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The Panasonic Trust Fellowships
Michael Pepler – MSc Renewable Energy & the Environment, University of Reading
 After completing a PhD and working in software and electronics for four years, I became interested in the future of the world’s energy supply and related problems such as climate change. It became increasingly clear to me that my future lay in sustainable energy rather than software. Thanks to the Panasonic Trust I was able to able to retrain in 2005 by studying for an MSc at the University of Reading in Renewable Energy and the Environment.
During the course I worked as a consultant with the Ashden Awards, a charity that promotes the use of local sustainable energy in developing countries and the UK. After graduating I was asked to continue working as a consultant and this led to an appointment as Technical Manager a year later. Still using my computer skills, I help to manage the website and organise our data, making use of social media to spread the word on sustainable energy. My work requires me to have a good understanding of all renewable energy technologies, and the MSc course has equipped me with the skills to understand and evaluate the new technologies. It has proved invaluable in giving me a thorough grounding in everything from biogas digesters to wind turbines. The Ashden Awards are also concerned with the environmental and social context in which technology is used. I was able to take an optional module in microfinance, which is one way of making renewable energy technology affordable to people in developing countries.
My work for the Ashden Awards is only four days a week, the remainder of my time is taken up managing the eight acre woodland my wife and I bought in 2007. The MSc module on biomass heating as helped me understand the science behind producing and using wood fuel. The woodland is managed by coppicing; trees are felled in the winter and re-grow very rapidly up to two metres per year initially. The trees are harvested every 7-20 years, depending on the species, allowing the best parts to be used for timber and the remainder to produce logs to heat homes locally. It’s a nice balance to have one job at my desk with a computer and the other out in the woods with a chainsaw!
Taking a year out of work and returning to study has demonstrated my commitment to working in the renewable energy sector. Without the course it would have been difficult for me to make the transition from software and electronics. I am grateful to the Panasonic Trust for their financial assistance in this.
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