But even this one-sided report acknowledges:
“Backup diesel generators and on-site gas generation can increase emissions and reduce efficiency compared to grid power” (2/3)
Same playing out in Ireland - Last week Westmeath Council approved planning permission for a huge data centre backed up by a gas plant, itself supposedly built to ensure 'uninterrupted supply of power to Irish households and businesses'
Smoke, mirrors and trojan horses
www.rte.ie/news/busines...
New column: Now is the ideal time to make fossil fuel phase-out the organising principle of Ireland's energy and economic strategy.
My piece in today's @irishtimes.com: www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
"The EPA last week said that in a best-case scenario, Ireland could achieve a carbon emissions reduction of 25% by 2030, well shy of the 50% binding target"
With existing measures reduction will be just 13% after more than a decade!
www.epa.ie/publications...
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
Today the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence met for engagement on the environment
www.oireachtas.ie/en/committee...
Professor Jennie C Stephens (@jenniecstephens.bsky.social), Professor of Climate Justice, Maynooth University said:
“The primary aim of this study is to address current knowledge gaps concerning the…economic and wider benefits arising from hosting data centres in Ireland…”
€100,000 to list the benefits? – presumably it would've been cheaper to list the obvious downsides? (1/3)
enterprise.gov.ie/en/publicati...
Worth reading @hannahdaly.ie's full research here - it contains some really stunning numbers.
The most important point is the 80% renewable mandate delayed by six years: meaning six years of massive gas use and emissions, breaching carbon budgets and spiking bills
zenodo.org/records/2058...
Ireland to fall way short of 50% carbon emissions reduction by 2030, with fines estimated between €8bn-€26bn
