First electricity cable links the UK and Irish power grids
The first inter-connector link between the Republic and Britain was opened yesterday, connecting the power grids of the two countries.
Britain and Ireland turned on the first electricity interconnector between the countries on Thursday, opening the way for surplus Irish wind power to help the UK meet its green energy targets.
The €600m connection, running beneath the Irish Sea and carrying enough power for 300,000 homes, marks a step forward in efforts to build a high-voltage network joining Britain and its neighbours.
Such links would allow the UK to import green energy in support of its carbon reduction goals and export electricity when there is a surplus.
The new undersea cable between Deeside, north Wales, and Woodland, County Meath, in Ireland, can transport 500 megawatts of power either way.
It was built by the Irish operator EirGrid, with support from EU funds, investments from BNP Paribas and Barclays, and loans from the European Investment Bank.
Combined with an existing interconnector between Scotland and Northern Ireland, it brings the total capacity for electricity imports to Britain from across the Irish Sea to 1,000mw.
“Ireland has some fantastic renewable energy resources and this interconnector will provide access to the massive UK customer base,” said Ed Davey, UK energy secretary.
The UK government says it can achieve an EU target to secure 15 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 by building domestic capacity, such as offshore wind farms.
But with green energy currently accounting for only 3 per cent of the UK total, the government is exploring whether it can use flexibility in the EU directive to import Irish wind power to help meet its targets at lower cost.
Mr Davey said Ireland was one of the few countries in the EU likely to generate more renewable energy than it needed to meet its targets, presenting opportunities for trading.
Anlgo-Irish talks on agreeing a framework for renewables trading began this year. Both sides hope to sign a memorandum of understanding soon.
The UK is struggling to find the estimated £110bn of investment needed to build enough green energy infrastructure to meet its targets, with the threat of legal action and fines from the European Commission if it fails.
The UK also has electricity interconnectors with France and the Netherlands. Further links are planned with Norway, Spain and with Iceland, which has geothermal and hydroelectric surpluses.
Ireland also has more interconnector projects in the planning phase as it seeks to take advantage of its ocean winds by building more turbines.
“Ireland has the space and the planning system to build out wind energy capacity quickly, whereas there have been lots of objections in the UK,” said Eddie O’Connor, chief executive of Mainstream Renewable Power, which is conducting a feasibility study with REN of Portugal and the UK’s National Grid on another link beneath the Irish Sea.
“We plan to bypass the Irish grid and build an energy bridge direct to the UK, which will help it meet its renewable energy targets,” he said.
An interconnector between north Wales and Arklow in Ireland has also been proposed by a company called East West Cable One.
Dermot Byrne, chief executive of EirGrid, said increased connectivity with Britain would help promote investment in Irish wind farms by providing an export route at times when the wind was blowing strongly.
Mr Davey said the EU renewables target would be met. “The UK does not renege on its international commitments,” he said.
The Renewable Energy Association, a UK industry body, said that while a limited amount of trading may be appropriate, Britain should aim to meet its green energy targets under its own steam.
Tricia Wiley, senior policy analyst with the association, said mixed political messages and seemingly endless policy adjustments risked scaring away investors.
Ireland out-performs its European partners and peers
Ireland outperformed its peers in Europe yesterday to close up 1.26 per cent. The UK’s FTSE, France’s CAC and Germany’s DAX all slid, while the Stoxx Europe Index also ended up in the negative.
Global and European markets were affected by weak manufacturing data from China and crisis worries.
Ireland, meanwhile, received a boost after government nine-year bond yields fell below 5 per cent for the first time since before the EU-IMF bailout.
DUBLIN
Ireland was the shining light on the markets yesterday, “massively overperforming”, according to one Dublin stockbroker.
He said the equity markets were most likely helped by the Irish bond market, which performed very well.
The Dublin market was also boosted by index heavyweights CRH, Paddy Power and Kerry all ending up positive, rising 1.74 per cent, 2.63 per cent and 4.42 per cent respectively.
Dragon Oil also closed up, jumping 3.09 per cent to €7.62, while Ryanair rose 2.28 per cent to €4.48. The Irish Aviation Authority yesterday found that three Ryanair planes which had to make emergency landings due to low fuel had sufficient fuel for their flight plan.
Kingspan was the big loser of the day, falling 3.58 per cent to €7.81. However, trading volumes were light.
Smurfit Kappa finished up 2.6 per cent to €7.80 at close of markets yesterday. The global packaging group climbed more than 13 per cent on the Dublin market last Friday on the back of a large order from a single buyer. It closed down more or less flat in recent days, but yesterday started climbing again.
LONDON
BRITAIN’S TOP share index wilted yesterday after economic data painted a bleak picture of prospects for a rebound in activity in the US, Europe and China, heightening concerns over company earnings and valuations.
Miners took most points off Britain’s leading share index, falling 2.4 per cent, in tandem with metal prices, after the weak data, in particular from resource hungry China, heaped pressure on the sector’s earnings outlook.
