Weaning ourselves off fossil fuels now is essential, if we want security in the future, writes BREDA O'BRIEN

THE ANNOUNCEMENT this week of a grant of up to €5,000 for the cost of an electric car and an exemption from vehicle registration tax (VRT) prompted the usual begrudgery.

According to the naysayers, it will never work in Ireland. The cars are useless for long journeys, and too expensive even with the grant. Early adopters will be stung if the idea never takes off properly. What few seem to realise is that if we wish to find alternatives to our addiction to fossil fuels, a degree of risk-taking and experimentation is vital. We have to start somewhere.

Electric cars have fewer emissions, and the price will drop if enough people change over. Charging stations and electric cars are a start, not a perfect one, but a start.

Enthusiasm for action to mitigate the worst effect of climate change has noticeably diminished in recent times. Events like “Climategate” have not helped. Thousands of hacked e-mails from the University of Anglia’s Climate Research Unit were leaked, which climate change sceptics claim showed that researchers had hidden or fiddled data to fit their preferred thesis of human responsibility for climate change.

Although a British parliamentary committee refuted the claim that the researchers had distorted data, it was sharply critical of the unit and its “culture of non-disclosure”. Wildly inaccurate data from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the melting of glaciers gave sceptics another field day.

Aside altogether from own goals, the worldwide recession has meant that minds have become ever more focused on survival in the short term.

Eyes are focused more than ever on the bottom line. At the moment, most businesses couldn’t care less about sustainability. The only carrot that will entice them to change will be cost-savings.

Many of the buildings, particularly offices, that were thrown up in the boom were not designed for any particular client, and particularly not for one interested in sustainability.

For example, old-fashioned fluorescent bulbs (the ones that flicker into life) were installed in buildings, instead of tubes with electronic control gear, which because they operate at higher frequencies, can be 25 per cent to 30 per cent more efficient. They are dimmable, and with the use of a sensor, lights near windows can be programmed to use less energy in bright light. Presence sensors mean the light goes off when the room is empty. Retro-fitting buildings with these kinds of systems pays for itself relatively quickly.

We face hard, unpalatable choices. Never mind peak oil – demographics alone will mean oil will become more and more expensive, as standards of living rise in India and China.

Anyway, do we want the insecurity of being totally dependent on fossil fuels? Our oil comes primarily from the Gulf and the Caspian, neither of which are models of stability.

Ireland is heavily dependent on natural gas. We are at the end of a very long pipeline, and the word “Icesave” should strike fear into our hearts. The UK pulled the plug on Iceland’s economy for what amounts to small change. What are they likely to do if the conflict is between heating homes in the UK or in Ireland?

In yet another irony, lessened demand due to recession lowers the price of oil. Everyone can see we need a low-carbon economy, but the reality is that alternatives are going to be significantly more expensive for quite some time.

There are three elements to energy policy, that is security, sustainability, and competitiveness, and they are not always compatible. Investors are very aware that in the transition time to alternative energy sources, many companies in this area will go bust, simply because fossil fuels will remain cheaper in the short-term. However, short-term thinking will literally lead to disaster. We need to begin now. The EU has set ambitious targets, but only because it is aware of how desperately serious the situation is.

While the science is not perfect, and in truth, no one can truly predict what will happen, science works on the balance of probabilities. To put it at its most basic, few people would risk having no house insurance against fire, despite the fact that house fires are relatively rare. At the moment, despite some stupid gaffes, the scientific consensus is that urgent action is needed. Weaning ourselves off fossil fuels now is essential, if we want any level of security in the future.

In the 1970s, Denmark took a gamble on wind energy, which means that today it dominates the wind turbine market. Although we face more competition than Denmark did in the 1970s, Ireland has a chance to achieve similar dominance in the area of wave energy technology. This could mean job creation in construction, in manufacturing, and in saleable skills that could be exported to other countries. Ireland could become a leader in the marine engineering area. The Government has already begun to invest, perhaps not enough, but again it is a start.

It’s at least as good a gamble as the one that Denmark put on wind energy. That paid off handsomely. We could do it, too.

In the meantime, we need to build a consensus around the need for real change. A grim recession may not seem the most propitious time to begin, but we have one factor in our favour.

We know what happened the last time unwelcome warning voices were ignored.

bobrien@irishtimes.com