PAT LEHANE

Bernard Costelloe’s Hogan Stand Triumph

Congratulations to Bernard Costelloe, winner of the recent Hogan Hackers golf competition. The Hogan Hackers is a group of 50/60 golfing regulars who apparently frequent the Hogan Stand restaurant and pub in San Pedro, Marbella. Apart from regular games on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Hogan Hackers have a major tournament twice a year. Current Captain Jimmy Nolan sent me this shot of Bernard following his recent win in the tournament played over the San Roque and El Paraiso courses.

KISS it alright The recent Government press release on Ireland’s new Climate Action Plan boasted that: “the far-reaching plan sets out over 180 actions, together with hundreds of sub-actions”. There is nothing wrong with being ambitious and setting lofty goals but, with multi-faceted and multi-action programmes such as those proposed, the core message is easily confused, diluted and ultimately lost sight of. Obviously the architects of this plan never heard of the acronym KISS.

The Obtuse Angle.indd 1

nZEB – is it nearly or net? Who cares?, I hear you say, and perhaps you are right. Still, perception is everything. While I presume it was realism that led to the use of the term “nearly” or “near” zero energy buildings initially, I see and hear more and more commentators (in the UK especially) referring to nZEB as net zero energy buildings. Given that nZEB is aspirational and a very desirable objective, I think net zero is the more inspiring terminology.

Go green? … why bother?

New low in fracking

At a time when we here in Ireland are donning sackcloth and ashes because of our poor performance on emissions, our European colleagues in Poland have just synchronised Opole 6 – a coal-fired generator with capacity to produce 900MW of electricity annually – to the grid. Moreover, we are on the point of being levied fines in the millions of euros for not meeting our emissions targets while Poland, already the 10th largest coal consumer in the world, increases its use of coal. According to the Polish Government, 92% of electricity and 89% of heating in the country is generated annually using coal. Where is the sense in adding to that in the current environment? (No pun intended). That’s not to suggest in any way that we here in Ireland should curtail our efforts to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels but really, where is the consistency – or indeed fairness – in overall EU policy.

As if shooting water, chemicals and sand at high pressure into the ground to fracture rock systems to release difficult-to-reach oil and gas is not bad enough, Chinese scientists now suggest that pressure-blasting with CO2 is greener. They even argue that the process would have the beneficial effect of locking the CO2 away underground for millennia. The mind boggles … could someone please tell me how is fracking any way green in the first instance?

All-Star for Alan Hogan Not one to blow his own trumpet, Alan Hogan, Managing Director, Heat Merchants Group, has kept his recent All-Star Award close to his chest. Sorry Alan, I hope you don’t mind that I’ve decided to share it with our readers. Earlier this year Alan was voted 2019 All-Star Inspirational Leader at the All-Ireland Business Foundation awards night. Apart from his own personal award, he also accepted the McEniff Trophy on behalf of the entire Heat Merchants team for the 2019 Best Business in Ireland award. Congratulations to all. Pictured here are Mairead McGuiness, Vice-President of the European Parliament with Brian McEniff, Alan Hogan and Dr Briga Hynes, Chairperson of the Adjudication Panel.

29/07/2019 11:29