ABSTRACT
Politicians and administrators have a vested interest in predicting economic growth, often unrealistically; this leads to over-projection of energy demand and distorts sensible and frugal energy planning. In a perfect world, there would be a world energy policy and each nation state would have its own energy policy conforming with the world energy policy. In the real world, it is doubtful if any country has a well-developed and coherent energy policy. The consequences of not having an energy policy are well exemplified by Ireland. In 1971 when D&il Eireann approved the Nuclear Energy Act the prospects for a nuclear power station in Ireland seemed good. Official pronouncements usually acknowledge the value of so-called alternative energy sources but go on to say that their potential contribution is small to negligible in die overall energy scenario, that they are expensive and that the technology is unproven.