Anglo American and Lonmin dropped more than 4 per cent as a gauge of basic resources producers tumbled the most in three weeks.
Ocado sank 4.2 per cent after the online retailer’s sales missed analyst estimates.
Imperial Tobacco rallied the most in four months after raising its revenue forecast.
The FTSE 100 index lost 33.84 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5,854.64 at the close of trading in London. The broader FTSE All-Share Index retreated 0.5 per cent yesterday.
“Equities are trading lower today as economic data highlighted that recent gains are not a true reflection of the state of the global economy,” said Craig Erlam, a market analyst at Alpari UK in London.
EUROPE
EUROPEAN STOCKS declined for the third time in four days after a report signalled that Chinese manufacturing will contract for an 11th month, adding to concern the global economic slowdown is deepening.
A gauge of mining companies posted the biggest drop of the 19 industry groups in the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index.
Daimler lost 2 per cent after saying earnings would fall at its Mercedes Benz cars business.
Telenet surged 13 per cent after Liberty Global made a $2.5 billion offer to buy the rest of the communications company.
The Stoxx 600 slipped 0.2 per cent to 274.5 at the close, while the Euro Stoxx 50 gauge of the biggest companies in the euro area dropped 0.6 per cent.
The Stoxx 600 has still climbed 17 per cent from this year’s low on June 4th as European Central Bank policy-makers agreed to implement an unlimited bond-buying programme and the Federal Reserve unveiled its third round of asset purchases.
NEW YORK
US STOCKS declined, but were off session lows, as investors weighed sluggish economic figures from around the world against efforts by central banks to prop up their respective economies with strong stimulus measures.
Transportation stocks, sensitive to the nation’s economic fortunes, were among the worst performers, with the Dow Jones Transportation average down 2.7 per cent.
Railroad company Norfolk Southern said smaller shipments of coal and merchandise and lower fuel-surcharge revenue would crimp its third-quarter earnings compared with a year earlier. Its shares fell 8.8 per cent to $66.28.
Bed, Bath Beyond tumbled 8 per cent to $63.27 after the company posted quarterly results that narrowly missed Wall Street estimates on account of higher costs.
Fellow retailer JC Penney slumped 9.4 per cent to $26.36 after chief executive Ron Johnson said new shops within stores are doing much better than other parts of its department stores
Divorce rate in Ireland rises by more than 150% since 2002
While marriage has become more popular in the Republic in recent years, much greater growth has been seen in divorce rates, the latest census figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have revealed.
The number of married people in the State increased by nearly 10 per cent in just five years, between 2006 and 2011.
The number of divorced people increased by more than 150 per cent in the 10 years from 2002, reflecting both a higher incidence of marital breakdown and the greater number of couples availing of divorce following a mandatory period of separation.
The CSO statistics, which focus on living arrangements in the Republic, show the number of married people last year was 1,708,604, compared with 1,565,016 five years earlier.
Between 1996 and the middle of last year, the proportion of the population who were divorced grew from 0.4 per cent or just 9,787 people to 2.4 per cent, or 87,770 – an increase of almost 800 per cent.
In 2002, the first census conducted since the legalisation of divorce in Ireland in 1995 showed there were 35,059 recorded divorces.
A growth in remarriage mirrors the rise in divorce and there was an increase of nearly 550 per cent in those who had remarried following divorce or annulment over the same period, from 6,641 people in 1996 to 42,960 in 2011.
Overall, men are much more likely to remarry, with 39 per cent of divorced men having remarried, compared with 28 per cent of women.
Divorced men are also more likely to be in childless households, with some 78 per cent of separated and divorced men living in households with no children when the census was taken – in contrast to 44.5 per cent of their female counterparts.
The percentage of the population aged over 15 who were single fell from 43.1 per cent in 2006 to 41.7 per cent, or 1,505,035 people, in 2011.
The average number of children in each family last year was 1.5 in rural areas and 1.3 in cities. Cohabiting couples with children had an average of 1.74 children, while the figure for married couples was 2.09 children.
The CSO reports that 32 was the age at which married women outnumbered their single counterparts, while for men it was two years higher at 34.
The marital family still accounts for the majority – 70 per cent – of all family units, or just over 870,000 families.
Some of the biggest increases in family units were among husbands and wives who have children, who made up almost half of all families last year, or just under 560,000 family units.
The number of cohabiting couples has been rising rapidly in recent years.
While cohabiting couples are still one of the fastest-growing family units – up 18 per cent – the pace of growth has slowed. They now account for 143,600 family units.
The fall in the average number of children per family in recent years – from 2.0 children in 1991 to 1.8 in 1996, to 1.6 in 2002 and 1.4 in 2006 – has levelled off to remain at just below 1.4 in 2011.
A high number of births between 2006 and 2011 (363,500) was a contributing factor in this slowdown.
There were 344,944 couples without children, of whom 261,652 were married and 83,292 were cohabiting.
