Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

I will quickly criticise certain organisations for soaking up funding and the limelight while doing nothing. But this is small grass root volunteer led stuff.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

Being volunteer is a marathon not a sprint. It can be an isolating and draining slog. It can lead to magic moments and breakthroughs.

There’s one thing I have never found help motivate or reward volunteers who are pushing for change more than critiquing them for not delivering enough impact.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

You can’t *just* armchair give out about things. At a certain point you need to actually create some value, some change, some impact. Instead of just shouting we are all terrible all of the time.

Looking forward to seeing you out on streets pushing for change rather than just writing about it.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

Oh come on.

Is there a need for institutional powers to honestly assess their lack of ambition and impact. HELL YES!

Should there be space for folks criticising volunteer-led projects. No.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

“It was never our intention to criticise the work of volunteers” then you directly follow it with a reply critiquing the methodology and impact of a volunteer-led project. Seriously re-read what you’ve posted.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Sep 9

Oh dear @news.rte.ie, 0.25% does not mean a quarter. 0.25% is a quarter of 1%. The article has been up for 4 hours unfixed.

0.25% suggests our hundreds of wind turbines are negligible when, in combination with solar and inter-connectors meant August 2025 had one of the lowest CO2g/kwh ever.

Image of an RTE article with the headline “Wind farms provided over 0.25% of electricity in August”. The opening sentence of the article says “New figures today show that more than a quarter of the country’s electricity came from wind”

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

Feljin Jose @feljin.ie · Aug 15

I delivered the 700 page business case and cost benefit analysis for MetroLink to Michael O'Leary's office yesterday.

O'Leary said on RTÉ Radio that there’s been no cost-benefit analysis done on Metrolink which was then repeated on multiple news outlets.

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

IrishCycle.com @irishcycle.com · Aug 14

Department will not confirm why replacment of 41-year-old trains is subject to new review

-- Replacement of original Dart trains is just 0.8% of the transport capital budget up to 2030.-- The Government is accused of gambling with the reliability of the rail network.-- If the order isn't made…

Department will not confirm why replacment of 41-year-old trains is subject to new review

-- Replacement of original Dart trains is just 0.8% of the transport capital budget up to 2030.-- The Government is accused of gambling with the reliability of the rail network.-- If the order isn't made soon, delays could be prolonged as the production line stops. The Department of Transport is remaining tight-lipped as to why a straightforward order for the replacement of the original Dart trains -- which are breaking down at an increased frequency -- has been bundled into the Government's National Development Plan review.

irishcycle.com

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

IrishCycle.com @irishcycle.com · Jul 15

DLR Connector: How well will it connect? Better than most projects, but not all if it doesn’t get the support it needs

-- Connector project will bring a jump in safety, accessibility and enable activity. Comment & Analysis: This article takes an in-depth look at the details of the 8km DLR…

DLR Connector: How well will it connect? Better than most projects, but not all if it doesn’t get the support it needs

-- Connector project will bring a jump in safety, accessibility and enable activity. Comment & Analysis: This article takes an in-depth look at the details of the 8km DLR Connector project. But if you support safer streets for people outside of cars in Dublin, you should act today and respond to the public consultation now. The non-statutory public consultation ends today, and regardless of any of the details outlined in this article, …

irishcycle.com

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

Green Collective @greencollective.io · Jun 20

We've just had two record-breaking days in a row for Irish solar:
- on Wednesday, solar farms produced 8.1GWh, a new one-day record
- on Thursday, solar farm output reached 861MW, a new high

On these strong days, solar farms are fulfilling about 7% of electricity demand with peaks of about 20% ☀️🔎

A stacked area chart of the electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland. There are eight fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, hydro, solar, wind, gas, and other fossil fuels. The chart also includes a black line showing electricity demand.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes domestic solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO

A stacked area chart of the renewable electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland. There are six fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, hydro, solar, wind. The y axis indicates the percentage of demand being met by each source.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes domestic solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO

A tree map of the electricity mix on the island of Ireland. There are are four categories: renewables (comprising biomass, hydro, solar, wind); storage (comprising batteries and pumped storage); fossil fuels (comprising coal, gas, oil, and waste-to-energy); and imports. Larger sources are annotated with the GWh and percentage of demand fulfilled by that source.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes domestic solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

Ciarán Cuffe @ciarancuffe.bsky.social · May 25

Next phase of the Dublin City Centre Transport Plan kicked off this morning with no left turn for cars from Westland Row to Pearse Street.

A welcome boost for bus reliability, and pedestrian priority. Now for some segregated cycle paths, and a few more trees.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · May 1

The NTA say they are negotiating with the community but they are talking to a handful of people. It is not the public and open process that we have all been engaging in since 2018.

It's totally unacceptable behaviour for a public body.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · May 1

The NTA are undermining years of public consultation on the BusConnects bus and cycle lanes. They are compromising in private dealings with objectors.

Tell them no! We want the approved bus lanes, traffic calming, and playgrounds. Not more car parking and cars!

www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...

