A number of TUS Midwest courses kicked off recently featuring some great guest speakers and site visits.

Certificate in Energy Renovation of Traditional Buildings

There are 45 industry attendees registered for this level 8, 30-week blended course. To date, 3 lecture days have taken place on Fridays featuring some excellent guest speakers from the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, Department of Environment, Climate & Communications and SEAI. Course attendees have had the opportunity to attend some fantastic tours. Rosie Webb – Senior Architect, Head of Urban Innovation, Limerick City and County Council talked about her exceptional work on the Limerick +CityxChange pilot programme. Tom Cassidy, Conservation Officer at Limerick County Council led a tour of the Georgian quarter of Limerick City, where course participants got an opportunity to view Georgian houses during renovation and view the post renovation works. A great start to the Certificate in Energy Renovation of Traditional Buildings. More interesting speakers and tours will follow.

Higher Diploma in Residential Energy Retrofit Management

The first 3 modules of the level 8 Higher Diploma in Residential Energy Retrofit Management are underway: fabric, air tightness and defects detection and analysis. There are 11 participants on this first of its kind blended course, which includes guest speakers from government departments, SEAI and  industry (St Gobain and Partel). Course participants recently took part in a workshop with Joseph Little, Head of Building Performance & Construction at TU Dublin who introduced wufi assessment. The next site visit will take place at Ecological Building Systems demonstrating the use for sustainable materials.

Certificate in Community Energy Development

Recently 13 students from the Certificate in Community Energy Development course attended a site visit of Ardnacrusha station. The fascinating tour was led by Dermot Finnan of ESB networks, who showed course attendees the plant. The class really enjoyed the tour experience. This tour was part of the ‘Introduction to Community Sustainable Energy’ module. The aim of this module is to provide the learner with an overview of the range of energy systems and technologies. It will address core energy efficiency principles and introduce learners to the applicable renewable energy technologies. The technologies and solutions will be selected and presented within the community energy context. To understand energy efficiency, the learner must understand how energy is generated, in this attempt to understand energy generation we decided to head to Ardnacrusha, as it was the first major power station in Ireland. The history of Ardnacrusha is heavily linked to the development of Irish society with the move to electrifying homes across Ireland only being possible because of the vision of the Irish government, Siemens-Schuckertwerke company and Dr Thomas McLoughlin. At the time of completion, the station at Ardnacrusha had the distinction of being the largest hydroelectric station in the world, although that title would quickly be conceded to the Boulder Dam, latterly known as the Hoover Dam, begun in 1930.

Certificate in Near Zero Energy Building (nZEB) Training

The Certificate in Near Zero Energy Building (nZEB) Training kicked off recently with 20 trainers registered to take part. This course covers the NZEB policies and regulations, importance of thermal fabric and efficient systems leading to active pedagogical learning. This course will include guest speakers from the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, and Electric Ireland Superhomes