Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
HOT WATER FROM the Poolbeg Incinerator will be used to transport heat directly to more than 50,000 buildings in the surrounding area starting from late 2025 to help reduce Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels.
The Department of Environment has today launched a report into district heating, a system that involves delivering heat to buildings through insulated pipes instead of individual buildings generating heat.
It can be powered by fossil fuels but lends itself well to renewable energy sources, which has garnered it favour in some countries’ plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a prominent practice in other European countries such as Denmark but hasn’t gained ground in Ireland before this year.
A national heat study by the Sustainable Energy Authority last year found that up to 50% of heat needed by buildings could be powered by low-carbon sources through district heating.
Currently, the Poolbeg incinerator, also known as the waste to energy facility, uses energy created in the process of burning waste to feed power into the electricity grid.
However, excess hot water from the incinerator is pumped out into the Liffey and has to be significantly cooled down first so as not to injure marine life, which itself is a process that consumes energy.
Instead, a district heating system would see the hot water pumped into insulated pipes and transported to buildings in Docklands and further south.
Necessary infrastructure was installed in the facility in 2017 but has lain in wait for the government to catch up.
Lauren Boland / Twitter
Lauren Boland / Twitter / Twitter
Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan said the system should start to work by the end of 2025, with the rollout beginning with offices on the quays that already have the correct type of pipes in place.
Other locations to be served by district heating could include social housing around Ringsend and the south inner city, St Vincent’s Hospital and the new maternity hospital, and Georgian buildings that could not be easily retrofitted for insulation but that could be hooked up to new pipes.
In recent years, Ireland has been ranked the worst country in Europe for using renewable energy sources to power heating and cooling.
In 2020, only 6% of the energy consumed for heating and cooling in Ireland came from renewable sources, dropping even further to just 5.2% in 2021 was worse again at just 5.2%.
In both years, it was the lowest proportion of any EU country and well below the average across the bloc.
Asked by The Journal why Ireland has done so poorly in this area to date, the minister said that there has not been enough political focus turned to it.
“You don’t exactly get a big crowd if a politician is cutting the ribbon on a boiler,” he said.
“It didn’t get attention. It wasn’t at the top of the priorities but it is now because it’s a big gap.”
On whether district heating will be introduced in other parts of the country, Minister Ryan said: “I’m going to every single council around the country because they all have to have a new climate plan by next spring and the first thing I say to every one of them, the managers and the councillors when I meet them, is where’s your waste heat? Where’s your industrial plant, where they’re doing the same thing happening here, just releasing the waste heat? And look to see where can we provide the next source.”
“I think the next big one is in West Dublin with all those major data centres and our big hospitals beside them.”
But relying on data centres to prop up renewable systems is controversial given the massive strain that data centres are putting on Ireland’s energy grid.
The first foray into the area was launched in Tallaght earlier this year, where waste heat from an Amazon Web Services data centre is being used to heat offices, Tallaght library, part of the TU Dublin campus, and apartments.
“[Data centres] are up and running and they’re wasting the heat at the moment, so it’s converting what’s currently a wasted resource into a valuable resource,” the minister said today.
“I don’t think it’ll change the issue about whether we get new data centres. It’s just tapping into the existing ones where there’s waste heat and we’ve shown we can do it out in Tallaght so I don’t see why we shouldn’t do it elsewhere.”
The 2023 Climate Action Plan called for a steering group to produce a report on options for district heating in Ireland.
The report, which was delayed by several months, recommends that a national centre should be established to co-ordinate district heating projects and local authorities should develop projects in their areas.
The national centre, known as the District Heating Centre of Excellence, should carry out detailed economic analysis of ways to approach district heating and the Department of Environment should propose legislation to regulate the sector, the report says.
It also recommends the creation of a long-term strategy for district heating, a funded grant programme for studies into potential district heating schemes, and research into the public’s awareness of and views on district heating.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Folks spend too much time schoolin’. All anybody needs to know is that Merica is undefeated in world wars and 50 stars + 13 bars = Merica.
School is irrelevant to the most popular trades,I have never uses French, Irish ,biology,physics,religion,they were forced as no other options.
The ones I do need and to a considerable degree maths, mechanical engineering,carpentry.
I wanted to do business but the class was full(most anoying some never turned up).
Pe was a waste of time anyone who didn’t want to go had 80min wasted.
The education system is a joke its a revolving door system.
The guidance cllr said I would be best suited to “a vet because I had a liking of animals” I since have got a business degree and run 2 small steady businesses not that I have a 50k merc or mansion.
Over half what I done in school is beyond useless
So we should give up the other subjects and the whole country should do the same job as you Eric? I use business, economics and accounting in my job, my mates jobs range from lab scientists (physics), doctors and vets (biology), personal trainers (PE) to a document translator (Irish). There’s more to making the world go round than just what you do.
@amy you missed my point all subjects are not suited to everyone..I know guys who wanted to be carpenter’s but were told to do the leaving insted of leaving at 16 for a apprenticeship and saving 4yrs
@ Eric
To be fair, those mates of yours who wanted to be carpenters would probably be unemployed now and find it much harder to secure non-carpentry work without the Leaving Cert. It might not be fair but it’s the reality.
@chris,one working for himself and 2 lads working for him.two others still work for the same guys.
