An American Lion

Peat Moss

I'll bet you didn't know this, but, in Ireland, they use something called peat moss to generate electricity. They dig it out of the ground, chop it into bricks, and that's not all--they burn it and it actually works. It actually does what it is supposed to do, and that's no lie.

Well, it used to work. Now? Now it's a waste of time and energy, if you'll excuse the pun:

Ireland will stop using peat to produce electricity by about 2025 to 2030 as it moves toward renewable sources, although it faces infrastructure and financing hurdles, the state-owned peat energy company said.

Production of peat, partially decayed plant matter which is also used in gardening and often called turf, has long been a traditional feature of the boggy Irish countryside, making the country one of the top industrial producers along with Finland.

State-owned company Bord Na Mona, the only industrial-scale producer in Ireland, is not planning to open any new bogs however as it shifts its profile to renewable energy sources, and existing bogs will run out in about two decades.

"It's an important part of our history," Bord Na Mona Finance Director Michael Barry said in an interview. "It's not the cleanest fuel."

Bord Na Mona, which operates a 128 MW peat-fired power plant in Edenderry, west of Dublin, is increasingly focusing on renewable sources of energy such as wind and biomass as it phases out peat.

"We have one of the best wind regimes in Europe, the wind blows a lot here," Barry said. "One of the key obstacles is to do with the electricity grid and the resilience and ability of the grid to absorb new wind energy."

If you think of the craggy coast of Ireland, and the winds that blow in off the Atlantic Ocean, it's hard not to envision a powerful wind farm that could power much of Ireland. This is the kind of renewable energy that we need in this country, wherever there are ideal locations for wind farming. The Irish example is a good one--things are running out. Peat moss is running out. Oil is running out. Some other things are running out. It would behoove us to find the things that aren't going to run out and make better use of them.