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THE UNCERTAINTY OF Brexit, the increase in people needing to avail of food banks, and the lack of a functioning government in Northern Ireland are just some of the issues Ireland’s Church Leaders discuss in their New Year statement.
The joint statement sees methodist, presbyterian and catholic church leaders among others encouraging political, community and church leaders to talk with one another and build relationships to “foster mutual understanding.”
“We see pictures in newspapers and on television that speak of suffering and despair in different countries and regions,” the statement says, adding that many live their lives with a lack of security and an absence of hope.
The ongoing uncertainty of Brexit has added to those worries…Many businesses fear for the future, while many families, struggling to make ends meet today, are anxious about what that future might hold.
They add that the willingness of people in local communities to reach out to their neighbours through initiatives such as food banks is encouraging, though the increase in people needing these services is “a worrying trend.”
They state that the lack of a working government in Northern Ireland “drains hope from our society” and adds pressure to services like schools and hospitals.
“While such situations can be very challenging for many people, today across Ireland there are also glimmers of hope,” the statement says. “Up and down the island, neighbours are looking out for neighbours.”
Ordinary people, community and church groups are caring for those in need. People of good intent are stepping up to the mark and giving positive leadership on the ground, working for the common good.
“In villages and towns across the island, political, church and community leaders are making a difference at a local level,” it says.
In regards to Northern’s Ireland’s current governmental crisis they added:
As Church leaders we have urged the leaders of our political parties in Northern Ireland to do the same – to make a difference and to bring a sense of hope.
“We were encouraged by the willingness of party leaders to meet with us last September,” it says, “as we sought to provide a safe space to facilitate open discussion and mutual understanding.”
Along with other regional meetings across Ireland, they hope such initiatives will be taken by “different people of good will at local and regional level.”
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Hydrogen technology is already there but governments wont make money out of it. Batteries damage the environment and they only last a few years
Indeed your right, remember the hy-wire. That was a concept that should have gone into production. Electric is good but hydrogen could power your house and your next door neighbors houses and maybe the whole estate. But sure who would want a car that could do that.
I cant figure out why anyone would give a fair comment thumbs down!!
Is it not true that they haven’t figured a method of transporting large volumes of hydrogen without it mixing with oxygen at some point and exploding?
Just like petrol?
Hydrogen infrastructure is far too costly and there still a of issues with the production of such. It will definitely come one day but it at the very least 50 years away, that’s why electric us the current focus for manufactures and utilities. Electric cars currently meet the needs of 80 to 90 % of people and already have an electric infrastructure. No need for tankers transporting fuels etc You need to do bit research before saying hydrogen the solution to giving us a cleaner sustainable and independence from the oil countries.
Mixing hydrogen and oxygen.. OMG the danger of making H20 :-)
@Plato they don’t just mix to give water. The chemical reaction occurs by the combustion of hydrogen in oxygen to give 2H2 + O2 —> 2H2O and this only occurs through a massive release of heat AKA an explosion.
The problem with hydrogen cars is that it ties you into using hydrogen as a fuel. Not as bad as petrol or diesel, but still a limitation.
The big plus for electric cars is that you are not tied into any one source. Wind, waves, solar, nuclear, whatever. This makes it harder for the original supplier to hold a world-crippling monopoly (See the oil-rich nations today).
For a hydrogen fueled car to be efficient you need to carry the hydrogen at an extremely compressed state. A crash with a highly compressed tank of hydrogen would be far more catastrophic than the currently used non-compressed petrol. Add to that, the the process of producing hydrogen from water is more energy intensive than what the hydrogen will provide means there is a negative energy gain.
Hydrogen technology is not already there. 2 Big problems exist.
1) Fuel cells – price – still way too expensive & fragile. Palladium ain’t cheap.
2) The Hydrogen – Where does it come from?
Currently the dominant technology for direct production is steam reforming from hydrocarbons (Oil/Gas industry)
The other ways to making it cost too much. Energy in Vs. Energy Out.
Batteries can damaging to the environment if they are not recyclable.
…..In an ideal world we’d be cycling/using more public transport/electric car sharing.
Hydrogen is not an energy source, but is an energy carrier. Hydrogen is mostly made from natural gas or methane.
To produce Hydrogen by electrolysis of water uses 3 times more energy then the Hydrogen energy produced. Hydrogen for transport is a negative energy fuel source After the Hydrogen is produced it then has to be transported and stored.
