Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Permission to dream







Spirit of Ireland - Energy independence anyone?
Check out http://www.spiritofireland.org/

This is one very ambitious project....one though that I believe makes a whole lot of sense!

Mind you, for Ireland this is a bit like a JFK 'Man on the Moon' moment! What I mean is whoever would've thought that such a nutty ambition would succeed in 1967? Men on the moon indeed! Or who could have foreseen that building the Hoover Dam would lead America, and the whole world, out of a 15-year depression?

Whoever would believe that we could create a water-filled valley in the west and use wind-power to constantly keep the water levels pumped up, while on the other hand using the stored sea-water to generate Hydro-electricity on demand! No pollution, no oil, no gas...just green energy, all day long, for free. (other than the capital development cost of course, which might be $30 Billion or so!). Not to mention the new aquaculture and tourism industries that would be supported by such a project!

Could Ireland really become a net exporter of energy within ten years using wind energy and hydro-electric power generation? Pipe Dreams perhaps? (no not pipelines....! pipes, sorry to be so politically un-PC) Or are we so afraid to fight for our own destiny, that we are waiting for our politicians to lead us forward!! Some hope that! (Actually there must be something good about this when our politicians have run a mile from it! Perhaps they have finally reached the Peter Principle of Politics....another pipe dream I'm afraid).

I know one of the Spirit of Ireland promoters, a really solid guy, not given to flights of fancy!Inspirational goals, charismatic leaders with humble personal aspirations, socially responsible, nationalistic, sustainable, creative, meaningful, achievable, renewable, green.
A clatter of clever cliches.

So why then are we becalmed, procrastinating in the doldrums...waiting for the other shoe to fall? Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal all stand to gain from this.

Jobs, industry, cheaper electricity, a future for our children...now there's a dream. Permission to dream?

Feel free to make a comment.

1 comment:

Brian Nolan said...

We were probably almost energy self sufficient in 1945. I doubt a many oil tankers were making their way into Cork in 1942. So what happened. We got lazy, simple as that.
A man has to get a licence to cut his own turf nowadays. They say we are destroying the peat bogs. I cut a lot of turf in my time and after 3 years the heather grew on the low bank just like it did on the high bank.
But the guys running that Great Island don't know the difference between the High Bank and the Low Bank,or the difference between the Bad Bank and the Good Bank.
No question we all should be working away from fossile fuels, But from what I read, wind, solar etc are very expensive. I think Ireland should wait for the technology, or better still create it, before jumping on board that boat. JJH