A strategic opportunity exists to integrate, strengthen and reform land use, transportation and municipal energy planning policies to address climate change goals in Ontario. The kinds of policies that reduce urban sprawl go hand in hand with climate policy, and vice versa. The project with the Pembina Institute, an organization committed to sustainable energy solutions, […]

This research project proposes the exploration of various mechanical systems configured in two residential homes in Milton, Ontario. The primary goal is to determine the energy consumption and monetary costs associated with integrating new technologies of both heating and cooling requirements of a new home. Refinement of previously collected data and software modeling are keys […]

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles are hybrid vehicles with large batteries that are capable of travelling on electricity but still maintain the reliability of an on‐board internal combustion engine for extended trips. The batteries will typically be recharged from a standard household outlet, thus increasing the demand for electricity. It is important to understand and predict […]

The focus of this project is an estimation of the potential in BC for economically viable biomass-based renewable energy projects capable of generating greenhouse has offsets. The research required for this project involves a discussion of suitable bioenergy technologies for on and off-grid applications along with their associated fuel types, a demand-side analysis involving the […]

The objectives are to determine to what extent a carbon strategy can add to the value of a publicly held Canadian forest products firm, what form that would take, and what conditions would be required to implement. The project will begin with an environmental scan of economic, technological, political]legal, and societal trends that are occurring […]

Currently, cellulosic ethanol production is laden with technical challenges, and as a result, not economically viable. The reason for this lies with the toughness of the plant feed material generally called biomass. Processing biomass to allow fermentation to ethanol often requires harsh operations such as extreme heat, pressure, acidity, or a combination of all three. […]

In cold climates there is a perception that ice fragments could be thrown from rotating large wind turbines and create a hazard. While turbines should be shut down in icing conditions several authorities now require calculation of the risk associated with this potential hazard, in terms of numbers of ice fragment strikes per unit area […]

Smart Rotor Systems Inc. (SRS) is a new Ottawa-based start-up company, whose product is a novel active control system for the reduction of vibration or noise on rotary wing applications, i.e. on helicopters and wind turbines. Mitigation of vibration and noise is a hot topic in both these sectors nowadays, attracting plenty of attention from […]

When a solar cell is illuminated by light from the sun, a current is generated that can be used to provide electrical power. Conversely, if we apply a current to a solar cell, light is generated and this process is called electroluminescence (EL). In Silicon solar cells the EL is very weak and in a […]

This internship will numerically simulate the impact of flow structures on power production from river kinetic turbines. These turbines extract renewable energy from rivers from flow velocity rather than from a drop in river levels. To date, a proper mathematical approach of how to place these turbines in a river is not available. Mathematic tools […]

Electricity generation is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide production in Canada. The combustion of fossil fuels (coal and natural gas) release carbon dioxide which contributes to rising global temperatures. Wind energy is considered to be an alternative to the traditional methods of generating electricity, producing electricity when the wind blows strong enough […]

Interest in adopting biomass conversion technologies to produce renewable biofuels and chemicals in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is strong, fueled by recent closers in the pulp and paper sector, and, stemmed by availability of substantial forest biomass such s lo-quality wood chips in logging and sawmill operations. The NL Department of Natural Resources recognizes that […]