Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, Wales
The Centre for Alternative Technology won a 2011 Ashden Award for its achievement in training people through a range of postgraduate and professional courses to work in sustainable energy.
Background With pressure to reduce CO2 emissions and rising fossil fuel prices, there is a strong need for the UK to reduce demand for energy, to improve energy efficiency, particularly in heating and lighting buildings, and to generate more energy from renewable sources. Several key ingredients are required for this to happen, such as finance, legislation on planning and CO2 emissions and increased carbon prices. However, even with all of that in place, nothing can happen without a skilled workforce to turn the UK’s sustainability aspirations into reality. They are needed in all sectors, including installers to help retrofit homes and businesses, engineers to work on larger scale renewable energy projects, architects to design sustainable buildings and urban planners to redesign our towns and cities to steadily reduce the use of oil-fuelled transport. For several years the skills shortage in the renewable energy sector has been highlighted; the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) has developed a programme of postgraduate and professional training courses to help fill this gap.
The organisation CAT was founded in 1973 by Gerard Morgan-Grenville as a community built around environmentally friendly practices and, in his own words, as “a project to show the nature of the problem and show ways of going forward”. From its early days, working to turn a disused Welsh slate quarry into a sustainable and habitable community, CAT has made significant progress, and now hosts a visitor centre through which about 65,000 people pass every year, learning about the importance of building a sustainable society and how they can help make it happen.
CAT realised however, that just visiting for a few hours was not enough for everyone, and since 1981 has been running training courses of various types and levels. CAT currently employs about 120 people, and through its training and outreach work has become well known across the UK as a leader in the sustainability and renewable energy sector. CAT’s annual income in the last year was about £5.3m.
CASE STUDY
The programme What courses are offered? CAT offers a range of training to fulfil different needs and levels of qualification. At the academic end of the spectrum are the postgraduate and professional diploma courses: – MSc Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies (also available by distance learning).
– MSc Renewable Energy and the Built Environment. – Professional Diploma Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies.
– MSc Environmental Change and Practice: Buildings. – Professional Doctorate: Ecological Building Practices.
CAT started running MSc courses in 1994 in partnership with the University of East London (UEL). Initially the courses were based at UEL but they moved to CAT in 2000. In 2007 CAT formed the Graduate School for the Environment (GSE) and took over the responsibility for the courses, including taking on staff from UEL. UEL still provides validation for some of the academic courses. CAT also offers a professional doctorate in ecological building practices at GSE, validated by the Cardiff Metropolitan University (UWIC).
Alongside the GSE, CAT also offers over 80 short courses, varying in length from one to six days. Topics covered include: – ‘Taster days’ in renewable heating, renewable electricity, solar PV, wind power.
– More in-depth courses on solar PV, solar water heating, biomass heating, wind power, hydro power and sustainable building.
– Installer training for solar PV, solar thermal, biomass and ground source heat pumps.
– Other courses focused on sustainable economics, environmentally friendly water supply and sanitation, ecology, organic food production and woodland management.
The ‘taster day’ courses are aimed at the interested public, and can be taken further by attending the in-depth courses, some of which involve attending one of the MSc course modules. The courses for installers result in accreditation with relevant institutions, and are aimed at professional electricians, plumbers and heating engineers.
How much does it cost? The cost of the MSc courses for UK and EU students in
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