Irish Life profits soar for the first half of 2012
The state owned company Irish Life is unlikely to be put on the market until there is a significant improvement in the European economy.
Chief executive Kevin Murphy revealed pre-tax profits of €96m for the first half of 2012, a six-fold increase from €16m a year earlier.
Plans to sell Irish Life were abandoned last year due to the economic crisis, but Canadian insurer Canada Life is now believed to be lining up a bid to buy the company.
Mr Murphy said a €1.3bn price tag — what the State paid to buy it — would be “quite achievable as a target today” given that it was more than 70pc of the group’s €1.8bn embedded value.
Light versions of popular food brands can contain high levels of fat
Healthy versions of popular food brands contain almost twice as much sugar as standard versions, while ‘light’ alternatives can still be high in fat, an investigation has found.
Food brands such as McVitie’s biscuits, Cathedral City cheddar and Philadelphia soft cheese all have ‘light’ versions that are as high in sugar or salt as the normal versions of the product, even though they have fewer calories, the research by Which? found.
Meanwhile Special K, the breakfast cereal that is marketed as a way of losing weight, was found to contain more calories per bowl than Bran Flakes.
And a ‘light’ version of Pizza Express House dressing – used to dress salads – was found to have almost twice as much sugar in it as the standard version of the product.
‘Light’ versions of other foodstuffs were found to contain more than 20g of fat per 100g, meaning that they are still “high in fat” under Government definitions.
Around six in ten Britons eat low-fat food every day or a few times a week as they believe that they are healthier than standard versions of the product, Which? found.
The group urged shoppers to check labels when they shop.
In another example, Which? said that low-fat yoghurt from Tesco has more calories and sugar – but less fat – per pot than standard yoghurt from Activia.
Its research also found widespread confusion among consumers over the meaning of certain words used on packaging.
While shoppers believe that words such as “light” and “low fat” are interchangeable, Which? said that they have significantly different meanings.
Under nutrition guidelines, products labeled as being “light”, “lite” and “reduced fat” have to contain only 30 per cent less fat or saturated fat than standards products. Meanwhile “low fat” means that a product has to contain less than 3 per cent fat.
However only one on six people know this, Which? found in a survey of 1,000 people.
Richard Lloyd, executive director at the consumer group, warned consumers to read the labels carefully before they buy ‘healthy’ food.
“Consumers are choosing ‘low-fat’ and ‘light options’ believing them to be a healthier choice, but our research has found that in many cases they’re just not living up to their healthy image. Our advice to consumers is to read the nutritional labels carefully,” said Mr Lloyd.
Consumer groups have been campaigning for supermarkets to add clearer labeling to packaging so consumers can make an informed choice about what they eat.
Food manufacturers said that they make the nutritional content of their food clear on the side of the packets.
United Biscuits, which makes McVitie’s chocolate digestives, claimed that Which’s report was misleading.
A spokesman said: “While it focused on the fact that the Lights variant of the McVitie’s chocolate digestive had only eight fewer calories per biscuit than the standard product, it ignored the fact that the Lights version had 30 per cent less fat.
“It also wrongly suggested that the fat reduction was achieved by reducing the amount of chocolate on the Light variant – this is not the case. The fat reduction has been achieved due to changes to the biscuit dough recipe.”
The spokesman added that its various varieties of biscuits “clearly” show nutritional information on the packs.
A Tesco spokesman said: “We take seriously our responsibility to help our customers make healthy choices. Our products display clear nutritional information on the front of the packaging, and we always act in accordance with the strict rules around the use of words such as Reduced or Light.”
Special K said that the cereal had been developed to include the vitamins and minerals women might miss out on if they are following a calorie controlled diet.
Scientists solve the mystery behind the flight of the bumblebee
Scientists have solved the mystery of the ‘flight of the bumblebee’ by attaching tiny little antennae to the insects and tracking them as they visit thousands of flowers each day.
Bumblebees will buzz around flowers throughout the day in a seemingly random manner.
But a study by British universities have discovered that in fact bees are constantly working out the quickest route to collect the most amount of food.
Despite having brains the “size of grass seeds”, bumblebees are able to calculate the most efficient route from flowers back to the nest.
The team from Queen Mary’s University and Royal Holloway University in London in London attached tiny antennae to tens of bees that pinged back the location of the insects as they foraged for pollen and nectar.
The results showed that the bees would try a number of different routes to a flower and between plants in order to work out the quickest way to and from a food source. Within hours or even minutes, the apparently random ‘flight of the bumblebee’ is an efficient and learned route.
The study, published in PLOS Biology, could help farmers work out the best way to grow crops so bees can pollinate them more easily. It could also help computer programmes to develop more efficient travel routes for humans.
Dr Nigel Raine, one of the authors of the study from RHU, said bees are performing quite a complicated ‘computational task’ for such as small creature with a tiny brain.
“Without the benefit of sat nav or GPS they can work out quickest way to do their job,” he said.
Meanwhile, new research in the journal Science claimed pesticides are not as bad for bees as previously claimed.
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