efficiency, is misleading in the context of CO2 emissions. In Ireland, approximately 70 per cent of electricity is generated by combustion of fossil fuels that emit CO2 so that 70 per cent of the electricity used to charge the batteries of electric cars results in the emission of CO2. As a consequence it is impossible for electric cars to be “three times more efficient” than conventional vehicles in terms of CO2 emissions. – Yours, etc,
DAVID WHITEHEAD,
Kinvara,
Co Galway.