Luas and Energy

Superman

I'm just a bit curious how Ireland plans to power this fabled luas?

Because alot of other couintries on the continent have a good supply of nuclear power and all we really have is peat / coal and oil (yes and wind , eventually).

And will it use alot of energy?

Sarsfield

I'm sure if the worst comes to the worst, we can strap a couple of horses to the front of each tram!

Victor

Originally posted by Superman
I'm just a bit curious how Ireland plans to power this fabled luas?

Electricity of the national grid.

Originally posted by Superman
Because alot of other couintries on the continent have a good supply of nuclear power and all we really have is peat / coal and oil (yes and wind , eventually).

and.....

Originally posted by Superman
And will it use alot of energy?

Trams and trams use very little energy compared to their competitors.

Superman

thanks,

And will we have to import energy to our grid from our EU brothers?

just curious

Andrew Duffy

Of course not. Our electrical grid is connected to the North and Britain, and I think a connection to France is in progress. When we have surplus production it is sold, and when we have an unexpected surge we buy capacity from other countries or from private operators. Also, what is wrong with coal, oil and wind production of electricity? Nuclear power plants are inefficient, dangerous and will leave a legacy of the most appaling toxic materials in existence for hundreds of thousands of years, all to produce a couple of tens of thousands of bombs. Heat, converted to electricity, is a mere side effect. Since the non-proliferation treaty, very few new nuclear plants have been built since plutonium isn't required any more.

Andrew Duffy

Incidentally, it took about two seconds to find out that a Citadis tram, like all Alstom trams, use 4 100 Kw motors. If all 40 trams are running at full power, this is a total power consumption of 16 Mw. Take a look at http://www.esb.ie/main/about_esb/power_stations_intro.jsp to see our electricity generation capacity. Also consider that a typical 100 Bhp car engine produces 74 Kw of power, so a tram uses about as much power as six cars while carrying over 200 people, and the power is generated more efficiently.
How did you think the DART was powered? Or are you just a troll, and have I wasted three minutes of my life?

Genghis

You sure about an interconnector to France, Andrew? I know there is one planned for the East coast to Wales, and that afaik the UK is already interconnected with continental Europe, perhaps this is what you are thinking of?

Those power stats for the Luas are very impressive. I'm going to start spouting the 200 people vs 6 cars point at drivers at every opportunity!

Andrew Duffy

Yeah, sorry 'bout that - we only have an electrical connection to NI, but we have three gas pipelines (one through NI) to Britain, and from there to the continent. Britain is also connected to France electrically. I think I may have heard people asking for an electrical connection to the continent (obviously through Britain) and got some wires crossed (I apologise for that pun)

BrianD

Something tells me that Superman is trolling! Having said that isn't wasteful Ireland riding dangerously close to the maximum of our current electricity production?

In any case the fabled luas is a reality!

Victor

Originally posted by BrianD
Having said that isn't wasteful Ireland riding dangerously close to the maximum of our current electricity production?

Actually last winter had a larger safety margin that previously - we are moving away from risks to supply as new plants come on line and we move away from heavy industry (Irish Steel, IFI, Irish Glass).

theciscokid

While were on the topic of the luas

i was looking at the www.luas.ie site , impressively they can fit 235 people into a single tram

how are they charging for fares, it's seem to be a subway style carriage where one can get on and off at different areas..

anyone any info on this?

Andrew Duffy

Every stop has a ticket machine, tickets of all types must be validated on it before getting on, and ticket inspectors will board in groups to reduce fare evasion.

Steve Conway

Also, like DART, LUAS will save on power consumption by using "regenerative braking".

What this means (in simple terms) is that when a tram needs to slow down, the momentum of the tram is slowed by running it as a generator - i.e. it generates electricity while braking, that is fed back into the overhead wires, to feed other trams on the system that are drawing power.

That's a cool system, not only does it make braking easierand save wear on brake systems, but it's making electricity while doing so.

This system has been around for some time on trains/trams, and that new dual-motor Nissan car is now using a similar system for the electric part of it's motive power, although in that case the energy generated is stored for later use by the same vehicle.

Superman

Thanks guys pretty good answers

and Andrew relax i am not a campaigner for nuclear power!