Upcoming Events

National | Environment

no events match your query!

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Declined: Chapter 16: The Last Cigarette Sun Apr 20, 2025 09:00 | Molly Kingsley
Chapter 16 of Declined is here ? a dystopian satire by Molly Kingsley about the emergence of a social credit system in the UK. This week: Theo fails and must tell Ella he's stuck in re-education camp for two more weeks.
The post Declined: Chapter 16: The Last Cigarette appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The 60 Minutes I Spent Trying to Persuade a BBC Presenter That Lucy Connolly is a Political Prisoner Sun Apr 20, 2025 07:00 | Laurie Wastell
The Daily Sceptic's Laurie Wastell was astounded to be invited onto the BBC to put his case that Lucy Connolly is a political prisoner ? and even more astounded to find he was given a fair hearing.
The post The 60 Minutes I Spent Trying to Persuade a BBC Presenter That Lucy Connolly is a Political Prisoner appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Sun Apr 20, 2025 00:02 | Will Jones
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Rapists Can No Longer Claim to be Women Sat Apr 19, 2025 17:00 | Will Jones
Rapists will no longer be able to identify as women following?the landmark Supreme Court transgender ruling, with police forces now expected to begin recording criminals' biological sex rather than preferred gender.
The post Rapists Can No Longer Claim to be Women appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Persecution of Nigeria?s Christians by Muslims is Medieval in its Horror Sat Apr 19, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
The persecution of Nigeria's Christians by Islamising Muslims is medieval in its horror, says Tom Goodenough. "Villages are surrounded in the dead of night by bandits who rape and kill the inhabitants. No one is spared."
The post The Persecution of Nigeria’s Christians by Muslims is Medieval in its Horror appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Campaigners warn against calls for Moneypoint conversion to biomass

category national | environment | opinion/analysis author Wednesday April 16, 2014 11:57author by Biofuelwatch - Biofuelwatchauthor email biofuelwatch at ymail dot com Report this post to the editors

Having followed the partial conversion of Drax coal power station in the UK to biomass, we are dismayed to see calls across the Irish media for Moneypoint to be converted to biomass. Those calls follow ReThink Pylon's recent publication of a report by a UK consultancy which greenwashes Drax's experience.
enviva.png

Running Moneypoint on biomass would require pellets made from around 7.2 million tonnes of wood a year – compared to a total annual wood production of some 2.7 million tonnes in Ireland. The only type of biomass that can be burned in such power stations is wood from slow growing trees (and not residues, which are too high in bark) – other feedstock corrodes the boilers. Such a conversion would almost certainly rely on pellets imported from Canada and the southern US. Both are regions where highly biodiverse and carbon rich forests are increasingly being clearcut to make pellets from Europe – a disaster for forests and bad news for the climate, too.

See http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/2014/04/biomass-conversi...land/ .

Speaking out against this misguided proposal before it gains more political credibility is vital – otherwise North American forests will be sacrificed for another false 'energy solution'.

Related Link: http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/2014/04/biomass-conversion-is-the-wrong-direction-for-ireland/
author by AndyGpublication date Sun Apr 09, 2017 17:54author address author phone Report this post to the editors

How about instead of converting moneypoint to biomass which we still have to buy, we instead convert it into an incinerator and get paid by other countries that still do landfill to take the waste off their hands in addition to the profit gained by generating electricity.
Assuming it's incinerated properly, there should be only mineral ash(no toxic organics) remaining, which could then be disposed of safely in the deep ocean, possibly through a pipe that descends from the ship through the thermocline,. thus eliminating any significant biological uptake.
Of course another major energy source Ireland would do well to consider is nuclear,.. especially passive safe Molten Salt Fast Reactors when the become available,.. as they hold the very real possibility of generating ultra cheap energy, cleanly and safely.

author by leftypublication date Mon Apr 10, 2017 16:22author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Ruining the clean air and leaving a legacy of respiratory problems for growing Irish children with an incinerator or advocating nuclear power after the calamity that was Fukushima made parts of Japan uninhabitable. Is there any environmentally destructive short term highly profitable for a few, highly stupid idea you won't back Andy? Whatever the "industry" are paying you, it is not enough!

We are merely stewards of the environment for future generations. It belongs to and is shared by everyone. We should not listen to people who wish sell it out for a quick buck for a few well placed individual investors and those whose palms will be greased in the process

author by AndyGpublication date Sat Apr 15, 2017 15:12author address author phone Report this post to the editors

To clear things up, regarding my suggestion to convert Moneypoint, as well as the Peat burning power stations fro that matter to incinerators,.. I was assuming this would only be a short term solution,... and ONLY if these power stations can be made to burn municipal waste at least as cleanly as their original fuels.
As for your anti-nuclear hysteria,. this is completely irrational in the context of the current energy supply,.. firstly because modern nuclear is still by far and away the safest energy source relative to energy produced,.. and secondly because I would actually advocate the use of passive safe Molten Salt Fast Reactors,.. which are intrinsically safe as well as eliminating the long term waste issue,.. unlike the thermal spectrum Pressurized Water Reactors currently used to produce nuclear energy.

 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy