A lot of people are using the fact they are housebound due to Covid-19 as an opportunity to upskill and learn new things. As we are involved in energy, it seems like a good time to post details of some various online courses you can take to increase your knowledge across a range of energy related topics. This is not a definitive list of energy courses by any means and is more focused on short courses you can take online either free of charge or at a small cost. If you are looking for information on degree courses or similar, this is probably not the place to look. The courses listed are a mixture of on demand courses that you can take whenever suits you to date driven webinars or courses. This is for information purposes only. We plan to update this list as we learn about more courses, so do bookmark it and re-visit. Of course you could also use this time to switch to Ireland’s first community owned electricity supplier.
SEAI Online Energy Academy
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has recently launched their ‘Online Energy Academy’ to help businesses reduce their energy costs. The SEAI Energy Academy can help to lower energy bills by as much as 10%, potentially even more, by educating businesses and employees on changing energy use behaviours and effective energy management. With the increasing societal focus on climate change, and the launch of the Government’s 2019 Climate Action Plan, many businesses are seeking to play their part in reducing their climate impact. The SEAI Energy Academy is an ideal starting point and allows employees to upskill on energy efficiency and avail of tailored online training that can lead to important business cost savings.
https://www.seai.ie/energyacademy/
Tipperary Energy Agency
TEA have been involved with us here at Community Power since the very beginning. They frequently run different training courses on (you guessed it) energy related topics. Sign up to their newsletter to keep informed of new energy courses coming available. Courses are usually face to face, but with the current travel restrictions, courses are being conducted online.
Specification & Design of Heating Systems with Heat Pumps Online Course
This online course aims to enhance the knowledge base of the construction sector in Ireland with respect to heat pumps in homes and commercial buildings. This course is an Engineers Ireland CPD accredited course which you can complete in your own time. click here for more info and to register
Udemy
Udemy.com have 1000s of courses across almost every topic imaginable. To find an energy related course just search for your area of interest on the website such as ‘renewable energy’, ‘solar power’, ‘electricity’ etc. or just browse through the categories. To build up their membership rates they frequently offer discounted or free courses. So for instance you could get a course with a list price of €199 for sale for €11 or €12. Most of the courses at the following link at time of publication are on sale at discounted rate for limited time. Don’t worry if you miss this sale, no doubt there’ll be another one very soon.
https://www.udemy.com/topic/solar-energy/
Future Learn
FutureLearn.com offer a diverse selection of courses from leading universities and cultural institutions from around the world. Courses are free to take, but you must complete within a certain timeframe. You can also pay extra to be able to access the course past your ‘finish by date’, to do tests and get a cert. As Community Power is involved in the CENTS Project, which is a blockchain enabled cooperative P2P energy trading platform, this course looks interesting:
Blockchain in the Energy Sector – Learn how blockchain works, how the technology has evolved, and why it will empower energy customers like never before.
Alison
Alison.com is another site which provides free online courses. It has over 1000 courses listed. Again you’ll need to search for your chosen topic. Doing a search for ‘renewable energy’ under the science category resulted in 30 courses being listed. All 30 are not specifically renewable energy related, but it’s somewhere to start.
https://alison.com/courses?&category=science&query=renewable+energy
Courses with Specific Dates:
Courses listed below must be attended on or completed by specific dates. We will endeavour to update these regularly.
SEAI Online Energy Academy
SEAI’s Sustainable Energy Communities are organising a series of online training sessions for communities. Topics includes energy efficiency, smart energy, renewable energy, renewable heat, sustainable transport, integrated planning, community engagement, strategic financing, home energy saving tips and media training. Full details here: https://www.seai.ie/events/
Tipperary Energy Agency
Generator Grid Connection Process in Ireland
UPDATE: THIS DATE HAS PASSED – KEEP AN EYE ON TEA WEBSITE/NEWSLETTER FOR NEW DATES
This course is aimed at developers, consultants, legal advisors, financial investors, equipment suppliers and contractors for new renewable generation projects in Ireland. Full details here: https://tippenergy.ie/event/online-training-course-generator-grid-connection-process-in-ireland/
TEA are also planning more courses and are seeking input from the public on which courses to run. You can offer your suggestions here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XHMJK9S
