What Is Peat Used For In Ireland?

In Ireland, peat has been used for centuries to warm homes and fire whiskey distilleries. Peat power peaked in the 1960s, providing 40% of Ireland’s electricity. But peat is particularly polluting. Burning it for electricity emits more carbon dioxide than coal, and nearly twice as much as natural gas.

What is the main use of peat?

Peat is used for domestic heating purposes as an alternative to firewood and forms a fuel suitable for boiler firing in either briquetted or pulverized form. Peat is also used for household cooking in some places and has been used to produce small amounts of electricity.

Do they still burn peat in Ireland?

“Bog” was, to a teenage Claffey, synonymous with “boredom.” Like many Irish families, they stored the peat at home for use as a winter fuel. According to the 2016 census, more than 75,000 households in the Republic of Ireland continue to burn peat this way.

What is peat called in Ireland?

Peat is commonly known by the Irish as ‘turf’ and has been harvested for centuries by a method known as ‘cutting. ‘ Peat has been an invaluable source of heat and energy throughout history in Ireland.

Is there peat in Ireland?

The peatlands of the Irish Midlands are “raised bogs”, the most threatened type of bog with only 1% of their original extent now remaining intact. Peat is formed by the accumulation of decayed vegetation over thousands of years. That is the reality for much of Ireland’s bogs.

Is peat good for plants?

Around 70 per cent of peat is used in horticulture, much by amateur gardeners who have long considered it the best way of encouraging plant growth. It is rich in nutrients, being made up of partially decomposed plant material that has not decayed fully because of local conditions.

Is peat still used as fuel in Ireland?

The story of peat in Ireland Peat is still used to generate electricity and as a fuel for home fires to this day, however, sustainable energy policy and bogland conservation programmes indicate phasing out harvesting peat as a primary source of energy post 2030.

Does peat regrow?

And because peat takes a very long time to form, once the bogs are damaged, they can take up to 100 years to regrow.

Why should we stop using peat?

But peat bogssequester an astonishing one-third of the world’s soil carbon and their harvesting for horticultural purposes means removing the living surface in order to access the partially decomposed matter below, a process that causes millions of metric tonnes of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere, the

Are turf and peat the same?

Peat is milled and then mechanically dried and pressed under high pressure in a factory to form the briquette shape. Turf, by contrast, is peat which has been extracted from bogs by machine and cut into a rectangular shape before being air-dried naturally during the summer.

Why do they burn peat?

Key findings. Peat moorlands are important for carbon storage and they support rare wildlife communities. For this moorland site, a programme of burning once every 20 years was recommended to maintain peat growth and carbon storage, whilst maximising biodiversity and reducing wildfire risk.

Is peat a good fuel?

Peat is the most damaging fuel in terms of global warming; even worse than coal. It has a lower calorific value than coal (generating less energy per tonne when it is burned) and yet it produces higher CO2 emissions per unit, so it is the least climate-efficient way to produce electricity or heat in Ireland bar none.

Does peat turn into coal?

Peat is the first step in the formation of coal, and slowly becomes lignite after pressure and temperature increase as sediment is piled on top of the partially decaying organic matter. In order to be turned into coal, the peat must be buried from 4-10 km deep by sediment.

Is peat harvesting banned in Ireland?

As of 2018, the farm gate value of Ireland’s horticultural industry was €437 million, according to a Government assessment. The sector is now seeking a “fair and workable” licensing system that would provide for the phasing-out of horticultural peat harvesting by 2030, when it could be replaced by alternative methods.