Madam, - Your reporter Harry Magee certainly provides food for thought in his analysis of the use of biofuels in Ireland (Opinion & Analysis, May 5th).
If the Government's ambition of providing 5.75 per cent of our transport fuel from this source by 2020 were to be met nationally, half our land currently under culture would be required. As this clearly is not feasible, we will, once again, have to depend on imported fuel.
It seems that, for transportation, biofuels will make only a small contribution to energy needs and instead the use of hydrogen or electric batteries will have to be considered. Both these options need electricity, which will require more power stations. The Government is hoping - very optimistically, I believe - that up to 42 per cent of our electricity will come from renewable sources (mostly wind) by 2020. Incidentally, Denmark, the leader in wind generation for over 30 years, can only manage less than 20 per cent. I also wonder from where the remaining 58 per cent of our electricity will come.
It seems amazing to me that serious consideration is not being given to using nuclear power, which is a mature technology that produces negligible greenhouse gases and which would require the importation of only about 30 tonnes of fuel a year for each plant.
Our station at Moneypoint imports about 2 million tonnes of coal a year and discharges about 5 million tonnes of CO2. By using nuclear power, we would also be less dependent on Russia for gas and the Middle East for oil.
We face serious problems which require difficult decisions, some of which might well be unpopular. - Yours, etc,
PHILIP W. WALTON, Emeritus Professor of Applied Physics, NUI, Galway, Uggool, Moycullen, Co Galway.
