About the Principal of TREVolution – Trevor Berrill

Trevor Berrill is an award winning, private consultant in sustainable energy (SE) system design, education and training, and policy. He has worked in both renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) for 40 years, including system design and installation, research and development, technical training, public education and policy. He was branch president of the Australian Solar Energy Society (now the Australian Solar Council) and a founding member in Queensland of the Alternative Technology Association and Wind Energy Association.

He is author of the 2011 (4th Ed. 2014) “Solar Electricity Consumer Guide”. As a project leader for the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE), he coordinated development of and co-author distance learning materials and text books for national technical training in renewable energy, now being used in training institutes and universities across Australia. Trevor constructed and taught from a renewable energy powered, energy efficient centre within TAFE where students learnt by “living with renewables”.

Check out Trevor in a digital story about ways in which Queensland homeowners can adopt renewable and sustainable energy alternatives in their houses and in other areas of their lives – click here to view.

His home is fully solar powered with a grid connected, photovoltaic (PV) system, solar water heating, passive solar design and rain water system. He drives a Mitsubishi iMeiv electric car charged from the Sun.

His hobbies include wind surfing (real testing of the cubic law for power in the wind), slide guitar, bushwalking and mountain biking.

Industry experience includes:

  • 24 years private consultancy in the design and installation of renewable energy power systems, solar water heating, energy efficient buildings, and energy auditing.
  • 14 years technical training and national qualifications development in renewable energy – TAFE and industry associations (Sustainable Energy Industry Association (now Clean Energy Council)).
  • Federal and State Government consultancy in renewable energy – CSIRO 2011, 2014 – house energy assessments, national training course development (1989, 1997, 2003, 2009), Daintree Area Renewable Energy Study (1993), Nationals Parks and Wildlife Service Stand Alone power systems study (1985).

Research work includes:

  • Queensland University of Technology – Kelvin Grove Residential Village energy efficiency study (2007), measurement of standby power of electrical appliances (2008), performance of special glazing on 5star homes (2008), review of efficacy of compact fluorescent lamps (2011).
  • Griffith University – Masters degree dissertation on Engineering Education and the Environment (1998/99),
  • University of Queensland & Queensland Electricity Commission – first wind energy survey of southern Queensland (1985/86) monitoring and solar flat plate collector testing (1978),
  • Sustainable energy policy work with the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society (now Australian Solar Council) (1991), Sustainable Energy Policy Qld. (2007/08), Qld. Conservation Council (2014), Friends of Felton (2012) and Sustainable Queensland (2015,2016).

Qualifications

Qualification Institution / Year
M. Env. Ed. (Hons ) Griffith Uni. 1999
Dip. Mech. Eng. QUT  1978
Cert. Energy Management QUT 1988
Dip. Teaching (TAFE) Griffith Uni. 1989
Cert. IV in Workplace Assessment and Training TAFE Qld 2001
Green Plumbers – Solar Water Heating Systems SEAV 2005
Second Generation Energy Rating Software Module ABSA 2007
Green Plumbers – Water Efficient Technologies MPMSA 2008
Home Sustainability Assessors Course Solarlogic  2009