Straight talking about green technology

A new course run by Kerry Education Board in conjunction with Dingle Hub will train people to be honest brokers who can provide information about sustainable energy technologies to the community.

The ‘energy mentor’ course will train people to provide information on renewable technologies to interested people in the community. They will also support the work of the Hub as they provide a blueprint for the peninsula’s transition to a low carbon economy.

The course is coming at a time of considerable focus on Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy. However, that transition is hampered by a scarcity of reliable information to guide people who are considering changing to more environmentally friendly forms of heating and lighting in their homes and businesses.

The key problem that the course aims to address is that the main source of information on low-carbon technologies is provided by the suppliers themselves. The suppliers will naturally ‘talk up’ their own products and the end result is that ordinary people don’t know who or what to believe.

The free part-time course will run for two days per week over eight weeks, starting on November 13 and will include learning about sustainable technologies as well as studying methods to disseminate the information in the community, and to evaluate the success of the interactions with people.

The best candidates for the course, according to Dingle Hub Manager Deirdre de Bhailís is those who are “interested in learning what has been discovered through research about our transition to a low carbon economy and are interested in sharing that information with other members of the community”.

Meanwhile, Dingle Hub is planning to organise a number of events, workshops and initiatives to build awareness in the community of the paths to a low carbon economy.

To register for the course contact Kerry ETB in Main Street or register on:

http://kerryetbtrainingcentre.ie/course/ energymentor/