New story in Science Mag: Power from peat is on its way out in Ireland

Published in Science Magazine and on ScienceMag.org in December 2018

By Emily Toner

On a cold, gray morning in November, the Corneveagh Bog in central Ireland is a scene of industrial harvest. Like other Irish bogs, it has been drained and stripped of its moss and heather to reveal the rich, black soil beneath: peat. The peat is scored with tread marks left by the machines that shaved off a crumbly layer and turned it over to dry. A long mound of peat, stripped and dried earlier in the season, is covered in plastic, waiting to be piled into rail cars and taken to a nearby power plant. There, the carbon-rich soil will be burned to generate electricity.

But not for much longer, says Barry O'Loughlin, an ecologist employed by Bord na Móna, a state-owned peat harvesting and energy company based in Newbridge that owns Corneveagh Bog. Bord na Móna, which means "Peat Board," will soon retire dozens of bogs like Corneveagh from energy production. Its team of four ecologists will rehabilitate many of them by blocking drains, soaking the ground, and reestablishing plant life, O'Loughlin says as his boots crunch through the frosty soil. "We bring life back into the bog again."

Continue reading the story: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/12/power-peat-more-polluting-coal-its-way-out-ireland?