Evaluating Low Carbon Technologies and Best Practices

The intent of this project is to demonstrate the GHG and electricity use savings of a range of low carbon heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technologies in the multi-unit residential building (MURB) sector. Technologies to be studied include: • ductless mini-split air source heat pumps (ASHP) • gas absorption heat pumps • smart thermostats […]

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Remote Indigenous renewable energy projects: Establishing partnerships and fair power purchase agreements

Nearly all remote Indigenous communities in Canada rely on diesel power plants for electricity. In a few cases, renewable energy projects have already offset diesel power but developing such projects in northern Canada is difficult. Not only do remoteness and harsh winter conditions make development expensive but various policies regarding the cost of electricity create […]

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In-situ evaluation of ground heat exchanger performances

Geothermal systems are an efficient and environmentally friendly technology to cool and heat buildings. However, the system installation remains expensive making its expansion difficult. Versaprofiles, a Canadian enterprise, has developed a thermal enhanced pipe especially designed to geothermal applications. This pipe allows to reduce the system cost, improving its performance. Experimental tests in systems using […]

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Methodological Advance of Energy-Economy Climate Policy Models

The overall objective for this project is to support the research of two master’s students who would help advance the methods for modelling energy-climate policies, a field in which EMRG in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at SFU is one of the leading research units in the country and in which Navius Research […]

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The Beaver Hills Biosphere Project: Conserving coarse and fine filter biodiversity within a network of protected areas

Conserving Canada’s biodiversity is important to help mitigate the impacts of future climate change. Protecting multiple areas within a landscape is one possible way to conserve biodiversity, however, we still are not sure what aspects of a landscape are best to protect and for which species. Here, we study mammals within the Beaver Hills Biosphere […]

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Connecting private investment to clean-tech innovation in buildings: A new framework for understanding Green Investment Banks

Meeting the Paris Climate Accord will require $53 trillion invested towards low-carbon infrastructures by 2035. To accelerate domestic investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, dozens of Green Investment Banks have been developed in recent years seeking to leverage public spending with funds from institutional investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, and private equity […]

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Internalizing risks: Value Creation from Internalizing Non-Technical Risks – Mining Sector Case

This work seeks to contribute to developing the “business case” through valuation of environmental and social impacts related to potential risks in the extractive sector taking into consideration both academic and practitioner settings. A solid review of methodologies will lead to important considerations to improve the current assessment and valuation tools. The latter aims to […]

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West Bolton Sustainable Neighbourhood Retrofit Action Plan – home energy retrofit program

The West Bolton SNAP project will test methods for increasing the number of suburban households undertaking home energy retrofits in a neighbourhood of Caledon, Ontario with the aim of reducing residential energy consumption and the resulting GHG emissions. The Program will utilize locally targeted marketing, community events, and face-to-face Home Retrofit Consultations to engage households […]

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Assessing the risk of abrupt climate changes resulting from cumulative emissions and their effect on the occurrence of extreme events – Year two

The rate of the current climate change strongly modifies the frequency, the duration and the intensity of extreme events, such as droughts, heat waves or extreme precipitation. Strong rates of greenhouse gases emissions can cause a destabilization of a component of the climate system (e.g. the sudden melt of the Arctic sea ice). Such a […]

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Quantifying soil organic carbon sequestration performance of the City of Calgary Willow Biomass and Marginal Land Reclamation Demonstration Project: Assessing potential provincial carbon emissions offset credit opportunities

The emerging emissions trading market provides the province of Alberta an opportunity to diversify its economy and drive climate change mitigation innovation. By improving the efficiency of earning carbon credits, more economic opportunities and carbon sequestration industrial applications are feasible. The City of Calgary Dewatered Biosolids Land Application – Willow Biomass and Marginal Land Reclamation […]

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Spatial analysis of changing climate and the climate rating of Saskatchewan’s arable agricultural land for property assessment purposes

This project uses a large amount of geographic information and advanced computing technology to re-evaluate the influence of climate on the productivity of Saskatchewan’s agricultural land, which represents about 40% of all the cropland Canada. The intern will combine digital maps of soil, land use, crop yield, elevation, and historical weather observations. By exploring the […]

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