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Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

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Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#321

Post by ceejayoz »

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #258
ceejayoz wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You are also forgetting that Sun can be blocked during times of rains and Wind is unpredictable as well. We already have wires that cross continents to smooth out supply variations. It's exceedingly rare you get no sun and no wind over entire continents for an extended period. > You are forgetting that markets operate after work and the late night culture and so many other things. I'm not forgetting it, they just u…

> We already have wires that cross continents to smooth out supply variations. It's exceedingly rare you get no sun and no wind over entire continents for an extended period. I can be wrong but you would probably lose tons of efficiency even within High Voltage DC lines if everyday late night we take energy from different countries. Also this is getting outside of topic of discussion for me because one of the reasons…

> You mention a comment and I respond and then we get to batteries again.

Yes. Because they're the answer here.

> Also this is getting outside of topic of discussion for me because one of the reasons we want Nuclear or Green energy in general is also the environmental plus the sovereign plus the long term affordability plans.

Good luck with nuclear sovereignty, if that's your concern. How many uranium mines are in the UK?

> Why not Nuclear?

/me gestures at the last 50 years of historical evidence

"Why not try nuclear" is like "why not try communism?" for physics nerds. We have tried it.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#322

Post by p_j_w »

cbeach wrote: post #230
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Another Irishman here, completely agree with your comment. My domestic gas and electric bills have never been higher, insane inflation for nothing more than political virtue signalling. The only part of your bills that could be regarded as virtue signalling is the carbon tax, which is driven by government regulation. The vast increases in energy costs were driven firstly by Russia (when they invaded Ukraine) and th…

Carbon taxes are huge, and they are 100% politically imposed. And they're often disingenously included in fossil fuel pricing to claim that green energy is fundamentally cheaper. I believe in climate change, and I believe in doing something about it. But being disingenous with the public is only going to create resentment and resistance to Net Zero.

> And they're often disingenously included in fossil fuel pricing to claim that green energy is fundamentally cheaper.

There’s nothing unreasonable about this: fossil fuels have huge costs associated with them that are invisible to the consumer. They’ve just been getting pushed off onto other people forever.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#323

Post by wat10000 »

FrojoS wrote: post #262
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The actual causes of electricity cost rises in Ireland being higher than Europe are: Lower population density on a grid without good connections to neighbours. Previous underinvestment in network infrastructure. Gas price rises combined with Ireland having less renewables that the EU average (middle of the pack for electricity, 3rd from bottom on total energy). Maybe saving the world a bit harder would have helped ke…

> The actual causes of electricity cost rises in Ireland being higher than Europe are Wrong comparison. Most of Europe has way too high electricity prices. It seems logical that ending the use of existing coal energy infrastructure puts upward pressure on prices. Coal is cheap, abundant, energy dense. Yes, burning coal causes lots of problems and I support ending it's use, but this is besides the point.

Coal is teetering on the edge of economic viability. In the US, our coal-obsessed administration is now at the point of forcing coal power plants to remain operational against the wishes of their owners who want to shut them down as they’re no longer profitable.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#324

Post by dewey »

moominpapa wrote: post #312
henry2023 wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the alternative? Keep polluting the air?

Was Ireland's air particularly polluted?

The point isn't about Ireland specifically so don't get hung up on that. It's a general shift away from coal.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#325

Post by Eldt »

delaminator wrote: post #225
cauliflower99 wrote: post #70

Irish man here - Over the last few years, we've graduated from providing cheap energy to now importing most of our energy. We've seen huge energy price increases as a result. We're seeing more and more cost-of-living protests, the war now means more will suffer with fuel prices and we're still going ahead with closing down energy suppliers (this is a 2025 article but the point still stands). To anyone praising these…

[flagged]

Ireland isn't importing most of its population. Have you been scrolling social media too much? You know anyone can write anything they want on there, right? Lol

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#326

Post by danny_codes »

cauliflower99 wrote: post #70

Irish man here - Over the last few years, we've graduated from providing cheap energy to now importing most of our energy. We've seen huge energy price increases as a result. We're seeing more and more cost-of-living protests, the war now means more will suffer with fuel prices and we're still going ahead with closing down energy suppliers (this is a 2025 article but the point still stands). To anyone praising these…

Cheap energy from coal is very expensive energy. Who’s going to clean up the pollution? Carbon capture uses a lot of energy

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#327

Post by observationist »

cauliflower99 wrote: post #70

Irish man here - Over the last few years, we've graduated from providing cheap energy to now importing most of our energy. We've seen huge energy price increases as a result. We're seeing more and more cost-of-living protests, the war now means more will suffer with fuel prices and we're still going ahead with closing down energy suppliers (this is a 2025 article but the point still stands). To anyone praising these…

So glad you're taking the hit for the rest of us. Your sacrifice is totally worth the .001% difference you make, every little bit counts.

Why is it people can clearly see the recycling scam for what it was, but the idea of coal or carbon fuels makes them entirely unable to handle any sort of thinking that isn't entirely superficial and one-sided?

Maybe, like everything else in life, it's a complex series of tradeoffs, costs, and benefits, and you decide whether the cost is worth the benefit.

And if a policy being pushed doesn't make sense when all the costs and benefits are accounted for, then someone is doing something shady and making a shit ton of money, especially if there's a huge amount of smoke and mirrors and politicized talk.

Ireland's being used for things and it's obvious those in power don't care about and don't think the Irish people being affected by these sorts of policies can or will do anything about it. As that largely seems to be the case, I have to wonder if we're going to see a repeat of what seems to happen every time a government thinks that about the Irish and takes advantage of them.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#329

Post by otherme123 »

rithdmc wrote: post #68
jerven wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Primary energy compared to electricity as energy. The first adds energy used in driving, chemical industry etc. the second is just the amount of electricity generated.

Got it, thanks. So, not for grid electricity, as in this discussion.

Still, in the second figure of your link, you can see how gas is more or less stable since the start in 2005, and coal + peat is being slowly replaced almost 1:1 by renewables, mainly wind as hydro is stable and solar is marginal in Ireland.

Re: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)

#330

Post by triceratops »

deanc wrote: post #185
triceratops wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic lie by omission. Or you're only reading right-wing media, in which case you can learn something and stop repeating this nonsense. In 2024 88% of new electricity in China came from renewables. https://www.eia.gov/international/analysis/country/chn They build new coal plants as a backup, or to replace existing older plants. But they're very clearly not using them more than they already were. They burn coal beca…

Unclear to me why you've been downvoted here. The data clearly shows that China is taking more serious action on this issue than any other developed or developing economy.

It's pretty clear to me. China and India are convenient boogeymen for climate change deniers and fossil fuel shills.
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