Leaving is useless in trade work if I was hiring a carpenter and had a choice of 2x 24yr olds one fresh from college papers to beat the band or a guy who started his apprenticeship at 16 and qualified at 20 with 4yrs qualified to date exp,IL take the guy that’s over all has most hands on experience the guy with the degree has no exp closing all doors bar jobs that need no qualifications
The leaving absolutely is not useless in trade work. Maths for example is essential in nearly all trade work, and geography in some. Your friends are the lucky ones I know a carpenter and a plumber who lost their jobs and had to retrain. One had the leaving and so got straight into college doing sound engineering, the other had no leaving and went to work in a shop and has to claw his way up the ladder. Kids have no idea as young teenagers what they want to go on to do as adults, that’s why there is a variety of subjects to help them decide which they prefer to train in as they come into adulthood. It also makes for more rounded individuals who aren’t completely ignorant of all other professions and a certain amount of life knowledge. That’s what school is for. College and apprenticeships are for the intensive career training.
@amy.maths is part of a apprenticeship anyway..I never mentioned geography but it wasn’t on offer to me and I don’t know a carpenter,plumber,electrician,or other trade that need geography
Geography isn’t just about which town is where. It’s also about types of soil, lay of the land, aerial locationing, (site analysis) all of which need to be taken into account in any large scale building project. Pipes are laid underground. Electric lines can’t go through lakes. A house cant be built on marshland. And so on.
@amy,that is true but they are specialist jobs for architects and engineers so my point still stands to the jobs I mentioned first,by your logic I could bring meteorology into the conversation and say well every needs to know the weather
As is quite evident from your post.
Eric,
If you’re looking for a carpenter and have a choice between a carpenter and someone who isn’t a carpenter, it’s a bit if a no-brainer.
They didn’t teach me that in pass maths
You are mixing up your pluses and minuses. The sum is 30 = 25 + 3 +2. What missing 1?
@ben They give 10€ each.. 3 by 10 = 30.. They get it for 25€ so there is 5€ change they take 1€ each back out of the change so then there’s 2€ left .. If they gave 10€ and got 1€ back that means they paid 9€ each 3 by 9 = 27+2 = 29 in any language
Stop messing about. The 2 has to be subtracted from 25, not added to it.
Number 3 is not the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, but the definition of the derivative in terms of difference quotients. The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus relates derivatives to integrals (or, if you prefer, rates of change to areas under curves).
We’ll take you at your word on that one ;-)
Niall Madden is correct. The formula shown is very important, and could be on this list on its own merits, but it is not the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
Great article.
What about Boyles law PV/t is a constant
@Eddie, ‘fraid not mate, the €30 ceased to exist when they got back the fiver, meaning the merchant recieved €25. So we have 3x €9 = €27 less the €2 in hand equals the €25 taken by the merchant.
Isn’t pleasantly surreal to be arguing about algebra at Sunday lunchtime?
@ Ben are ya hungover whahaha
@Eddie, hungover! never. Maybe a bit secondhand……..
I think the formula was pressure is proportional to the reciprocal of the volume. Charle’s Law brought in Temperature into the equation later.
The more complex the mathematics, the less numbers are involved. :-/
Now I get it !!!
3 house mates were going to by a radio between them, it cost 30€ so they gave 10€ each, the shop keeper said I will give it to ye for 25€ so there was 5€ in change they each took 1€ then there was 2€ left right , so really they only paid 9€ each cos they give 10 and got 1 back each so 3 times 9 = 27 + the 2 that was left over from the 5 change = 29
Where’s the missing 1€????
It was put in the tip jar as a kind gesture as thanks for the €5 discount ;)
I’d forgotten about BOMDAS.
I’m still working on a formula to find out how long is a piece of string
I still can’t find X
What about all of murphys laws???
Should be compulsory for teachers to introduce secondary school maths with this article/book digest. Might make a few more people appreciative of the usefulness of maths.
That’s what ‘Project Maths’ is about – making Maths real, eg. finding the height of a cliff by walking away from it (rather than the length of 1 side of a triangle).
Great article.
What about Boyle’s Law? Robert Boyle, Irishman and the father of chemistry? There should be 18 laws listed!
Not THAT important compared to those listed. Great experiment proving it in LC Physics though.
Black = White
Quadratic equations ruined by life. x=-b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four ac divided by twice a. I hate you all.
Whats sad about our education system is that I DO remember this equation 25 years on, but could not remember what it was for (or even if our teachers told us).
That’s the major problem I have with math lessons, they teach the formulae, but no context within which I can be used.
http://www.udacity.com have a great introduction to physics course (free), they show you how to calculate the height of a building, the distance from the earth to the sun, or how to aim a cannon at attacking pirates, using trigonometry. fun course.
*No context in which IT can be used.
It’s how you get the solutions to a quadratic equation (one where the highest power of x is 2) when it can’t be factorised..
It’s how you get the solutions to a quadratic equation (one where the highest power of x is 2) when it can’t be factorised..
Yuck algebra!!!
Great article…
Equation 9 (The Fourier Transform) is printed incorrectly.
There should NOT be a minus sign in front of the top infinity symbol.
(That is the top sideways ” figure 8″).
As printed the equation is meaningless.
Not completely meaningless; the RHS of int(f(x),a,a) is just zero….
Think the Black Scoles model is the one the A beautiful mind is loosely based.
Different mathematician, read up on John Nash.
Dont need to buy the book now!!!
Ewwwwww hate maths
Number 6 Euler’s formula for polyhedra only applies to convex polyhedra
Huh?
have your say