WORKSHOPS IN SMART ENERGY are set in Thurles, alongside a field trip to the Cloughjordan Green Village, during the first week of June. The activities are part of a Computing Adventure Camp where fifth year students can learn more about how things like Sverre and Sophie Simonsen's Active House works. Active and passive homes are the Ferraris of energy efficiency. The Simonsen's home is situated in Lystrup, a suburb of Aarhus, and it takes the concept of a Passiv Haus to another level. For the past four years, I have watched the results that a Passive House owner gets with his incredibly effective insulation, heat exchanger and energy management systems. Last January, my monthly costs for heating oil and electricity were more than he paid in a year for his heating. We need to build homes that are smart enough to start saving money and that means figuring out ways to have homes produce more energy than they consumes. That's the essence of the smart green programme. The smart green degree in Tipperary Institute delves into the ratio of glass to the floor surface area of a home. Technologies such as solar panels and photovoltaic cells feature in the course materials. Students need to know the kinds of smart software controls available for retrofitting homes. And practical stories from ecohome owners are part of the syllabus as well.
Sign up for the Tipperary Institute Computer Adventure Camp, 7-10 June 2011.
Andrew Purcell "Light Years Ahead" on the green pages of The Guardian, 21 May 2009. Photo by Morten Fauerby.