Some practical problems with Hydrogen storage. It is very bulky whether stored as a high pressure gas or as a liquid (liquid storage requires storage at a temperature of −253 degrees C). At high pressures of circa 700 bar very large and very strong and often very heavy storage vessels are required. Furthermore, hydrogen gradually leaks out of any “practical” container. If you park your hydrogen powered car with a full tank and come back two weeks later, you should expect to find most of the hydrogen has vanished. Hydrogen for combustion with oxygen (2H2O) is exceptionally volatile and dangerous..
Many car companies (Ford, Renault, Nissan) have stopped research into Hydrogen cars because the practical realities are too difficult to overcome and the costs are far too high. Instead they are focusing on Hybrids and electric vehicles. Hybrid vehicles are much easier to produce, are accepted as normal and are profitable. Hybrid cars are also seen as the transition vehicle to full electric cars. In developed countries electricity is generally ready available and easily accessible.
Did the ESB pluck a nice round fat installation figure from Phil Hogans rear end?
€1000.00 to install a socket?
The Irish State sector is the best paid in the world and the ESB staff are the best paid in the Irish state sector. Obviously they need to charge high prices for fancy sockets!
What’s Phil Hogan got to do with it?
Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star?
We do, WE DO
Who rigs every Oscar night, we do, we do
The charging spots in limerick are always being used by people with regular cars as a regular car parking space. Imagine owning one of these cars and every time your in need of a charge and in the city, not being able to charge because some idiot with a regular car has taken the charging spot.
This should be an offence similar to parking in a disabled spot
Every charging bay should be a joint handicap bay,preferably in 2s
This problem is easily overcome by some lateral thinking by the authorities
I love cars but I’m not sold on electric cars yet, the km range is crap, proven to be much lower than advertised by fifth gear and Renault/Nissan can’t even get an electric window to work right, never mind a whole car!!!
That’s a very good point. 99% of the issues i’ve had with cars over the years have not been mechanical, but electrical! Can you imagine the teething problems with a fully electric car??!!
Oh my goodness! An electric deLorean…..I WANT!!!!! :D
I would buy one today if I could afford it. Nissan dealer I recently spoke to said a leaf on part payment was approx €700 per month without deposit/trade in. Taking out my petrol costs vs charging costs and difference in tax etc it’s still an extra €350 a month it would cost me
I would buy one today if they had a few fast charge points distributed along the Cork – Dublin, Galway – Dublin, Belfast – Dublin roads. Etc.
At the moment if you want to do any of these routes in an electric car you have to reserve a charge point off route.
Charge infrastructure is still too poor and inconvenient.
I don’t even do long distance that often but I would feel restricted.
Sounds good until I heard Renault where involved.
FYI. The Renault ecars cannot be fast charged either if people are wondering why they are cheaper
If the government are in favour of it, then I am against. I fell for the old petrol/diesel bait-and-switch a few years back, only to see taxes on diesel and taxes on diesel cars go up. With this buch of clowns, it’s always a scam in disguise.
€6000 to install a plug in my home because of rural setting, no local socket and nearest points in limerick normally have some crap box non elec car parked in them. BTW how do we make electricity in Ireland? Oh thats right burning fossil fuels. Le sigh.
Up to 50% wind at night when people are charging at home. See the facts in Eirgrid’s figures published on their website.
Electric cars are way more efficient even if 100% of the electricity comes from fossil fuels. Electric motors are about 94% efficient.
Nissan have their own connection cable which plugs into ordinary sockets . It cost about €550
Would this cable not be supplied with the car like the hose is to the petrol pump ?
I, along with hundreds of thousands of other people in Ireland, live on the top floor of an apartment block. How do i charge my electric car at night? Get a 600m cable that stretches from my living room, drapes over the green to my parking spot?! Might have to as I cant see them investing in individual charging points for every apartment spot in the country!
That’s my issue too, I’d jump at an electric car if I could figure how to charge it without driving it up three flights or garrotting everyone in the estate.
In time and let me stress “in time” there will be charge points in apartment block car parks.
For now it only suits a handful of people
When the telephone was first introduced it was inconceivable that there would ever be one in every house, same for radio and television etc.
Electric cars are cheap now but there is v little tax on them. If there was no tax on petrol the fuel would be 50% cheaper. The gov will just switch the taxes over once revenue on traditional cars run dry.
We are seeing this already with the scheme introduced by the Greens.
Electric cars are for the rich, subsidized by the poor.
