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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 2 Oct 2003

Vol. 571 No. 3

Written Answers. - Research and Development Projects.

Eamon Ryan

Question:

43 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Education and Science the funding which has been provided through his Department in companies and third level institutions over the past 12 months for research and development into renewable forms of energy, specifically bio fuels, the potential of rapeseed, wind energy, wave energy and solar energy. [21553/03]

In the past 12 months, the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology has funded individuals to conduct research into renewable energy.

Research Body

Project Title

NUI, Galway

Optimising the Deployment of Solar Energy

TCD

A Study on Liquid Column Dampers for reducing vibrations in Wind Turbines

University of Limerick

Energy and Chemicals from convertech biomass technologies

University College Cork

Development of an integrated hear pump energy simulation model for green buildings

Dublin City University

Proton Transport in new materials for fuel cells

University of Limerick

Analysis of power generation system of wave energy power converter

University College Dublin

Ireland as an exporter of Renewable Electricity

Assessing the Potential Role of Grid Interconnection

University College Cork

Control of Advanced Wind Turbines

University College Cork

Statistical Methods for the Analysis of Wind Wave Fields

The council awarded €19,500 per annum for each of these projects. In addition, the following two research projects were commissioned within the past 12 months under the technological programme in the institutes of technology: IT, Carlow – biothanol from waste for use as a fuel; and Limerick IT – design as a wind VSCF converter. In these cases, each project was awarded €34,000.
While there were no new awards made under the programme for research in third level institutions, PRTLI, there are a number of ongoing projects in this area. These are: IT, Carlow – using biotechnological techniques, research into the treatment of toxic pollutants in soil and water, the environmental impact of current agricultural practices and biochemical work in the area of cereal crops and the conversion of waste raw materials from the malting brewing and distilling industries into valuable products – this project was awarded €1.27 million; NUIG – mulitdisci plinary research in the areas of marine science and rural development – priority areas of research include biodiversity, climate change, including research based on alaeoenvironmental research, marine environment, waste, social and economic dimensions and human impact; this project was awarded €9.5 million; Sligo IT – research to address gaps in knowledge about the nature of sludge, treatment of sludges, about the reuse of biosolids and about systems for overall waste management – this project was awarded €13.18 million; University College Cork – institute supports and integrates environmental, marine and coastal research and its work complements the work at the ECI at NUIG – areas of research include biodiversity evaluation and eco-system function, coastal infrastructure development, environmental biotechnology, environmental chemistry, environmental engineering, eco-electronics, environmental management, legislation and policy, sustainable energy and geographic information systems and modelling. This project was awarded €26.9 million.
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