These meters reported usage on a 30/60 minute interval, this information was available through an online portal as well as a device in the building.

The CER also publsihed that the smart electricity meter trial recorded a reduction on average of 2.5% and a peak time reduction of 8.8%

We envisage that stundents of LIT Tipperary’s Smart Sutainable Energy degree programme will be examining the design of these meters as well as the cost/benefit analysis

An investigation by the newspaper the Herald Sun has uncovered a significant design flaw with the meter roll out as the meter were not designed to integrate with the governments roll out of a digital cable network known as the National Broadband Network (NBN). The meters are not compatible with the NBN for a number of “technical reasons”

The smart meter roll out commenced in October 2009 while the NBN roll out only commenced in August of this year so there is some argument but I am surprised that there is no simple bridging/gateway solution. Bridging/gateway solutions are a popular for allowing different protocols and systems to interface with each other. These are issues that our Smart Sustainable Energy students will be studying and developing hardware and software solutions for.

About 800,000 of the 2 million meters have been installed already and the cost of the roll out has doubled to 2 billion Australian dollars. Analysts estimate that if the meters were NBN compatible they could save between 250 and 300 million dollars on the roll out.

So the mantra for a smart meter roll out in Ireland is compatibility.

Approximately 240 attendees were present at the event where projects involving wind energy, biomass heating and energy efficiency upgrades were presented by Seamus.  The audience included engineers, architects, consultants, academics and project developers from Canada, USA, EU, Asia and Africa.

Seamus filled me on some of the RETScreen usage stats “We have been working with RETScreen since 2000 and have used the tool extensively for the development of projects.  It has close to 300,000 users across the world and has proven to be an excellent tool for assessing energy projects at the feasibility stage. LIT-Tipperary and the TEA bring a unique perspective in that we include the use of RETScreen in education, training and project development.  I was letting the conference participants know about how we have used the tool and what we plan to use it for in the future.  For example, we will be using RETScreen as part of the Institute’s Degree in Smart Sustainable Energy.  Also, we are developing an on-line training course in RETScreen which we hope to have available later this year.”

Participants were particularly interested in the fact that LIT-Tipperary and the TEA have combined education, training and project development elements in its activities.  A new network of RETScreen trainers has been established and LIT Tipperary will be involved in its development.  LIT Tipperary has started discussions with RETScreen so that students on the Smart Sustainable Energy Degree will be working on new modules as part of their degree programme.  This will give the students great experience of working on real world problems related to the sustainable energy sector.

We recently had our double glazing windows serviced by munster joinery. I was surprised to learn that our 9 year old windows can be upgraded to 24mm triple glazing. This involves replacing the glazing and where necessary the hinges and seals.

I belive there would be an improved thermal comfort experience. But I will have do some.more research before we make a decision. The no.mess and fuss of the.upgrade makes it very attractive.

Irish Independent on the Kindle. Mobi file created by Calibre

I am a big fan of the wifi version of the kindle as I can use Calibre to download Irish & UK news papers and have them converted to a mobi kindle file which then gets emailed to my kindle. All this is achieved via 1 click.

A kindle has an associated email address. To send a document to your kindle you just email it as an attachment. I hope to exploit this feature and use it good effect for keeping up to date with developments in the sustainable energy tech sector which our students in LIT Tipperary will be exploring as part of our degree in smart sustainable energy

Cloughjordan Eco Village 500 sqm solar array for hot water

As we head back for another academic year in LIT Tipperary/ Tipperary Institute my thoughts are turning to the busy year we have ahead of us. Our Smart Sustainable Energy students in our level 8 and level 7 programmes will have the oppurtunity to experience many aspects of the renewable energy sector in our sustainable orientated campus. These include:

• Installation of our wood chip heating system for the Thurles campus. Students will have a read only access to the complete system which will be used through out the 4 years of the degree.
• Field trips with the Smart Green Society to various Renewable sectors/sites
• Installation of our wind anemometer and Davis Pro weather station. We will use this data in our maths analysis modules to estimate wind speeds and models for wind turbine power estimation. The weather station will also record solar activity and we will use this to estimate solar PV output.
• Solar PV Trainer, our new solar PV trainer will assist us in exploring how to harness solar energy to generate electricity as well as developing hardware/embedded solutions to integrate with the solar PV kit.
• Assist in organising Green week, last years green week was a great success and we hope to continue this with a week of talks by people and businesses in the green sector.
• Green campus initiative, LIT Tipperary is in the process of seeking green campus accreditation. This will require a significant amount of input from both the campus community and management. Members of the smart green society will assist in this process.
• Explore and learn software development processes and languages that are used in the renewable energy/ green tech sector. The efficient use of green resources requires intelligent software and hardware to harness this resource to good effect from web apps to hardware solutions. Students will explore how software applications and embedded systems can be developed to assist in this area.
• Monitor and assist in reducing the electrical energy demand of our Thurles and Clonmel campuses. Using real time electrical monitoring equipment we aim to educate the campus community about electrical consumption and reduce it.
• Monitor and assess data from energy efficient communities so as to assess the performance of various building technologies and renewable heating sources.