Irish Examiner view: Wind should be a key to meeting our climate goals
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Scientists have confirmed that this year will be the first since the pre-industrial era that temperatures will have been 1.5C above those of times gone by. They have also confirmed that 2024 will be the hottest on record.
Given the drastic need for urgent action to meet global climate goals, it behoves us here in Ireland to be part of the solution rather than the problem. We in this country — every one of us — need to adapt and adjust to what we can do to help lessen emissions of carbon and other harmful gasses, to embrace our environment rather than batter it.
It is a quirk of Irishness, sometimes, that we need a shove in the right direction from outside sources to get our thinking and our planning in order to allow us to achieve things we know to be right. In the past week, we may just have witnessed one such moment where a foreign actor gave us a jump start to put our nation on a newer and more sustainable path.
That gentle nudge came from Germany last week when their ministerial envoy for international hydrogen projects, Jurgen Friedrich, told a conference in Dublin that Ireland had the potential to supply his country’s massive energy needs with green hydrogen by harnessing wind power.
Offshore wind energy from our western coastline is one of the few completely reliable sources of renewable energy anywhere on the planet, and Mr Friedrich says we have the means to supply it to countries such as his.
Germany is currently engaged in strenuous efforts to decarbonise its economy. One way of doing this is the creation of a hydrogen grid to transport hydrogen energy around the country. It is due to be completed by 2032 at a cost of €19bn.
A repurposing of the existing Ireland/Britain natural gas interconnector to transport hydrogen energy across the North Sea to Germany would be another piece of the grid’s jigsaw puzzle.
There is already a joint declaration between the two countries to cooperate on green hydrogen and an expectation in Germany that Ireland will become a major source of their needs and other European nations as well.
As of now, we do not have any wind farms off the west coast, but three projects have been envisaged and the potential economic benefits are huge. Scotland and Norway have already signalled their intention to invest heavily in this field.
Although the Green Party is gone from government, it does not mean our climate goals should go with it. We need to get serious — and productive — in short order.
It may be true right now that the phenomenon of “over-tourism” — whereby a surfeit of holidaymakers travel to a popular destination and cause a raft of negative environmental, economic, and sociocultural impacts — has become a global issue. However, that is not the case in Greenland — which is now beginning to open its doors to a new era of vacationing.
With cities including Venice and Barcelona among those who have seen recent vocal protests from local people angered by the effects too many visitors are having on their lives and their cities, the search for new and unexplored destinations is a constant one for the travel industry.
Greenland is one such destination, and the autonomous Danish territory has just opened a new airport in the capital, Nuuk, and two more will open at Ilulissat and Qaqortoq by 2026. Next year alone, passenger numbers into Greenland are expected to grow from 55,000 to 105,000.
Not everyone is happy with these developments, and the 87% of the population which are native Greenland Inuit has concerns that the pristine beauty of their land will be spoiled by foreigners and foreign companies exploiting the sector.
The government recently passed laws which come into force on January 1, which classify certain areas into green, yellow, and red zones, which will restrict access to delicate ecosystems, heritage sites, and traditional hunting grounds.
America offered to buy Greenland from Denmark in 1946 — a proposal repeated by Donald Trump in his first term in office — but the territory remains staunch in its independence and also fervent in its belief that, while tourists will be welcome, they will not control its evolution.
There is currently strong demand across Britain and America for one of Ireland’s most famous exports — Guinness.
Brand owner Diageo has limited the supplies British pubs can buy during the run-in to Christmas, despite being at 100% production capacity, as Guinness bucks market trends. British beer drinking dropped between July and October, but the volume of Guinness consumed from kegs is up by 20%.
In America, the beer which was once synonymous with old men and dark pubs has become an internet sensation and “splitting the G” — an online trend where drinkers gulp the beer in the hope the horizon between the stout and the foam falls in the middle of the ‘G’ on a branded pint glass — is now a thing.
Across New York City, Guinness is being sold in a variety of unusual places: Mexican restaurants, diners, and natural wine bars. It has become the fastest-growing imported beer in the whole country based on sales last year.
The factors involved in this surge include a renaissance in Irish pop culture, viral drinking challenges, and marketing dollars. These and the role of internet influencers have combined to popularise the stout.
New York aside, Guinness is pouring out of the taps in Chicago (where Diageo opened a new brewery last year), Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, and across South Florida. America, experts say, is tiring of the craft beer phenomenon.
The hop, it would appear, is hip.