Sir, Regarding the articles in your Energy Awareness Week features, "Keep the home fires burning" and "Saving money and material" of September 24th describing peat as a "bio fuel" is misleading. The common perception of bio fuel is an energy source from which the CO2 released upon its burning is quickly reabsorbed into the CO2 cycle, and is consequently an easily renewable energy source. The burning of peat releases CO2 which has been built up and stored as carbon in the peat over thousands of years, and therefore takes a similar period to regenerate.
The concept of building a new peat power plant with EU grants is not a sign of progressive management, but of a shortsighted energy policy. The investment of £90 million in a plant utilising an unrenewable fuel source is money that should be spent on research development and promotion of alternative energy production such as the Wind Energy Programme, which is sustainable in the long term, and not wasted in "Mona". Yours. etc., Killarney, Co Kerry.