Ireland is heavily dependent on expensive imported fossil fuels. Serious concerns have arisen about their environmental impact and about the security of the nation's energy supply, given the political instability of many of the regions in which oil reserves are located. Sustainable, renewable indigenously produced energy is now seen as a major part of the solution.

Ireland has a long way to go to achieve a measure of self-sufficiency through renewable energy. In 2006, according to the Central Statistics Office, the country produced a total of 420 kilotonnes of energy products from all renewable sources. In contrast, it imported 9,142 kilotonnes of petroleum products, about one-third in the form of crude oil.

GTI has identified renewable, sustainable energy as a major focus of research in 2008 and beyond. GTI has already established relationships between Professor Mark O'Malley, a professor of electrical engineering at University College Dublin, and the equivalent department at Georgia Tech. A memorandum of understanding is being prepared to support student exchanges in the electrical power area.

GTI's research will have three objectives.

• The first objective will be to develop models to enable policy makers to make decisions in view of significant technical challenges and the need to balance risks and opportunities. The aim of this effort will be to produce an advisory and design tool that offers robust planning and implementation solutions, such as the ability to determine which renewable and non-renewable energy systems meet annual energy load requirements, acquisition and operation costs, and individual solution attributes.
• The second objective will be to assist Irish companies with innovative and efficient ways of producing renewable energy. This will require conducting collaborative applied research with the energy specialists at Georgia Tech, Irish universities, and researchers in other European countries. GTI has already signed a master agreement to assist an Irish company converting ocean wave energy into electric power.
• The third objective will be to develop a test bed for the use of one of the futuristic renewable energy sources, most likely a biofuel. As a part of this task, a detailed and realistic technology transition and commercialization plan will be prepared describing a well-thought-out series of project tasks and a logical set of commercialization "paths forward."