50.42% of Ireland’s electricity came from renewables in the last 24 hours
In the last 24 hours just over 50% of the electricity generated in Ireland came from renewables. We even exported 4% of our electricity.
Of course the wind isn’t blowing this hard every day, or it’s blowing too hard, and over the course of the last month the portion of renewable energy drops to 39%.
All this information is available on the Eirgrid Smart Grid Dashboard. Lots of information there including a log of wind speeds you can download, interconnection graphs showing our imports and exports of electricity from the UK and CO2 intensity & emissions data too. You can compare CO2 intensity against other parameters such as wind generation. The last few days have been very windy.
For more energy statistics take a look at the transport page on the SEAI website.
The amount of petrol consumed in Ireland reduced by more than half between 2007 and 2018 as a result of the shift to diesel cars. The increase in diesel use for private cars was offset by lower diesel use in freight. Diesel use was 12% higher in 2018 than 2007.
Renewable transport fuels have grown from a low base to over 3% of transport final energy use in 2018. This is almost all from biofuels blended with petrol and diesel. Electricity remained at just 0.1% of transport final energy demand in 2018. Most of this was from Luas and DART, but electric vehicles are growing strongly from a low base.
Accents, everyone has one but some characters have more than one, and writing them on a Mac can be hard unless you know how.
I really only need one type of accent, the “sine fada” in Irish that goes over the vowels. They look like this: á, é, ó, ú and í.
For a long time I used Option-key using an Irish keyboard map I got off Justin Mason years ago. I haven’t used it for some time now and every now and again I wonder if there’s a better way of doing it using the standard keyboard maps on a Mac.
Turns out there is.
This page explains how to use the accent menu, but you can also use “dead keys” to type accents.
The accent menu is dead simple. Press the key down for a little longer than usual and a menu will appear with the accents required. Press the corresponding number and your accented character appears!
The dead key approach is probably faster however. Use the keyboard viewer to see your keyboard layout. I have a large split Microsoft keyboard and I’m using the British PC layout now so when I hit the Option key the accents are highlighted.
If I want to type “I like to eat cake” in Irish, and not “I like to eat shit”, I must use “Option-e” followed by “a” to get “á” in one word:
“Is maith liom cáca a ithe.”
I’m sure by now you’ve realised just how important accents are in daily life. It’s the difference between delicious chocolate and something that looks similar but tastes quite different. Yeah, you really needed that mental image didn’t you? Sorry. 🙂
I can’t imagine going into a restaurant or pub for a long time still. The lockdown in Ireland has managed to reduce the infection rate of Covid19 in the country dramatically compared to levels last month but it hasn’t gone away.
Unfortunately the lockdown itself has decimated many businesses and put medical procedures on hold that would normally happen. I hope people take more seriously the advice to wear masks in busy public areas so we can avoid another lockdown in January but it’s almost guaranteed we’ll have another one in the new year. 🙁
These are the locations of cameras recording the volume of traffic on the road. It’s been interesting looking at some of the roads around Cork during the last year. Here are a few charts of traffic on the N20 between Blarney and Cork.
In January traffic maxed out at 1200 vehicles a day in the early morning with a similar bump in the evening.
February was similar, with slightly less vehicles per day.
The Covid-19 Lockdown bit in March. Schools closed on March 12th, pubs closed soon after. Most people who could were working from home. It made a big difference to daily traffic into Cork. From a high of 1200 vehicles in January to 400 in April.
In March only 800 vehicles a day made the journey into Cork. The 2km rule was introduced.
April was worse. The number of vehicles halved. Only 400 vehicles made the journey.
There was a very slight increase in traffic in May to 500 vehicles a day.
June saw a return to March numbers. 800 vehicles a day.
July was similar. Slightly more than 800 vehicles a day.
August isn’t over yet but numbers are slightly down again to less than 800 vehicles a day. Schools return at the end of the month so that will probably make a small bump.
How does this compare to last year? Here are the charts for July and August 2019.
July 2019 when almost 2000 vehicles travelled the road between Blarney and Cork.
August 2019 when Irish people went abroad and the country was noticeably quieter. 1100 vehicles a day.
It’s interesting to see those charts. The lockdown caused a huge drop in traffic as expected. Emissions from cars were down this year of course but agriculture remained the same so our impact on the environment didn’t change much. It’ll probably be worse as people use their cars rather than take public transport.
Out of curiosity I looked at the traffic volume going into Dingle from the Inch Strand side of the peninsula for July this year and last year. There wasn’t much of a change. 500 cars a day passed there in 2020 while only an extra 100 cars made the journey in 2019. They’ll be happy about that in Dingle!
Along with what seemed like a large portion of the country I stayed in Dingle recently. The town was packed. We stayed in a B&B on the edge of town and every day around noon the road outside was a traffic jam of cars snaking through the town. Most people wore masks in the shops but of course there were a few rat lickers too.
I did notice that a lot of people had several empty pint glasses on their tables, and while they may have eaten a €9 meal there was no sign of food. I spotted a happy young couple cross the road with plastic glasses of beer and sit down by the statue of Fungi. It was upsetting given what’s happening with Covid-19.
