Energy and the Environment

For a generation of Irish people, who have grown up with an instinctive awareness of the environment and the need for sustainability, the looming prospect of global warming and energy scarcity is not something that is seen in exclusively threatening, or negative terms. Rather it is a call to arms, and an exciting opportunity to learn and work in a new green economy. And Irish higher education institutions are responding to this movement with a flurry of top quality environmental postgraduate courses and research opportunities.

On a day-to-day level, a host of organisations (local authorities, manufacturers, construction firms, etc) are continuously altering and refining operations and procedures in response to various economic pressures and incentives. Environment and Health & Safety officers play a key role in these developments, and for professionals seeking to upskill or move into these challenging professions, an MSc in Environmental Health and Safety Management is available from Dublin (part/full time), Sligo (full time) and Athlone (part time) institutes of technology.

According to Dr Eileen Lane, Course Coordinator in Athlone IT, employers are in the process of changing work practice to meet Irish/EU environmental and health & safety legislative standards. Many science and engineering graduates are therefore utilising these conversion courses to widen their skillset to include environmental and health & safety issues.

’A postgraduate diploma/MSc in Environmental Health and Safety Management is invaluable in terms of career prospects,’ says Dr Lane. ‘Employers are looking for people with specific work experience, e.g. engineering, pharmaceuticals, computers, and who are skilled in environmental health & safety issues – especially in respect of current legislation.’

Subjects tackled during an MSc in Environmental Health and Safety Management include Risk Management, Occupation Hazards and Environmental Management, while a dissertation must also be carried out. The subject matter may be health or safety related, but commonly researched environmental topics by Athlone IT students include Energy Conservation in Industrial Processes, Waste Management, and Environmental Hazards in the Workplace (hospital, pharmaceutical producer, etc).

If those courses equip graduates with the skills to deal with the daily environmental issues faced by an organisation, then NUI Maynooth’s MSc in Climate Change enables the student to foresee and prepare for the biggest and baddest environmental issue coming down the track.

The only course of its kind in Ireland, senior lecturer Professor John Sweeney says the MSc in Climate Change is undertaken by a mix of graduates: those who have studied the climate as part of a degree (e.g. geography) and wish to further their knowledge and those without a background in the area whose work is increasingly concerned with climate change. The course is taught as opposed to research based, and so is suitable for non-academic careers in areas such as overseas development, public policy development, and the insurance sector.

’Insurance is actually the biggest funding provider of climate change research in the world at the moment, and they are very concerned with issues like hazard management, vulnerability, and delimitation of affected areas,’ explains Prof Sweeney.

The subject matter may be a global issue, but it is the climactic affects predicted for Ireland and the policies that may help avert disaster that is the main learning objective of the MSc in Climate Change.

’You really want to know whether the Suir is going to flood more, what will grow in Co Louth, or how biodiversity will change in Co Mayo,’ explains Prof Sweeney. ‘It’s very important that practical policy issues are addressed, and to do that you need to be conscious of the strengths and weaknesses of various global climate models. How those model may be regionally downscaled to provide the answers you need as a decision maker or environmental manager at a local level.’

So what is the major climate change issue for Ireland? Prof Sweeney foresees ‘acute problems with water resource management’.

‘In particular,’ he adds, ‘during the dry summers that are forecast. A lot of issues of in terms of managing water quality will result from reduced river flow. We also see a need to recalculate our flood management statistics and protection measures, to take account of much wetter winters. And those are trends that are already happening in the Irish climate.’

The development of clean and renewable technologies is an extremely fertile source of cutting edge research opportunities, with facilities located all over Ireland. The Irish Government has stated its intention to invest €30 billion in clean energy over the next 10 years, and the SFI (Science Foundation Ireland) has recently added energy to its two existing funding priorities: ICT and biotechnology.

Waterford IT’s Centre for Renewable Energy Research, for example, is involved in researching and developing a wind turbine. Work at NUI Galway’s Energy Research Centre, which recently secured €5 million in funding, ranges from electricity-producing microorganisms to smart wind power. UCC’s Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre applies innovative engineering solutions to harnessing ocean and wave energy. All these centres, and many more nationwide, are benefiting from major national and international investment in clean energy R&D.

Research groups at the Institute of Technology, Sligo are assigned specific renewable energies (solar, wind, biomass). But for Dr John Bartlett, Head of Research, the work of a group looking at Integrated Energy Systems is ‘key’.

’One energy source does not meet all requirements, and to me that’s where a lot of people make a mistake – putting all their eggs into one basket. Because costs will vary considerably from time to time, as we’ve seen with oil recently. Energy efficiency is the first and most important element, in homes and businesses; but thereafter, I would propose a number of integrated sources for providing energy.’

As with other Irish institutions, research at IT Sligo is carried out with a firm understanding of how the findings will apply to real life situations.

’There’s no point in doing any of this kind of research if you cannot translate it into practical reality,’ says Dr Bartlett. Accordingly, renewable energy research teams in IT Sligo are multi-disciplinary and integrated, with designated members looking at the financial, social, or marketing implications of their research findings.

Job prospects for graduates of energy research are strong according to Dr Bartlett, thanks to continued public/private investment, a new industry of technical innovation building up in energy management, and the growing demands of the environmental legislative framework.

Nothing throws up challenges and opportunities like the environment. By investing in a postgraduate programme, you can secure the skills to thrive in the innovative and hi-tech ‘green economy’.