Allan Giddy is one of Australia’s foremost proponents of sustainable energy systems, electronic interconnectivity and the interactivity of physical art objects. He has worked with alternative energy systems in his sculpture and installation art for over fifteen years, and is a past winner of the prestigious Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship (1993), which financed two years of research in the specialty field of interactive technologies in art, both in Germany and the UK. Giddy's work has been shown at the Tate Modern, in Heidelberg and Rotterdam Town Halls, and numerous other international venues.

Giddy has been invited to create a series of large public installations, such as Earth v Sky, a public environmental light/colour work commissioned by the City of Sydney, was installed at Bicentennial Park, Glebe in 2012 and involved the first small wind turbine in a public domain. Another successful public work was his 2008 ambient sound art, Sonic Wells, a public installation linking two venues—Cork Harbour, Ireland, and The Rocks, Sydney (see Related Projects). A second version of Sonic Wells linked Beijing and Sydney, also in 2008. A 2010-13 work in Cuxhaven, Germany, Night Swimmer, is a Sisyphean swimming performance work, where the swimmer toils relentlessly against the current. Other projects have been undertaken in Poland and Portugal. 

Currently, Giddy leads ERIA, COFA— a research unit specialising in the use of electrically motivated technologies and ‘green’ power in public artwork. He is the lead Chief Investigator on a major Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant secured by ERIA to advance the field. ERIA's goal is to develop and explore the use of sustainable technology within public art as well as for other uses, including public events, screenings, and portable energy systems for remote field work. 

Giddy's interest in 'green' power began in 1994 with a work titled Hours Remaining in the Life of Allan Giddy, reviewed in Leonardo Magazine Vol 2/98, MIT Press. This interest in eco friendly art led Giddy to curate two exhibitions at Solarch Solar Research Centre in 1999 and 2002. Giddy also won Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea 'Green Power Prize' in 2002 with his work Minor Attractor. His 2012 Desert Equinox was Australia's first solar art exhibition. 

Giddy's work and research involves a great deal of interdisciplinary collaboration. He works closely with colleagues in UNSW’s ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence and UNSW's School of Chemical Engineering, as well as with commercial partnesr including BP Solar, Pepperl + Fuchs, and the Sydney Olympic Park Authority.