Lloyd McGinty
Energy Studies
Graduate
It's not easy being green, which is precisely why businesses rely on people like Lloyd McGinty to ease the pressure.
Since graduating from the University of Otago with an honours degree in Energy Studies, Lloyd has started his own energy auditing company, Transitionz Group Ltd, which works with local companies and organisations to find better ways for them to power up without breaking the bank or wasting precious environmental resources.
It is a growth industry, as Lloyd attests. “I think there will be increasingly more and more demand for energy managers. The price of energy is increasing and the resources aren't going to be there forever. Businesses are always looking for ways to reduce their energy costs.”
Lloyd was a self-described “late starter” when it came to tertiary study. He worked as a plumber and gas fitter for 15 years, during which time he became fascinated with solar power and other forms of renewable energy. He decided it was time for a change of career and enrolled in the Energy Studies programme at Otago.
He hasn't regretted the decision. “The course was a great mixture of theory and practical work,” he says, “from studying energy resources and thermodynamics to doing energy audits of real businesses and monitoring solar collectors.”
And starting his own business may have been challenging at first, but Lloyd says that it has always been varied and stimulating. “One day you might be working with a winery or meat processing business, the next day investigating snow-making machines or heating pools using solar thermal collectors.”
“The benefits of self-employment definitely outweigh the disadvantages,” he says. “If the waves are good, I can go for a surf! And one of the most important things for me, having a young family, is being able to actually spend time with them.”