Alumnus has bright ideas to save the environment

Discovering ways to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is just another day at the office for UQ graduate David Boughey.

Mr Boughey is the Assistant Director of Lighting and Equipment Energy Efficiency in the Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency where he is the project manager for the phase-out of inefficient incandescent lighting.

“My current job has involved me learning more about light bulbs than I probably every really wanted to know,” Mr Boughey said.

“More seriously, it has been rewarding to be part of a project that will result in significant savings in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and thus contribute to efforts to minimise climate change.”

Throughout his career Mr Boughey has participated in a variety of high profile environmental projects within Australia.

These include the development of endangered species legislation, the national strategy for the conservation of Australia’s biological diversity, environmental impact assessments including the Jabiluka Uranium Mine, and the Christmas Island Rocket Launch Facility and strategic policy development.

“Working on uranium mining proposals was always interesting and challenging – dealing with a sensitive issue that had a high public profile as well as complex challenges relating to the environment, heritage and traditional owners,” he said.

Mr Boughey’s commitment to environmental issues has twice been recognised with Public Service Australia Day Achievement team medallions for his work on uranium impact assessments (1999) and his current work on lighting energy efficiency (2010).

He believes that his studies at UQ across an inclusive range of environmental topics have been one of the keys to his success.

“I was able to study a broad range of topics within my double major in geography,” he said.

"This has been very useful throughout my career.

"My understanding of a broad range of issues has enabled me to communicate and work with a variety of specialists in multi-disciplinary environments and has often helped me when I have had to rapidly acquire an understanding of challenging subject matter."

This was the case when Mr Boughey worked on the environmental assessment of the return of Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft, after retrieving an asteroid sample, to Woomera in South Australia.

“This project was particularly fascinating, requiring a rapid understanding of the concepts and science behind planetary protection and related astrobiology and space law as well as helping Japanese officials understand our impact assessment legislation,” he said.

Having dedicated his career to action on the environment he has no plans to slow down.

“I plan to continue my work on interesting and challenging topics that help make our world a better and more ecologically sustainable place,” he said.