Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 25 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Reduction of Carbon Emissions of 51% by 2030: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Jennifer WhitmoreJennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will be quick. I thank Mr. Lynott for the statement, which is very interesting and comprehensive. I look forward to having a more thorough reading of it after today's debate. My question relates to whether we have incorporated enough demand management into how we meet our renewable targets. It seems we are allowing our electricity demand to increase rapidly and our renewable technologies are sort of chasing them in order to catch up.

The witness has spoken about having a base assumption that 70% of the 50 TW of electricity consumed will be generated, and I am assuming that within that 50 TW we have something like 12% or 13% of the terrawattage predicted to be used for data centres. If we capped the level of electricity used by big users like data centres at this point and allow our technology to catch up with the renewable needs we have, would it be possible for us to meet 100% of the electricity consumed? Would that be a possibility for 2030?

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