Sign the Petition

🛑 Stop the Rollback: Move Forward with Making Ballyer Roads Safer for All

www.change.org

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Apr 23

Also who doesn't love trains. Steam trains! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hszu...

How a Steam Locomotive Works (Union Pacific "Big Boy")

YouTube video by Animagraffs

www.youtube.com

Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Apr 23

Also great videos by Animagraphs are this video based on HMS Victory: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nr1...

Not just the structure of the ship but also the standing and running rigging of the masts and sails.

How an 18th Century Sailing Warship Works (HMS Victory)

YouTube video by Animagraffs

www.youtube.com

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Apr 23

'How the Hoover Dam Works' is a work of art by one of the most talented youtubers out there. Utterly enthralling. I didn't notice the time fly by. The donations from commenters is like nothing I've ever seen before. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EdM...

How Hoover Dam Works

YouTube video by Animagraffs

www.youtube.com

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Apr 6

Even from that street view image there are at least three design elements that would not be up to the very latest Irish urban road design standards. All design elements that are meant to reduce speed and provide more time and space to reduce collisions, and resulting tragedies.

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

Fei Wang @feiwang.bsky.social · Mar 21

Inspired by this illuminating chart, I made one based on Irish data as well. The correlation (and let's be real, causation) between gas prices and electricity prices cannot be clearer.

Chart title: "Wholesale Electricity and Gas Prices in Ireland, January 2019 to February 2025"

A line chart by Green Collective with gas and electricity price indices, showing the changes in monthly gas and electricity prices from January 2019 to February 2025. The correlation is clear, as electricity price index close tracks gas price index, as well as reflecting spikes during the European energy crisis.

Footnote reads: "Gas prices used to calculate the index are monthly averages of first and second tier imbalance prices. Wholesale electricity prices used to calculate the index are monthly averages of imbalance prices. Calculations of these monthly indices start in January 2019.
Source: Green Collective, EirGrid, Gas Networks Ireland"

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

Fei Wang @feiwang.bsky.social · Mar 3

Look, I know gas networks have to do their job. I am just continuously disappointed in major publications in Ireland being lazy by syndicating press releases (this applies to both fossil fuels and clean energy lobbyists) without doing any additional reporting.

Green Collective @greencollective.io · Mar 3

February had the lowest ever share for fossil fuels on the Irish grid: domestic gas generation was equivalent to 35.3% of electricity demand. So naturally 1st Monday of March comes, the Independent chooses to syndicate a Gas Networks press release about gas demand hitting record highs in January. 🫠

Gas demand hit new record during January’s snow days

Ireland saw a record high demand for gas on January 8 this year, as temperatures plunged as low as -8C and much of the country was blanketed in snow.

www.independent.ie

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

Dublin Cycling Campaign @dublincycling.bsky.social · Feb 28

Seen or experienced a collision or near miss!? 😳🚨

Don’t forget you can log it on CollisionTracker.ie ✅

It takes only a few mins but it’s really good at showing up high risk locations, in the absence of official action.

Awesome work by @dublininquirer.com and @irishcycle.com

Active Travel Collision Tracker

CollisionTracker.ie

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Feb 28

I think it's easy to just blame things on something as abstract as bureaucracy. Is the fundamental problem that not enough people agree on the need or approach to take action, and those people are using a bureaucratic process to hide behind?

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Reposted by Kevin Baker

ℳatt @matttomic.bsky.social · Feb 20

Simpsons Itchy & Scratchy land episode: Lisa runs into Homer and Marge's room with Bart in a wagon looking dead. She yells "mom dad! Pope Francis passed!"

Bart wakes up and announces "that's right - passed another peaceful night in hospital!"

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Feb 21

The equivalent here would be someone in Scotland writing an article questioning why is ESB involved in the delivery of offshore win projects there.

ESB is a “fossil fuel” company according to this definition as they run gas and coal fired power plants here.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Feb 21

We need these wind farms if we have any hope of guaranteeing our energy security or hitting our climate goals. We need that investment now & not in 15 years.

Am I skeptical of oil majors like Shell or BP being involved in these projects: hell yes. But that doesn’t appear to be the main story here.

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Kevin Baker @kevinwbaker.bsky.social · Feb 21

What’s the problem here? Irish companies do not have the significant capital or expertise to deliver these projects.

Labelling EDF, the French multinational energy company, as a fossil fuel company is hilarious sweeping statement. They run 50+ nuclear reactors and invest billions in solar/wind.

The Journal Investigates @investigates.thejournal.ie · Feb 21

One of Ireland’s most lucrative natural resources is being sold to a range of foreign investors looking to make a profit.

Just two Irish companies are involved in Ireland's offshore wind projects and neither are the lead developer.

Read more: http://jrnl.ie/6627898t

Who controls Ireland's offshore wind? Spoiler: Not Irish companies

Big oil, governments and one of Europe’s largest polluters are among the developers of planned projects off our coast.

jrnl.ie

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