Category Archives: Energy
Rationing our way to a rational aviation policy
To see the enthusiasm with which politicians have been co-opted to help Dublin Airport Authority to overturn the planning permissions that govern its operation in order to facilitate ever more flying is indicative of just how much of a vote-getter … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Pollution, Sustainability
Tagged aviation, DAA, Irish Examiner, Ryanair
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Airline industry’s sky-high emissions crash climate targets
All the clever plans the aviation industry is developing to reduce emissions have one thing in common: the one sure-fire way to truly reduce emissions, ie. by flying less, is absolutely off the table. Just like in so many other … Continue reading
Nothing ‘natural’ or safe about gas hobs
Was there ever a cleverer sleight of hand than the labelling of the fossil fuel methane as ‘natural gas’? Oil and coal are also natural, but have you ever heard of ‘natural coal’ as a marketing slogan? Mercifully not, yet … Continue reading
Progress through technology? Nein, danke
Every country has its deeply entrenched lobby group, and in the case of Germany, its massive motor industry pulls the political strings, exercising a negative influence on policy throughout the EU. Ever wonder why European regulations on emissions from cars … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Dieselgate, EVs, Germany, motor industry, T&E, Tesla
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Feeding aircraft while people go hungry
As the squeeze on heavy users of fossil fuels to be seen to be cleaning up their act intensifies, there is now a flurry of activity especially from the aviation sector behind promoting “renewable” fuels such as biofuels and synthetic … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged aviation, Biofuels, Eamon Ryan, T&E
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Oil giants struggle to wash blood off their hands
It may be making more money than ever, but the fossil fuel industry is rapidly losing whatever semblance of social licence it could still cling to. And despite the high salaries on offer, more and more young people are turning … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged Bernard Looney, BP, David Horgan, Shell, Texaco, Valero
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Watch out for quick-fix climate techno solutions
Decades of abject failure to curb carbon emissions has left us in a perilous situation as global climate destabilisation begins to bite in earnest. Numerous techno-fixes are now being seriously explored, backed by some big names as well as attracting … Continue reading
Oh! What a Lovely War for fossil fuel profiteers
While 2022 may have been the year when full-scale war returned to Europe for the first time since 1945, with massive spikes in energy prices impacting tens of millions of households, it was also a great year for fossil fuel … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Sustainability
Tagged climate denial, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Texaco
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Spreading a deadly smokescreen of disinformation
Long before the fossil fuel industry began using its money and influence to spread doubt and disinformation about the climate crisis, the book on how to dupe and deceive the public by peddling doubt had been practically written by the … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged Irish Examiner, PJ Carroll, Texaco, Tobacco, Valero
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Dialling up the global thermostat another notch in 2022
It sounds almost a cliché to say that last year was a year of weather extremes. After all, which year out of the last 20 hasn’t been? After all, according to the WMO, the past eight years have been the … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Just Stop Oil
Tagged Business Post, CCAC, COP27, EPA, heatwave, Sinn Fein, World Weather Attribution
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Risky business for insurers as climate crunch bites
As extreme weather ratchets ever upwards, it seems inevitable that more and more locations will become uninsurable over time, whether as a result of coastal inundation, sea level rise or supercharged storms and flooding events. I took a look this … Continue reading
Shadow of war throws new focus on nuclear energy
One source of near-zero carbon for energy production that is often overlooked and excluded from serious consideration is that of nuclear energy. In ordinary circumstances this might be understandable, but in a dire climate emergency, I find it baffling that … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Nuclear
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The 1.5C danger line draws ever closer
I contributed the article below to TheJournal.ie in mid-May to mark the publication of a worrying new report from the World Meteorological Organisation. Tried to stress for the umpteenth time that physics is indifferent to the many political, economic, social, … Continue reading
Posted in Arctic, Energy, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged heatwave, Sinn Fein, TheJournal.ie, Ukraine, WMO
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Can we reimagine a better, safer world?
It sometimes feels like our collective inability to respond to the global climate and ecological emergency is first and foremost a failure of imagination. We are conditioned to see the world the way it is, and can easily assume there … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus, Sustainability
Tagged Antonio Guterres, food security, IPCC, Irish Examiner, Ukraine
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Food and energy insecurity mean double trouble
The long-banished spectre of food insecurity has returned to Europe for the first time since the 1940s. I wrote the below piece for the Business Post in late March which looked at the intersection of energy and food security in … Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Economics, Energy, Global Warming, Irish Focus
Tagged ESRI, Horticulture, John FitzGerald, Mark Mellett, Ukraine
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