Speaker for Tuesday 11th November 2014 - Mr. Andrew Baird
14/11/14 16:08
Photo: President Gordon Ward greets Andrew Baird, with Club Members Jim Archer (L) and John McHenry (R)
Talk by Andrew Baird, who says 'Power to the People'
Club President Gordon Ward welcomed members and guests to the meeting. After a short time taking the business part of the meeting first, the President then introduced our speaker Andrew Baird. As it was not possible to fix a presentation 'glitch', Andrew gave his talk on energy generation and the Governmental targets for 'renewable energy', without the aid of graphics. Andrew's excellent talk covered the current state of energy supply, the 'five pillars' for the 2020 targets and a look into the future for our planet if the targets are not reached.
Andrew began his talk by outlining the current state of energy generation in Northern Ireland. This follows a very centralised model that hasn't really changed in the last 100 years. We are largely dependant on large coal fired generators, like the one at Larne and others. However, in 2008, the Government (along with most other Western European countries) signed up to renewable energy commitment and agreed a 'five pillar' system which should be in place by 2020.
The key feature of the five pillar strategy is that it is very 'Job Rich' which makes it good for the economy AND it secures or energy future!
Andrew admits to being a 'Solar Guy', as he believes that solar energy is the key element in meeting the 2020 targets - even in rainy Northern Ireland! The technology (according to Andrew) is 'proven' and can quickly pay for itself. Solar power is low maintenance and easily 'scalabel' (just link panels and installations together to get more out!). Solar power is also 'affordable', as the price per unit is fixed for a period of 20 to 30 years, so what may look a bit expensive in year one will be negligible, in years 15 or 20 or more?
Andrew expanded his talk to tell us about what is happening in Germany - while our energy costs have risen annually by about 6%, theirs have been stable for the last 3 or 4 years, thanks to their investment in wind and solar energy production.
The next part of Andrew's talk went on to look at 'Climate Change' and the predictions of the 'Green Peace' report of 1990 - disregarded then as scare mongering, but now proven true in their predictions for the 25 years after 1990, and showing every sign of heading towards the crisis for our planet predicted of the next 25 years.
For Andrew, the 21st Century will become characterised as the 'Solar Century' and economies that adopt the Solar Model of energy production will become the lead economies in the world (assuming the fossil burning economies haven't killed us all off due to 'Global Warming'?! - Web Ed).
There was only a short time available for questions, and members would have liked more, so much was the involvement in the talk. At the end, a vote of thanks was proposed by Jim Archer, who thanked Andrew for his splendid, interesting and clearly presented talk, even without the aid of PowerPoint'! The thanks were passed on by the President, and the members showed their appreciation.
Talk by Andrew Baird, who says 'Power to the People'
Club President Gordon Ward welcomed members and guests to the meeting. After a short time taking the business part of the meeting first, the President then introduced our speaker Andrew Baird. As it was not possible to fix a presentation 'glitch', Andrew gave his talk on energy generation and the Governmental targets for 'renewable energy', without the aid of graphics. Andrew's excellent talk covered the current state of energy supply, the 'five pillars' for the 2020 targets and a look into the future for our planet if the targets are not reached.
Andrew began his talk by outlining the current state of energy generation in Northern Ireland. This follows a very centralised model that hasn't really changed in the last 100 years. We are largely dependant on large coal fired generators, like the one at Larne and others. However, in 2008, the Government (along with most other Western European countries) signed up to renewable energy commitment and agreed a 'five pillar' system which should be in place by 2020.
- Pillar One states that 20% of generated power should be from new sources or be renewable.
- Pillar Two says that every available building should be utilised for power generation.
- Pillar Three requires large capacity energy storage is available.
- Pillar Four has the establishment of an 'energy internet' well underway.
- Pillar Five sees the full electrification of transport within major cities.
The key feature of the five pillar strategy is that it is very 'Job Rich' which makes it good for the economy AND it secures or energy future!
Andrew admits to being a 'Solar Guy', as he believes that solar energy is the key element in meeting the 2020 targets - even in rainy Northern Ireland! The technology (according to Andrew) is 'proven' and can quickly pay for itself. Solar power is low maintenance and easily 'scalabel' (just link panels and installations together to get more out!). Solar power is also 'affordable', as the price per unit is fixed for a period of 20 to 30 years, so what may look a bit expensive in year one will be negligible, in years 15 or 20 or more?
Andrew expanded his talk to tell us about what is happening in Germany - while our energy costs have risen annually by about 6%, theirs have been stable for the last 3 or 4 years, thanks to their investment in wind and solar energy production.
The next part of Andrew's talk went on to look at 'Climate Change' and the predictions of the 'Green Peace' report of 1990 - disregarded then as scare mongering, but now proven true in their predictions for the 25 years after 1990, and showing every sign of heading towards the crisis for our planet predicted of the next 25 years.
For Andrew, the 21st Century will become characterised as the 'Solar Century' and economies that adopt the Solar Model of energy production will become the lead economies in the world (assuming the fossil burning economies haven't killed us all off due to 'Global Warming'?! - Web Ed).
There was only a short time available for questions, and members would have liked more, so much was the involvement in the talk. At the end, a vote of thanks was proposed by Jim Archer, who thanked Andrew for his splendid, interesting and clearly presented talk, even without the aid of PowerPoint'! The thanks were passed on by the President, and the members showed their appreciation.
Mike Turner - Secretary
For more information, visit: www.planet-solar.co.uk
For Club members who would like to see Andrew's missing 'PowerPoint' presentation, please 'click' the button below - COMMENT FROM WEB ED "this is a sort of 'Master Class' in how to make an effective presentation. There are lots of simple, strong and clear graphics that act as a background to Andrew's explanations and few pages with lots of text (so you look at the image and listen to what he is saying, you are not trying to read masses of text and ignoring what the speaker is saying). If ONLY most of our other presenters would do something similar!"
