Like everything else in this country it will be the little people and not the corporations or the elites who pay for saving the planet.
You can’t blame the Irish public for not taking dire warnings about the effects of climate change on this country seriously after the abject hypocrisy by governments when it comes to cutting down on emissions.
One the one hand, Environment Minister Eamon Ryan wants ordinary people to reduce the amount of power they consume to cut down on emissions.
But the Green Party leader this week has sanctioned the use of emergency fossil fuel burning power generators to avoid power cuts this winter.
The fact that massive data centres owned by billionaires like Amazon boss Jeff Bezos are causing the supply shortages only adds to the hypocrisy.
Those old enough to remember the power cuts of the 1970s will know they were brought about by strikes and world oil shortages.
Incredibly, the country is now facing a winter where the lights could go out due to Government incompetence and a craven subservience of multinational corporations.
The Energy Regulator had already warned consumers face “rolling blackouts” if data centres keep connecting to the National Grid.
That’s what happens when Irish governments view the flow of profits for the corporations as more important than the flow of electricity to Irish homes.
Plans to use gas-burning and CO2-producing emergency generators were approved by the so-called Green Minister Ryan in June but the details were only published by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities on Monday.
Ironically, this was the same day as the UN’s IPCC report warned of a climate catastrophe.
Later that day, Minister Ryan went into hypocrisy overdrive, saying there is “no doubt” and “no debating” that human-driven climate change is happening right in front of us.
Indeed it is Eamon, and you’re up to your neck in it.
Sinn Fein’s climate spokeswoman Senator Lynn Boylan rightly asked: “How can we be expected to take
the minister’s words on climate action seriously when his actions are doing the opposite?”
The severe electricity shortages feared this winter are being driven by the massive power used by the dozens of data centres which have sprung up around the country.
Ireland has more of these power and water guzzling monsters than any other country in the EU and there are many more in the pipeline.
It is projected that data centres will use nearly one third of all electricity consumed in Ireland within six years.
And while the government ministers pontificate about the dangers of climate change, the Irish Academy of Engineering estimate these data centres will add between 1.5 and three million tonnes of CO2 to Ireland’s overall greenhouse gases by 2028.
This means the chances of Ireland becoming carbon neutral any time in the future have gone up in smoke, and being the dirty man of Europe will result in huge EU pollution fines.
Worse still, the Energy Regulator wants the permanent retirement of coal-burning generators at Moneypoint in Co Clare put on hold because of the electricity supply crisis.
Think about that for a minute. A Green Environment Minister sanctioning the burning of coal to generate electricity for use by Amazon, whose boss is blowing billions and using vast quantities of fossil fuels
for joyrides into space.
And the madness continues as Meath County Council has granted Amazon approval for a second 48 megawatt data centre in Drogheda and the company plans a third one in the future.
The project is on hold after objections by An Taisce which claims planning authorities are failing to take account of the negative impact of data centres on Ireland meeting its renewable energy targets. Which is blatantly obvious.
It is estimated Amazon’s data centres will need more power than a million Irish homes and will give little more direct employment than a Spar or Centra convenience store.
An Taisce rightly points out the uninhibited development of data centres is wiping out the benefits
of increased renewable energy generation.
The environmental and heritage group also wants any new data centre to provide a “new, directly linked supply of renewable energy and should not jeopardise Ireland’s existing national climate/renewable energy targets.”
Now that’s a solution which could keep everyone, including the IDA and the multinationals happy.
If only we had an environment minister who was really green and not one who produces greenhouse gases.
