The ultimate objective of energy policy in Ireland, or in any other country, must be to ensure delivery of a secure supply of energy at minimum cost to consumers. Even within this seemingly simple objective the interaction of security of supply with cost means that energy policy will not be simple or obvious. To make matters even more complex, the important environmental problems associated with energy production and use also affect policy choices. At the very least there are choices to be made between cost and security of supply. In the case of the environmental issues, the separate identification of standards to be met or the cost of environmental damage done can allow the environmental objectives to be quantified and to some extent integrated into the calculus. However, the complexity of the engineering and economic issues makes energy a particularly difficult area for policy-makers. The purpose of this note is to identify the range of different issues that confront policy makers in the energy field and to try and simplify some, but not all, of these complex issues
