THAT Eamon Ryan has been one of the most visible members of the new government since it took office should come as little surprise.

Many if not most of the biggest controversies involving business . . . energy prices, the future of the ESB, the Corrib gas pipeline, broadband, climate change . . . cross his desk. And if we are as close to the lights going out as Ryan fears, we'll be hearing even more from him . . . assuming you've got a radio that works on batteries or winds up.

It's still early days, but so far one of the most surprising things about Ryan's tenure in office has been his overtures to industry.

Early on he announced that he wanted Ireland to become a world leader in green energy technologies . . . something almost as fanciful as the notion, in 1987, that Dublin could become a top global financial centre.

"Twenty-odd years ago we set about developing an expertise in financial services . . . we had no expertise in that type of finance at the time, " Ryan says. "It was a political decision that this is where we want to go, create the environment for it. Lo and behold, 20 years later 20,000 people work in the IFSC."

"Similarly in the energy area, this government will do everything it can to promote renewable heating and electricity. It's growing. Look at the construction industry . . . and I think it is an energy industry. Companies like Kingspan, CRH, a whole range of companies are really delivering energy products."

The next priority, he argues, is to marry some of Ireland's newly-acquired financial expertise with the goal of encouraging new thinking in energy production and efficiency: "Let's look at international best practice in green funds to invest in technology in this area. And also, what innovative systems can we put in place for lending to householders to invest in renewables." Some $85bn in investment is looking for homes in green technologies, according to the UN. Ryan wants some of that to come here.

Ryan sees opportunities for the ESB . . . privatisation of which, he reiterates, is off the table . . . to reinvent itself as an innovator. By making itself more friendly to new ideas like "distributed generation", where electricity and heat are produced as close as possible to where they will be used, as well as taking a leadership position in opening up to generating electricity through offshore wind and harnessing tidal energy, the ESB could guarantee itself a long future, Ryan argues.

"The utility that does become a world leader in delivering smart metering or distributed generation is going to have a big advantage. I'm saying to the ESB there's huge potential here for becoming a world leader."

It's a bright future if it were to come true.

But the reality of keeping the lights on is itself a daunting enough task.

Underpinning the thinking of Ryan and his Green Party colleagues, not to mention an increasing portion of business and most politicians, is a growing consensus about the urgent need to confront climate change. A quick look at Ireland's biggest greenhouse gas emitters puts the ESB's Moneypoint power station at the very top of the list. But as Ryan makes clear, shutting it down is a non-starter.

"It's hard to shut down any power station because we're close a point where we don't have enough power to keep the lights on.

There has increasingly been a very close call . . . particularly in winter and cold periods . . .where as to whether we'll have enough power generation."

So how worried should we be about the lights staying on this winter?

"It's a good question, " says Ryan. Electricity demand grows by the equivalent of a new Ard na Croise power plant every six months, he adds. "Over the past four years in terms of demand growth alone, that's been the equivalent of a new Moneypoint."

"It is very difficult for us . . . a real issue around sufficient electricity."

Ryan even waxes optimistically that it would be possible to capture the carbon emissions from the coal-fired Moneypoint by pumping the CO2 into a disused oil well . . . a heretical notion in some Green circles . . . but one Ryan says we'll have to entertain. The only way we can even contemplate shutting Moneypoint is if we radically reduce our demand for electricity.

But Ryan acknowledges a further irony. In his brief for communications he is responsible for encouraging the takeup of broadband.

Isn't that going to encourage even more demand for electricity . . . as we find new ways to use lots of new devices?

"Broadband may help in the medium term, " he says, noting that it may allow fewer car journeys. "But you're right . . . in terms of laptops, for example, they use a lot of electricity."

"Does that always have to be the way? It seems to me, no."

He describes ideas from leading technology firms about 'thin client' laptops that are stripped down to internet browsers, cutting 90% of the energy use. Some tech industry thinkers believe we are headed in that direction. "If we had a 90% energy reduction in that technology, that would be a step in the right direction."

Squaring the circle becomes even more difficult when it comes to the contradictions around biofuels . . . transport fuels derived from plant oils or other organic waste. Originally seen as a bulwark against an energy crisis, biofuel production has quickly become controversial. Some critics, such as George Monbiot and a growing chorus of worried economists at the UN and OECD, see biofuels contributing to a sudden increase in world food prices, as crops once raised for food are diverted to fuel.

"My view is that biofuels are not going to provide a complete solution to the levels of oil supply. We will not get what we have from present oil production from biofuels, at least first-generation. It's not a miracle cure or easy solution to rising oil prices. It may provide a secure supply for essential public transport or other services. But it wouldn't provide for the current level of transport."

"Food prices is a more difficult one. It's a factor of markets, so it's hard to regulate conditions of what markets might do. We have to be careful not to see biofuels as the magic bullet for all our transport needs, people driving and others not having enough food. We'll always have to go and make sure the world doesn't go hungry first."