Kevin Sheedy

1.2K posts

Kevin Sheedy

@KevSheedy

Software Engineer, Musician #andIcycle

Dublin City, Ireland Beigetreten Eylül 2010

558 Folgt308 Follower

Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·19h

@XEnergyIreland @18for0 Lithium/sodium BESS grid installations, in buildings, cars, trucks. Multi-day: Iron-air Multi-week: Thermal storage for district heat & industry. Compressed air. Hydrogen. Lots of innovation happening in storage and cost dropping rapidly.

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Ireland's Energy Mix@XEnergyIreland·1d

@KevSheedy @18for0 What kind of storage are you referring to when you say 90% of our need?

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18for0@18for0·1d

Should Ireland revisit their 1981 decision not to build a Irish nuclear power plant? German Energy Minister acknowledges that the phase out of nuclear power was a "huge mistake". Like Ireland there is now no feasible alternative to gas to generate a base load power supply.

Clash Report@clashreport

Germany Energy Minister Katherina Reiche: The phase-out of nuclear power was a huge mistake — a huge mistake. We now miss that energy. So, the only way to secure supply is gas.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·1d

@DaraghCassidy Agree. One by one upgrades a better fit for many people. Solar payback is just a few years, similar for a battery and attic insulation. Wait till boiler dies then replace with heat pump. Wait till windows/door need replacing etc

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Daragh Cassidy@DaraghCassidy·1d

@KevSheedy Not denying that at all. And you can’t put a price on the increase in comfort levels after a retro fit etc. It’s just it’s a big amount of money for a lot of people. So financially for many it’ll always be a tough sell.

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Daragh Cassidy@DaraghCassidy·1d

A retrofit can easily cost €50k AFTER grants. And you’ll usually need to move out for a few weeks and spend another few grand on rent. What you’ll save on is your annual gas bill or oil fill which costs c. €1.8k a year. So that’s a payback period of almost three decades.

gript@griptmedia

"You should read Eamon Ryan's column in the Irish Times...he takes strong issue with the ESRI's perspective": Taoiseach Micheál Martin insists that houses with better BER ratings have lower bills and that retrofitting is "very, very effective".

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·1d

@DaraghCassidy I agree €50k up front is a tough sell. But there's not much analysis of the cost of the alternative. How much does it cost to maintain a run down, cold old house? It's expensive.

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Daragh Cassidy@DaraghCassidy·1d

@KevSheedy Well it’s not a “claim”. It’s in professional research conducted by the ESRI. And you’re missing the wider point: telling people to fork out €50k so they can reduce emissions and get pay back in 30 years is a fairly tough sell.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·1d

@Trebor4015 @DaraghCassidy Lots of people reach ROI on heat pumps. Particularly if paired with solar panels and a battery. I'm sure some people don't, particularly in a poorly designed system. But in general, heat pumps are cheaper than boilers on total cost of ownership.

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Trebor40@Trebor4015·1d

@KevSheedy @DaraghCassidy Even if you're lucky and get 15 years out of it, you then need another 10k to replace. You will never get to your ROI point.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·1d

@DaraghCassidy I do find it a strange claim that people who have skimped on heating their whole lives suddenly begin to splurge. But even if true and they do use their heating more, the switch from gas to electric heating will reduce their CO2 emissions dramatically and should be encouraged.

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Daragh Cassidy@DaraghCassidy·1d

@KevSheedy I’m mainly taking about finances though Kevin. And as I referred to, the ESRI report showed many people were previously under heating their homes. So when they retrofit, their energy usage increases, negating some of the carbon emission savings.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·1d

@Trebor4015 @DaraghCassidy Gas boiler & heat pump have similar lifespan of ~15 years. Heat pump costs more upfront but usually has lower lifetime cost, due to lower fuel cost. So when a gas boiler dies, the cheaper overall replacement may be a heat pump, particularly if paired with solar panels.

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Trebor40@Trebor4015·1d

@KevSheedy @DaraghCassidy And the heatpump and complex controls system won't fail and need to be replaced?. Those systems are vastly more expensive to repair, than a boiler.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·1d

@DaraghCassidy Electrifying heating reduces CO2 emissions. - Solar panels reduce energy requirement - The Irish power grid is ~45% low carbon sources with the potential to improve much further So a heat pump + solar panels + battery could reduce your household CO2 emissions dramatically.

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Daragh Cassidy@DaraghCassidy·1d

However, a recent ESRI report showed people’s energy usage remained remarkably constant after getting a retrofit fit done as people go so used to being comfortable in their homes. So you may not even be doing that much for the environment either.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·4d

@XEnergyIreland Yes, there are grid costs and curtailment issues to work through, but the idea that renewables don’t reduce bills ignores both the data and the basic economics of displacing expensive gas with zero-fuel-cost generation.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·4d

@XEnergyIreland Wind & solar saved Irish consumers €1.5bn in gas costs in 2025. On the windiest days, wholesale electricity was €44/MWh cheaper than the calmest. Over 4 years: €6.7bn not sent to international gas markets.