Great I’ll buy one so…
Great idea but you rent your batteries yearly according to Renault big money as well could be driving their top of the range and own it as well for that price over time green and cheeper is what we need
How far / how long would you get on a fully charged battery in an electric car?
Yeah. I’d like to know this too. An electric car could be handy for shorter journeys but I would still have to keep my petrol car for longer journeys so don’t think I could afford to keep two cars.
Around 160km as advertised for the Leaf.
Why is this a 26 county map, do we not travel though NI anymore? Am I correct in assuming that charge points are atandardised across eu/world?
I’m sure the Brits would insist on making theirs different to the rest of the world somehow
with the brits its a given
We have electric cars in London and powertpoints the last 8 years. London has powerpoints everywhere. Im sure they will be the same in Ireland. Last time i was in Dublin i saw a couple of powerpoints outside Sutton Dart station they look different to the ones in London but im sure the connections are the same.
we are thinking of picking one up when savings mature latter this year, getting rid of a 1.6 diesel that is only used local (daily to train station) and occasion trip to dublin round trip 140km. I’m following a blog that someone is doing similar distance. my only problem is initial cost.
ahhh the end of high petrol n diesel prices are coming to an end… also helping the planet with less fumes and not tied into the megalomaniacs who control the worlds oil reserves..!! the world looks better already..!! shame i’ll be dead when its an affordable and efficient system to travel for all.
Numbers of cars bought by the public says it all… Most are bought to demonstrate the technology… The numbers sold so far are not only pathetic the show a clear refusal by people to be swindled into a loose loose situation by a govt who is too lazy and unimaginative to properly embrace a good idea and fund it correctly.. The idea of 10% was a farce from the start and now a few years later the figures reflect exactly that… This govt similar to the last is all talk and no action so we will b lucky to ever see electric Vehicles on the road in numbers of any significance. I did embrace the clever idea of electric motorcycles but the greens at the time shunned them as useless and never allowed them in their press coverage.. They are the current realistic electric alternative and as expected they are not supported for some unknown reason… If its a stupid idea then the Irish govt tend to back it and pay for it but any truly good ideas get ignored…
Let’s trundle on in ignorant bliss….
Jeremy Clarkson in the Sunday times had an interesting review of the ford focus Eco boost which has a 1 litre engine but the performance of a 1.6 litre.
Worst idea ever
Tell us your better idea?
Stupid stupid stupid
Why not have an account system where you pay a set fee per month and are given a code.
Input this code into a machine and it opens, you take out your old battery and insert it into the machine and this releases are fully charged one to put into your car, no waiting around.
That’s coming…
Just for note I have seen battery warranties for 100k miles advertised; electric cars have fewer moving parts in there drive system, the electric motor being the bulk of it which is far more reliable than the complex internal combustion motor more over the breaking system of an EV gets a hand from the motor giving longer life on the break pads and the likes. All in all servicing an EV happens less and costs less from what I have researched. Keep in mined I haven’t scratched up the coin to buy one yet so this is just from research. Also recycling lithium-ion batteries like many use has been done for some time now you don’t throw them in the trash.
The argument that the gov will just tax electric heavier once petrol dies is a bit off as well, according to my research on energy use of the car and assuming common practice of generation of electricity an EV is wasting about 10% of the energy required to drive it; from generation at the plant to movement on the road this compared to 70-80% waste for internal combustion systems i.e. its simply more energy efficient aka you get more bang for your effort out of an electric motor vs a combustion motor. All in all its cheaper because you waste less energy if electric and petrol cost the same per unit of energy the EV would still be notably cheaper to operate.
The main problem with EVs that I can see is the entry cost; I can buy a banger petro car for under a 1000 it will be a heap but it will get me from point A to point B and while it will cost me a ton more over the year in fuel, maintenance, tax, etc. it doesn’t change the fact that I cant yet scrape together the 10-20k I need to get in an EV but I can scrape up the 1k or so I need for the petro car.
If they want to make EV the future they need to get the entry point in range for the average user. There are a lot of ways to do that, tax breaks are nice but as we have seen in other countries with other topics the gov or even dealer could buy your petro banger off you for a premium if you buy an EV. Since many like my self just need a ride from point A to B why not offer a no frills low cost option i.e. to sale me an EV, you have to compete with the junker petrol car heap down the street not the top end sporty car in the show room.
IF electric cars become the norm anyone that lives in an apartment is going to have problems getting a home charging point installed. My parking space is about 200 feet from my apartment so it would be a real headache for me to get a home charging point installed
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