Now we’re in lockdown again. It’s not the same lockdown we experienced from March onwards but people became lax, and the virus made it’s way into factories. Multiple outbreaks in meat processing plants locked down 3 counties last week. Yesterday the news nationally wasn’t good:
1 death and 190 cases confirmed.
76 are men and 111 are women
75% are under 45 years of age
75 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case
14 cases have been identified as community transmission
48 are in Kildare, 46 in Dublin, 38 in Tipperary, 20 in Limerick, 7 in Clare and the rest of the 31 cases are in Carlow, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.
And so the restrictions:
All outdoor events will be limited to 15 people, down from 200, under strict new limits on public gatherings agreed this afternoon.
Under the restrictions that will remain in place until 13 September at the earliest, indoor events will be limited to six people, reduced from 50, except for businesses such as shops and restaurants, which are subject to separate rules.
Weddings will be exempt from the new restrictions, meaning they can go ahead with 50 people.
The measures agreed by Cabinet will mean that matches and other sporting fixtures will have to take place behind closed doors.
Gardaí will be given new powers to enforce rules around social gatherings, particularly in restaurants or bars serving food, and in private homes.
Under the measures agreed by Cabinet, people will be advised to work from home and to avoid using public transport, unless absolutely necessary.
Which leads some to say the GAA should encourage weddings at their matches so 50 people can watch.
I have to say, Some Good News with John Krasinski is a breath of fresh air in this time of quarantine and isolation. John picks up on good news stories from around the world and you’ll have to have a heart of stone not to laugh or cry or both watching them.
There’s the first episode but there are currently 2 more and all are worth watching.
Lanzarote
Last Friday they held an SGNProm live on Youtube but I missed it. It was scheduled for one o clock in the morning my time! Hopefully the next episode will have clips from it. Coincidentally I started watching The Office (US) last week. I watched a couple of episodes before but it didn’t stick. I think we’ll be making it a regular watch from now on though. 🙂
Conor Pass, Kerry.
I’ve worked from home for almost 15 years now. It’s not always easy, and the first week of the Covid-19 lockdown in Ireland made me realise how cut off I am from other people. I’m not an especially outgoing kind of person but this enforced stay-at-home order is even getting to me. Two to three times a year I travel somewhere to meet my team or the rest of the company but all company travel is cancelled now for the foreseeable future.
Easter celebrations, Malaga.
I and many others have the luxury and privilege to work from home while there are millions of people sitting idle or bored in their homes. I sit here at my screen but there are health workers risking their lives fighting a disease that looks like it will be a part of our world for the next two years at least.
Indoor Market, Malaga.
Shows on TV are now watched with from the perspective of Covid-19. People have the luxury of shaking hands or hugging. People are so close to each other! They can walk into a store 2 at a time! They’re meeting for a drink! That’s a very crowded train!
It’s behind their paywall but my wife has bought the paper on and off for the last few years so I went searching for it today. No sign of it in the two local shops and I wasn’t going to risk going to any more just for a newspaper. We did sign up for the 7 day free trial of their app and I have to admit it looks great. The in-app purchase is easier to cancel than a sub on their website which requires a phone call.
The This Won’t Hurt a Bit podcast is back with two more episodes on Covid-19. Their first episode on March 24th reminded me of the fake cures doing the rounds on Facebook back at the start of March. Drinking warm water to flush any virus from your throat into your stomach to kill it was a favourite but it was oh so stupid.
In the US protestors want the stay-at-home restriction to be lifted. Some obviously are worried for their livelihood but many others believe the whole thing a hoax.
Two nurses, who have witnessed first hand the toll Covid is taking in Colorado, stood up and peacefully counter protested. Here is how they were treated. I had join them. pic.twitter.com/iJnNcqZxSv
The price of petrol in my local filling station in Blarney now stands at €1.259/litre. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that low here before. The Blarney station isn’t the cheapest in the area but I haven’t visited anywhere else in almost a month. I’ve been told the price went as low as €1.199 elsewhere in the city.
The last time I filled up was about three weeks ago when I remember using a latex glove to hold the pump handle. I’d normally use sanitiser anyway but it seemed prudent to be extra careful. The price then was €1.299/litre, not far from the price when I started recording my fuel usage in 2010 when it was €1.289/litre!
We’re only allowed travel for necessities like shopping, work or caring for others. There are Garda check points. There were reports of Dublin and UK reg cars in West Cork last week prompting the Taoiseach to ask people not to travel. People are sent home again. There’s hardly any air travel. Dublin airport reported only 900 people passed through the airport on Easter Monday when normally there’d be 100,000.
On Monday evening there was only one aircraft flying over Ireland, and that was the coastguard helicopter.
The fall in price wasn’t due to COVID-19, but that contributed to it. Demand for oil was slowing down already but from my experience the price was still at €1.399/litre in early March, and that was probably at one of the cheaper places. The Russians and Opec were having a price war. Opec wanted to reduce pumping but the Russians ignored them and continued pumping. It seems now there was a deal two days ago so we might see prices jump again.
