Publication:
Date:
Author:
Irish Farmers Journal
17th July 2004
Gerald Potterton
Energy in a changing world
By Gerald Potterton
There's nothing like rising (or falling) prices to concentrate a farmer's mind.
Wheat (and fertilizer) prices have been up and down over the past ten months, like you know
what.
This may be indicative of what to expect as European agriculture enters a new era.
Marketing information seems to be practically useless. There are, perhaps, too many
variables in global wheat production to accurately predict tonnages and so market trends.
Consequently, it has become very difficult to sell (or buy) at the right time. And whether you
get it right or wrong may well be the difference between reasonable profit or miserable loss.
However, there is one commodity - oil - which is assured continually rising prices.
World demand is ever increasing while production is set to fall. And, as the world's oil fields
start to dry up, I suspect we will see more American led oil wars, as the great and greedy
fight for control over what's left.
Home grown oil
We burn 55,000 litres of diesel per annum. In return for this amount of environmental
pollution, we will have grown, harvested and dried 237ha of combinable crops.
Factor in a little hobby forage harvesting, and feeding that to the cattle. Also included is the
oil required to add a few degrees of heat to both Thomas' and my humble abodes. And not
forgetting a couple of diesel-engined road vehicles.
My wife's car is petrol, though. This is much more economical than a diesel one. Because if
her motor was fuelled at the "free'' farm diesel tank she would never be at home. Never,
ever, buy your missus a diesel car for this reason.
I have calculated that I could fuel all these activities with 45ha of homegrown oilseed rape.
And with huge environmental advantages.
No depletion of the world's dwindling fossil fuel reserves, and a massive reduction in green
house gases.
Oilseed rape, being a plant, is carbon neutral, thus no increase whatsoever in CO2 levels. It
all seems too good to be true.
The problem is the economics don't stack up. My farm-produced ‘biodiesel' would cost
practically double the price of conventional diesel. Add on government excise duty for the
white stuff and ‘biodiesel' becomes totally uncompetitive.
The environmental advantages of renewable fuels are overruled by the lower price of fossil
fuels.
Green energy cannot yet compete with fossil derived energy, on a purely cost basis.
Carbon quotas
However this may all be about to change, principally for two reasons.
Firstly, carbon quotas have been allocated to the power generation and heavy industries.
These quotas effectively limit an increase in carbon emissions over current levels.
This will create an incentive for these industries to seek an alternative renewable and cleaner
fuel for production increases.
Secondly, being good Europeans, we do not have any choice in the matter. Ireland is
required by an EU directive on renewable energy to achieve a 13% share for renewables by
2010.
But in reality we are the worst offenders in Europe for breaching emissions reduction targets
under the Kyoto Protocol.
I bet Bertie didn't let the EU boys wander too far from Dromoland Castle.
But we mustn't get carried away. Fossil fuels will be expensive to replace, with far reaching
implications.
Industry will become less competitive due to higher energy costs. It is highly likely that these
additional costs will be passed on to the consumer.
It would, for example, take an area greater than the whole of Co Meath to grow enough
coppice willow to fuel Moneypoint Power Station alone. This is obviously not realistic or even
desirable.
The future is one of compromise. Power stations could be co-fuelled with a certain
percentage of renewable fuels (not to mention MBM).
And the now limited production from the larger generators could be taken up by smaller local
combined heat and power plants, fuelled on a readily available local resource, be it straw,
forestry waste or whatever.
Equally, ‘biodiesel' as a premium product should be targeted at environmentally sensitive
areas such as city public transport and cruisers on the inland waterways, etc.
Wind power
Wind energy has an important role to play in the renewable sector.
It has been estimated that we could achieve up to 10% of our electricity from wind. But
despite being one of the windiest countries in Europe (in more ways than one) wind produced
just one per cent of our electricity in 2002.
Denmark, on the other hand, produces 18% of its electricity from wind.
But wind generated electricity suffers from a major drawback. Wind is unreliable and
electricity cannot be stored. All the windmills in the land (and on the sea) are useless to meet
the power demands of a cold, calm, frosty week. From the National Grid point of view it is
much more desirable to fuel up furnaces to meet power demand, as and when it is needed.
Did not steam power replace sails on ships for similar reasons?
Incentives
This is where you and I, as farmers, come in. We have enormous potential to grow short
rotation coppicing such as willow, poplar or miscanthus for instant, despatchable, power
generation.
The UK has already a thriving market for farmers producing fuel crops. Whether it be oilseed
rape for biodiesel or miscanthus (or straw) for power generation, there are contracts aplenty.
But we cannot do it alone. We need government driven policy and commitment to producing
fuel crops.
The UK government offers generous grant support towards the establishment of these
longer-term fuel crops.
Should not some of the modulation cream-off be directed towards grant aid to establish fuel
crops in this country?
Such funding would provide an ideal kick-start to a fledgling biofuel industry. It would also be
entirely in keeping with the CAP Rural Development Programme.
People in glasshouses...
My mother has grown tomatoes for as long as I can remember.
Her modest production would have been of little interest to the Revenue Commissioners but
suffice to say, we always had plenty of tomatoes.
She moved house last summer and her first requirement at her new home was a greenhouse.
Accordingly, I was charged with sourcing and overseeing the erection of a new greenhouse.
This I faithfully carried out.
The finished product perhaps bears little resemblance to the magnificently restored Palm
House in the National Botanic Gardens, but it is, nonetheless, perfectly adequate for her
purposes.
However, like all the great engineering projects of this century - the Port Tunnel, LUAS, and
the Palm House - the project ran a little behind schedule.
Now my mother, ever one to adopt new technology and reduce costs, decided this year's
tomatoes should be planted in "grow bags''.
It would also speed things up. Try to make up for some of those glorious early summer days
when the tomatoes should have been planted.
The grass growing on the floor of the new greenhouse would need to be killed off. Without
giving it much thought I decided to use a herbicide called Casoron G.
Being a residual product it would keep the floor free of all vegetation for yonks The
transplants were duly bought and planted in the grow bags.
A couple of days later my mother rang me up. "Did you see my tomato plants recently?'' she
enquired. In response to my puzzled and negative reply she said, "You had better come over
and take a look''.
I called in and examined the plants. And, yes, I did agree that they didn't look too healthy.
A slight doubt crossed my mind. But I said nothing about it. Far too early to jump to
conclusions. After all, wasn't I runner up in Sprayer Operator of the Year in the last century?
No, couldn't be. Things like that don't happen to a guy like me. Rather I decided to go down
the AIB route.
"Mum,'' I said, "It's very unlike you, but them tomato plants are wilting for want of water.''
She clearly didn't agree.
The next day, the same story, only I told her the greenhouse was too hot. But, by now, I
knew I was in trouble. Big trouble.
I rushed over to the chemical store, to read the label on the Casoron box. I didn't even have
to read the label. Before I had the box off the shelf, large red letters told me "Do not use in
glasshouses'' Oh Oh.
A quick call to Interchem sealed my fate. Casoron G will kill susceptible species by
volatilisation, and for weeks after application.
My denial phase over, it was time to face the music with mother. And she actually saw the
funny side. Mr. Spray himself and all that.
The greenhouse has been designated the Chernobyl of Kildalkey and is soon to be encased in
concrete. But it could be worse. If I worked in the National Botanic Gardens the great 100year-old tropical palms would be dead.
However it was a salutary lesson for me. Always read the label.