McMaster Energy Week 2021 Recap
By Kenzie Lewis
So far, 2021 has had it’s ups and downs, but the 2021 McMaster Energy Week was definitely a highlight to remember! From the full-day conference with speakers and panel discussions to interactive letter-writing workshops on fossil fuel divestment, March 8-12 was full of action-packed and educational activities for everyone. Let’s take a closer look at some of the events from the week.
Monday: Interschool Research Symposium
The week began with an engaging event that brought together energy research enthusiasts from McMaster University, McGill University, and the University of Waterloo. Dr Cotton, from the McMaster Mechanical Engineering Department, spoke passionately about his work on a new research project called the Integrative Community Energy and Harvesting Systems (ICE-Harvest): a brand new way to reuse waste heat produced by electricity generation processes and dramatically increase our energy efficiency. More about the ICE-Harvest project can be found here. Dr Seifitokaldani from McGill University gave a wonderful overview of his work on repurposing greenhouse gases like CO2 through reactions powered by renewable energy, which can be found here. Both researchers were excellent speakers that were very passionate about sharing their work with students, and we were very grateful to hear their perspectives! Unfortunately, Dr. Mehrdad Pirnia from the University of Waterloo was unable to join us, but his research can be found at his website here.
Tuesday: Future of Small Modular Reactors Panel
Our second event featured an eye-opening discussion on the role of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) in the future of Canada’s energy landscape from a variety of qualified perspectives. It was amazing to hear how SMRs are entering the industry of electricity generation and cogeneration production (capturing heat byproducts from electricity generating processes to use for other purposes). We also learned about how McMaster University plays a role in the future of SMRs by demonstrating the feasibility of this technology in Ontario and supporting industry leaders. We learned how companies like Ontario Power Generation are leading by example and showing how economically feasible SMRs currently are. One key takeaway was that in addition to power generation, SMRs hold the potential to be deployed in other areas such as in greenhouse and converting saline water into freshwater. All panelists were quite optimistic that SMRs will be an integral part not only in the future energy landscape in Ontario, throughout Canada, and around the world.
The recording for the Future of Small Modular Reactors Panel can be found here.
Thursday: Green Investment/Divestment Workshop
Thursday featured an interactive workshop on fossil fuel divestment; a collaborative event along with Mac Climate Advocates and MacDivest. We were so fortunate to have Brian Unrau from the VCT Group and the Community Energy Development Co-operative kick off the event with a talk on green investments and some of the exciting developments that are happening right now in the solar energy market. For the last half of the event, MacDivest walked us through the ways McMaster University is currently supporting fossil fuels by investing in fossil fuel companies, and took us through a letter-writing exercise to communicate to the school the importance of divesting from fossil fuels and re-investing in green technology. A key takeaway was that with the onset of climate change, it’s more important than ever to ensure that our money is supporting green technology, and that divesting from fossil fuels can send a powerful message about the future we’d like to see. For more information about how you can support divestment, check out these resources!
The recording for the Green Investment/Divestment Workshop can be found here.
Friday: The McMaster Energy Conference
Last but certainly not least, Friday was marked by our annual full-day McMaster Energy Conference!
The day started with an engaging keynote speech from Dr. Novog on the “Silver Bullet Syndrome”, which reminded us that although innovative technologies are allowing us to increase efficiencies, almost 80% of energy used around the world is still based on fossil fuels. The Silver Bullet Syndrome refers to an overreliance on a single solution to a large problem, and Dr. Novog reminds us that tackling climate change will require wide scale cooperation from many different industries and societies in order to come up with a diverse set of solutions.
Next, we were very fortunate to hear from some executive members of energy companies and corporations such as the Independent Electricity System Operator, Ontario Power Generation, Cenovus Energy, and Hamilton Utilities Corporation. From their experiences as Presidents, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Sustainability Officers, and other roles, our panelists shared adaptations their companies have made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, how innovations such as SMRs and hydrogen fuel cells will reshape the industry in the coming years, the importance of effective climate policies, and other insights into the business side of the energy industry.
Our second panel of the day focused on Combating Climate Change in the Energy Industry from the perspectives of five amazing women in research, utilities, power generation, consulting, and energy monitoring. The panelists shared the importance of tackling climate change through adaptation. The panel spoke strongly about the need to adapt to changes in climate and keep the environment in mind for every project that is taken on. Another powerful message was how we can’t solve climate change with the same mindset that created climate change- innovative ideas and fresh perspectives are needed in order to produce tangible results!
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers delivered a wonderful interactive workshop on energy efficiency, and discussed some of the pros and cons of different energy sources. To calculate your Energy IQ and find out how energy efficient you are, try out this survey!
Dr. Shawn McKenzie from the McMaster Centre for Climate Change then joined us to speak about climate change from his perspective, touching on the role of new innovations like carbon capture and storage and how energy factors into mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Finally, we finished off the day by presenting the winners of the 2021 Energy Nexus Case Competition. For more information about the competition and the winning teams, please check out the 2021 Energy Nexus Case Competition Recap!
If you loved Energy Week and can’t wait for next year, you’re in luck, because McMaster Energy Association Executive applications are just around the corner! Keep your eyes peeled for an email from us or an update on our website, and don’t miss out on the opportunity to plan these amazing events next year!
Recordings of the events from the McMaster Energy Conference, along with the corresponding timestamps, can be found below.
PART 1: CLICK HERE
00:08:20 - Climate Change Action and Inaction: The Silver Bullet Syndrome (Dr. Dave Novog)
01:39:05 - Energy Executives Panel (Jeffrey Cowan, Rhona Delfrari, Subo Sinnathamby, Terry Young)
03:38:00 - Women In Energy Panel: Combating Climate Change in the Energy Industry (Lisa Barber, Leticia Goncalves, Dr. Andrea Ruotolo, Dr. Ayse Turak, Daisy Wu)
05:08:38 - Energy IQ Workshop (Josefa Michaelson)
06:07:40 - Climate Change Mitigation through Sustainable Energy (Dr. Shawn McKenzie)
06:37:55 - Energy Nexus Case Competition: Finalist Presentations (Bri Conn, Energy Nexus participants) [continued in Part 2]
PART 2: CLICK HERE
00:00:00 - Energy Nexus Case Competition: Finalist Presentations (Bri Conn, Energy Nexus participants) [continued from Part 1]