Restrictions are going to continue until May 5th and of course we all know they’ll go on for longer. A vaccine for general use won’t be available until next year so we’ll have to learn to live with it.
My son plays Minecraft with a friend in Sweden who is still going to school. We’re wondering why since schools here have been closed since March 12th. They think that children aren’t super spreaders so there’s no need to close them.
While other countries, or rather, their inhabitants, struggle with varying levels of lockdown, Sweden has relied on relatively few recommendations to try and prevent the spread of the virus.
Nursing homes have been closed to visitors, higher education has been moved online and there’s a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people.
Authorities have also encouraged people to work from home and to avoid unnecessary journeys.
But primary and secondary schools up to the age of 16 remain open, as do hairdressers and gyms, and restaurants and bars can stay open once they offer table service to avoid crowding at counters and bars.
A large emphasis has been placed on personal responsibility, and anyone with symptoms is asked, and trusted to self-isolate.
But is the strategy working?
As of today, over 1,000 Swedes have died from Covid-19, an increase of 114 deaths on the previous day’s figure and around 11,440 have been infected, out of a population of 10 million.
I went out for a cycle. The roads are much quieter. It was lovely. It almost felt normal because I was well away from the few people walking around. I heard birds singing.
The next few weeks are going to be absolutely awful for Ireland. Of course we’re not prepared. The HSE is doing everything they can but they’ve been underfunded for many years. This is what it’s like in Italy right now. If you’re not scared you should be.
There was a short interview with Dr Catherine Motherway, Intensive care physician at UH Limerick on Prime Time yesterday. It’s an important reminder about how under resourced the health services are in this country.
Dr Catherine Motherway, Intensive care physician at UH Limerick discusses how well provided with ICU beds Irish hospitals are, and steps the community might take to prevent the spread of Covid 19 #RTEPT | #COVID19 | #coronavirus | @mcculldpic.twitter.com/mJNUip7jnZ
We have half the European average of ICU beds. That’s half what the Italians have per capita.
“You don’t want to get the virus” “We MUST treat each other like pariahs”
Keep your kids in the house. Don’t let them mix with their friends.
While this post is about Ireland, I bet most countries have under resourced health services so the message is the same. Stay at home. The virus is all around you already and you don’t know it.
A few weeks ago I was. Just thinking about it now fills me with dread. I think the last time I was in a crowded room was at the last Blarney Photography Club meeting and that’s when I first heard that a case of COVID19 was reported in Cork. Following an excellent presentation by Ann Francis of Cork Camera Club, Fergal came into the room and told us that someone suffering with COVID19 was in Cork University Hospital (CUH). It does not seem like just a week ago. We were reminded not to shake hands and avoid physical contact.
I’ve barely walked anywhere this week. Out with the dog in the morning for a quick walk around the park, and the same last thing at night.
The numbers shown in spreadsheets like the one Gavin Sheridan shared today are scary. This one presumes growth of 33% per day to April 3 in the US, UK and Ireland.
The Taoiseach mentioned 15,000 cases by the end of the month. That’s where this number came from. As Gavin said, numbers now are already locked in but if we stay apart we can play our part in slowing the spread of the virus.
From my home office at the back of the house I heard a yell from the front. Curious, I looked out a window and saw four boys who couldn’t be more than 12 years old talking and bouncing a ball on a hurley as they unhurriedly walked down the middle of the road. Too close lads, too close..
Ireland doesn’t have enough ICU beds. “Once you come to the ICU one in five patients in my intensive care unit lose their lives”
Affinity Photo is giving a 90 day free trial of all their software, with a 50% sale too. I would really like to try Designer!
I’m slowly getting used to the stress of living this way. I stayed off Twitter and Facebook more today. Any cough or sneeze is cause for alarm but the other bugs are still floating around. My wife is great, my son is obsessed with gaming and can play with his friends in virtual worlds online but it’s taking it’s toll on us. I’m looking forward to going for a drive somewhere by the sea tomorrow, hopefully where there won’t be anyone else.
This year the festival is cancelled because of COVID-19, but it was a busy day nonetheless as Gavan Reilly summarises:
That didn’t stop people all around the country holding their own parades and singing to the neighbours! I’ve added a selection I found on Twitter to the end of this post, but first this. Treasa is back blogging so go look at today’s and yesterday’s posts on her blog at windsandbreezes.org. She reminded me that my wife took a photo of people queuing to get into Tesco yesterday.
The queue to get into Tesco Paul Street, Cork yesterday. Credit: Jacinta O Caoimh.
In other news, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will give a televised address in about twenty minutes on RTE1 (on Radio 1 too) and Virgin Media One.
Tonight at 9 I’ll speak to you on @RTE and @VirginMedia_One. This is a Patrick’s Day like no other. We cannot stop the virus but we can push it back. We will always put your life and your health first. In future let them say: when things were at their worst, we were at our best
Consider installing a browser extension that blocks ads and other malicious scripts in your browser to protect your privacy and security. Here are a few options.
uBlock Origin is a free, open source, ad blocker for your browser.
Use pi-hole if you have a spare Raspberry Pi on your network.
Set the private DNS settings on your phone to dns.adguard.com to block adverts and trackers.
