Imperial Sustainable Energy Futures MSc scoops Innovation award

Imperial course receives Institute of Chemical Engineers' Award for Innovation and Excellence - <em>News</em>

Tuesday 17 November 2009
By John-Paul Jones

An MSc course that focuses on sustainable energy has been recognised for its impact and innovativeness at the Institution of Chemical Engineers’ (IChemE) Awards for Innovation and Excellence this month.

The course won out in the awards’ Education and Training category, with the judges’ chief criteria including originality and impact on the environment. The MSc is run by the Energy Futures Lab, a College Institute and hub for interdisciplinary energy research. The course focuses on the analysis of energy systems and the development of energy solutions.

The course’s director Professor Sandro Macchietto of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology, together with a student from last year’s cohort - Philip Gruenewald, was at the ceremony at York racecourse on 3 November to collect the award. Professor Macchietto said, “When it was announced I felt immense pride.”

Professor Macchietto (right) and former student Philip Gruenewald accept the award

Since the course’s launch in 2007 its driving principle has been to provide skills and knowledge for a broad and integrated understanding of energy and sustainability issues. Professor Macchietto and his colleagues worked to develop the course from scratch, building up an integrated and comprehensive syllabus, drawing on the expertise of 40 Imperial academics across three faculties.

Course components cover a wide range of sustainability issues, from the technology around capturing and storing carbon to systemised approaches to utilising diverse energy resources, as well as some of the politics and economics around green issues. Professor Macchietto said: “The business of energy is changing; more companies now need to know about low-carbon supply and use and the different forms of alternative energy. Their business is becoming more complex and they need people who can understand the big picture."

This comprehensiveness has allowed many former students to go on to careers in sustainability. One, Niels Jakeman, is now a Strategy Analyst at EDF Energy, analysing the potential mix of energy types required to meet the company’s needs in the future. He said: “The MSc provided me with an invaluable understanding of both the technological prospects and the economic trade-offs of a range of energy technologies.”

For Professor Macchietto this is fulfilment of one of his main hopes for the course. “I’ve spent many years at Imperial and was asking myself how I could make a further contribution to the great challenge of climate change,” he says. “When you help train and equip many new people it has a multiplicative effect which goes beyond anything one might do as an individual.”

Professor Macchietto is stepping down as director of the course this year, though will remain involved in the course: “The IChemE award comes at a time when I’ve spend five years on this and it’s a brilliant way to mark it.”

He added: “Recognition like this makes the long days working on developing such a world-class course worthwhile. It was a collective effort, with many people putting in a lot of new ideas, work, and skills, so it was an award for everyone.”

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