Gawne's 'green' Finance Centre.

[Gladys]

So true Freggyragh. It does make you wonder what the critics of the so-called 'finance sector' would replace it with. We have few extractable natural resources, no real exportable manufacturing industry, no tourism industry and are not even self-sufficient in agriculture or fishery.

 

So, you don't like the finance sector, Frances, how else would you suggest most people on the IOM earn a living and generate much wealth for the island as a whole? Or would you prefer a return to the pre-tourism days when poverty was very real and widespread?

 

Perhaps you should ponder on real and viable alternatives for the IOM on your interminable travellings between the IOM, France, Guildford and the Shetlands.

[VinnieK]

So true Freggyragh. It does make you wonder what the critics of the so-called 'finance sector' would replace it with. We have few extractable natural resources, no real exportable manufacturing industry, no tourism industry and are not even self-sufficient in agriculture or fishery.

 

I thought this had already been settled: We'll get rich from films, the space industry, and increased tourism (Thomas the Tank Engine tours, pine cone festivals, that kind of thing).

 

Alternatively, there's plan B: I seize power and sell everyone to China as slave labour; spend the rest of my life giggling and rolling around in a bathtub of money. I'm happy, everyone else gets a nice long holiday to the exotic far east, and Chinese orphans are freed from the sweatshops you'll be sold to. Please, I beg of you, think of the orphans.

[Insomniac]

i havent heard this speech and i have nothing against Phil Gawne but I'd be more impressed if the agriculture minister was working on making the island self sufficient and cost effective in whatever agricutural products we are capable of producing thats what hes being paid to do.

Leave the dti and finance departments to blow any trumpets in regard to their remits.

 

if the global food shortages are a real threat then prices will shoot up and this little island in the irish sea will be dropped from supply routes unless we taxpayers suddenly start subsidising imports.

[Gladys]

So true Freggyragh. It does make you wonder what the critics of the so-called 'finance sector' would replace it with. We have few extractable natural resources, no real exportable manufacturing industry, no tourism industry and are not even self-sufficient in agriculture or fishery.

 

I thought this had already been settled: We'll get rich from films, the space industry, and increased tourism (Thomas the Tank Engine tours, pine cone festivals, that kind of thing).

 

Alternatively, there's plan B: I seize power and sell everyone to China as slave labour; spend the rest of my life giggling and rolling around in a bathtub of money. I'm happy, everyone else gets a nice long holiday to the exotic far east, and Chinese orphans are freed from the sweatshops you'll be sold to. Please, I beg of you, think of the orphans.

 

I thought the plan was to put the IOM on the sex tourism map (save Brits from travelling to the far east - carbon footprints and all that), but this was abandoned when the powers that be recognised there was too much competition from the amateurs!

[Frances]

I see my little quip ruffled the feathers of a couple of posters - agree the FS thanks to pressure from outside has been cleaned up over the last 10 years or so - maybe the energy generation will also be so cleaned but to be a net exporter needs a considerable investment in both wind + tidal generation (don't forget we import much oil etc that also needs balancing) - meantime we will still be dependent on non-Manx controlled monopolies for access to the Island and for much of our heating .

I can't see any immediate replacement for the FS however I suspect that more and more of this will be reduced by EU/UK laws (eg last years changes that threw 90 out of work in Ramsey) - maybe the sex tourism + soft drugs is the way to go now that Amsterdam seems to be cracking down.

[ai_Droid]

People reading things, and then having the audacity to post their findings to a relevant topic here? You were right to bring this to our attention, I only hope and pray that the authorities do something before this kind of thing catches on.

 

'cept the EfW plant hasn't been producing anything but bottom ash for months and months.

 

As to the ministers comment, it's hilarious. There's no plans to build anything, there's nothing in the pipeline so any green energy sources are years off. This is all talk, where almost every other government in the world is taking action. Need action, not words.

[manshimajin]

Nothing wrong with having the Finance Sector here but we can't depend on its continued strength. The clear evidence is that the sector forgot how to manage risk creating a bonus driven 'bubble' that is now well and truly pricked. We are not immune from the major Finance Sector lay-offs that are happening around the world.