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Ireland's Energy Mix@XEnergyIreland·4d

📉This energy bot is the only one in Ireland that reports on daily wind maximum (e.g. the 74% below) *AND* the wind daily minimum (e.g. 3%) 💶 It also reports daily wind and solar curtailment payments <Nobody else in the industry wants to report ugly truths>

Ireland's Energy Mix@XEnergyIreland

Irish Electricity Mix on 23-Mar-2026 🔥Fossil/Thermal 45% 🌀Wind 42% ⚡Net Imports 9% 💧Hydro 1% ☀️Solar 2.2% ☀️Max Solar 9.4% (515MW) at 13:15 🔥Max Fossil/Thermal 51% at 08:15 𖣘Max Wind 74.7% at 23:30 𖣘Min Wind 3% at 01:45 ⛰︎Peak Demand 6.15GW at 19:15

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·6d

@Keyes In 10 the years becore SMRs: - offshore wind arrives in Ireland - wind + solar grow to 80% of electricity supply - gas falls to 20%, mostly as backup - several new interconnectors - batteries scale up Then SMRs could play a role in eliminating gas

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Seán Keyes 🖐️@Keyes·6d

@KevSheedy Wind is not cheaper when system costs are taken into account, and SMRs will hopefully have a much better learning curve

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Seán Keyes 🖐️@Keyes·6d

Build nuclear reactors!

Aidan Regan@Aidan_Regan

What’s the lesson?

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·6d

@XEnergyIreland It also didn't rain, yet we don't run out of water. Energy storage is now cheap and getting even cheaper meaning it's totally possible to have a secure energy system in Ireland, with wind, solar and batteries providing most of the energy.

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Ireland's Energy Mix@XEnergyIreland·6d

🚨For ~6 hours yesterday morning, Ireland's electricity was provided by Gas and imports (there was no wind or sun) we have zero energy security. Provide your own security for your families.

Ireland's Energy Mix@XEnergyIreland

Irish Electricity Mix on 21-Mar-2026 🔥Fossil/Thermal 55% 🌀Wind 8% ⚡Net Imports 28% 💧Hydro 1% ☀️Solar 6.7% ☀️Max Solar 24.6% (1073MW) at 13:00 🔥Max Fossil/Thermal 58% at 18:30 𖣘Max Wind 29.0% at 23:00 𖣘Min Wind 0% at 10:15 ⛰︎Peak Demand 5.59GW at 19:15

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·6d

@Keyes Nuclear's high cost, even in the optimistic SMR scenario, suggests nuclear could only play a small part in the overall energy mix. With cheaper Wind, Solar, Batteries providing most of the Islands power. If SMRs do get cheap, that would be great, it just seems unlikely.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·6d

@Keyes Aren't SMRs still 10 years away, and likely to be more expensive than Solar Wind Batteries even in 10 or 20 years? SMRs sound like a cool technology, I just haven't read anything suggesting they'll be cheap.

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·12 Mar

@IrishTimes If you don't do a retrofit, will house maintenance cost €0 over 60 years? When your boiler is bust, replacing with a Heat pump pays for itself in 15 years Solar panel: 6-7 years payback If windows and doors are falling down, energy efficient replacements save money.

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The Irish Times@IrishTimes·11 Mar

We need a retrofit reality check; the figures don’t stack up and we can’t be bothered, writes John McManus irishtimes.com/business/2026/…

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·3 Mar

@kryan4 @GerHerbert1 2026: Hard to find a charger 2036: Hard to find a petrol pump In the coming years, we'll start to see petrol pump closures as demand drops off. I'd be nervous buying a petrol/diesel car today.

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Kevin Ryan@kryan4·2 Mar

@GerHerbert1 Are there any figures available for the rollout of public charging infra? I’m not seeing many new charging hubs around the place (but that could just be me & the areas I frequent). I got caught short a few weeks ago with chargers being out of order and queues. It was a pain!

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Geraldine Herbert@GerHerbert1·2 Mar

2,871 new Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) were registered in February up 14.4% year-on-year. Year-to-date BEV sales have reached 10,172 units, a 36.9% increase vs 2025. #SIMI #EV

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Kevin Sheedy@KevSheedy·23 Şub

@ConorKeogh8 It was so beautiful before the bike lane ruined everything 🙄 Before the bike lane:

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Conor Keogh@ConorKeogh8·22 Şub

A cycle lane taking up half the road in the middle of Dublin City with not a bike on it. Another disasterclass from the people running this country. When do they take ownership that they’ve completely ruined the capital city?

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Entdecken

@XEnergyIreland @18for0 @DaraghCassidy @Trebor4015 @Keyes @elonmusk @BarackObama @taylorswift13