The climate relief holiday is upon us

Plus, a troubling preview of next month’s New York climate week.

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SSE and Coillte’s 169 MW Galway Wind Park. Photo: Coillte.

Just back to London after two weeks driving around the Irish West Country and feeling that, likely by dumb luck, we picked the best place to be in Europe this August.

While the rest of Europe and much of the U.S. baked in unprecedented heat mixed with rising hostility toward tourists in some countries, we sported light windbreakers as we shuffled around in temperatures in the high 60s with an occasional breezy mist.

Perfect for tourists, as well as the ubiquitous wind farms which dot the County Kerry and County Clare countryside and help contribute to the renewable energy that makes up 40% of Ireland’s electricity mix. That’s a number that will have to rise dramatically for the Irish government to assure a steady grid against the challenge of massive data center power usage in Dublin to accommodate the country’s reputation as the financial data center of Europe and the rise of AI.