 

The Government does need to be aware of the changing commercial environment and to be acting now to attract alternatives that will maintain the Island's prosperity. No doubt they are doing this.

[triskelion]

'cept the EfW plant hasn't been producing anything but bottom ash for months and months.

I thought so too, but apparently it's now started: http://www.sita.co.im/electricity-generation

 

EDIT: Okay I've now caught up with this and realise I was somewhat foiled by that graph not working for me in Firefox. Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that the task is somewhat 'monumental,' and there's no money coming forward for it, so I expect this is more what Phil wants, rather than truly expects.

 

We should totally have kite power though.

[VinnieK]

People reading things, and then having the audacity to post their findings to a relevant topic here? You were right to bring this to our attention, I only hope and pray that the authorities do something before this kind of thing catches on.

 

'cept the EfW plant hasn't been producing anything but bottom ash for months and months.

 

Huh?

[Roger Smelly]

Well i imagine within the next year or two a wind farm being talked about for the island.

 

One single windmill can produce about 5mw and if i rememember right the island needs somewhere in the region of 50mw for the demand.

 

So if the government got there @rse n gear and set up say 20 to 30 wind turbines then the island could quite easily export any excess power.

 

And your energy bills could drop.

 

But the narrow minded over here would rather not have them incase they ruin there view of the sea lol.

[triskelion]

So if the government got there @rse n gear and set up say 20 to 30 wind turbines then the island could quite easily export any excess power.

 

And your energy bills could drop.

 

But the narrow minded over here would rather not have them incase they ruin there view of the sea lol.

Which would in turn devalue their house, perhaps legitimising their complaint somewhat.

[ai_Droid]

Which would in turn devalue their house, perhaps legitimising their complaint somewhat.

 

Who lives up on the mountain or inside a plantation? There's miles of suitable land, it just needs doing and some small scale coastal hydro such as the onshore coastal turbine in the hebredes.

[triskelion]

Is that the point I was addressing? Nope.

 

Why would you put wind turbines inside a plantation?

 

I hate wind turbines, I think they're hideous, they aren't cost-effective, they are inefficient and intermittent and I think investment would be better targetted at biogas and biomass assets. That way, we have the facilities to provide grid stabilty and quality, reduce the size of the waste stream by at least 25% and provide organic soil conditioner.

 

The use of wind turbines is probably inevitable, which I accept, but that doesn't make them a good starting place for a renewable energy solution.

[ai_Droid]

Is that the point I was addressing? Nope.

 

Why would you put wind turbines inside a plantation?

 

I hate wind turbines, I think they're hideous, they aren't cost-effective, they are inefficient and intermittent and I think investment would be better targetted at biogas and biomass assets. That way, we have the facilities to provide grid stabilty and quality, reduce the size of the waste stream by at least 25% and provide organic soil conditioner.

 

The use of wind turbines is probably inevitable, which I accept, but that doesn't make them a good starting place for a renewable energy solution.

 

 

We don't have the space for biomass. You're a bit clueless really aren't you?

[Frances]

One single windmill can produce about 5mw and if i rememember right the island needs somewhere in the region of 50mw for the demand.

 

So if the government got there @rse n gear and set up say 20 to 30 wind turbines then the island could quite easily export any excess power.

m = milli ie 1/1000 of a watt - 50mW would just about power your mobile phone, M = Mega or Million) - typical turbines have a peak output of between 3 to 6 MW (most seem to be 3.5MW) - there has been much previous discussion but with about 30,000 households with a nominal peak demand of 3kW (k = 1000) then the island is looking at about 90MW required capacity (which is about what we have from Pulrose + Peel - the cable allows the transfer of 90MW approx between the Island and the UK grid) - wind turbines produce on average maybe 40% of their installed capacity (depends on site etc) thus we need nearer 100 if you could store energy over the non productive periods - tidal power tho more expensive to install would have shorter inactive periods which would need be bridged by storage schemes (but we have no suitable high lakes for pumped hydro) or by expensive gas turbines running on a very expensive short duty cycle - biomass could provide some base load but my very approx calculation is that about 15-20% at least of the Island would be needed (probably much more ) - all this ignores the import of gas for heating - I'd be surprised if this wasn't equivalent to another 50MW or more