Get to know Siona Daly

Siona Daly Q&A

• What’s your new job title?

My job title is Regional Energy Manager of the newly established South East Energy Unit which includes the Local Authorities in Kilkenny, Carlow, Waterford, Wexford and Tipperary.

• What does the role entail?

The most important aspect of my role involves regular communication with the newly appointed Energy Officers in each of the Local Authorities. We form whats known as the Implementation Assistance Group and we meet every two weeks to progress CAPEX works that involve energy efficiency and decarbonization building retrofits. I also communicate regularly with the Steering Group of the South East Energy Unit, SEAI, and other stakeholders such as CARO, Energy Agencies and other Local Authorities. It helps a lot that I have worked in the area of energy efficiency and decarbonization building project development for nearly 20 years and am a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with Engineers Ireland.

• Where did you work before this position?

Before this position, I worked as Consulting Services Manager in a company called Action Zero. This company was a fantastic place to work with really amazingly talented skilled engineers and a really positive culture of wellbeing and inclusivity. I learned a lot about heat pump technology and things to watch out for when deploying heat pumps in buildings. I also spent a lot of time during this phase of my career self-reflecting and learning about my personal and professional values. It was a great opportunity to test out and fine-tune my leadership style and skills on a brilliant team of consulting engineers. My confidence in my leadership abilities grew significantly at this company.

• What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

I don’t read very often, only when on holiday, but I did read a few pages of my daughters “Taylor Swift: The Story behind the Songs” a few nights ago. I am a total Swiftie – probably a bigger fan than my 10 year old. I think Taylor Swift is a total trailblazer for women empowerment, especially women working in male dominated industries. She is incredibly talented, a genius and definitely a role model for me.

• How important is the issue of climate change/action to you personally?

When I was in university doing my engineering degree over 20 years ago now, there was no “industry” tackling climate action. I was exposed to a few lectures on the greenhouse effect and I remember writing a technical essay on “The Power of the Ocean”. Although limited, it was exposure to these topics that peaked my interest. On graduation in 2004/2005, I never expected a climate action “industry” to take off, but less than 3 years after I graduated from University, I was certified as one of the first BER assessors in the country, and working in a small sustainable energy consulting company. Its fair to say that I have been in the climate action “industry” from the beginning, have seen a lot of new regulation, policy, programmes, technologies and projects and its been truly so fulfilling to work and apply my engineering skills for social good and purpose. I also spent time working in Canada on climate action which was really interesting. I lived in the very beautiful city of Vancouver in British Columbia which is already highly electrified and operates primarily off hydro-generated power by the regulated utility BC Hydro – renewable electricity! So really interesting to live somewhere that was so “green” and made the most of their natural resources.

On a personal level, I was fortunate to design and build my own house. I designed it with my husband using passive solar design fundamentals with high levels of insulation and high performance glazing, minimising north facing glazing and maximising south facing glazing to avail of free heat and also an abundance of natural light. Like everyone who self builds we ran out of money towards the end of the build and so I had to wait 7 years for solar PV which I installed last summer. I have also just recently bought a new electric car so yes, happy to say, that I practice at home what I preach at work! 😊