Energy poverty is an issue that impacts many First Nations communities in British Columbia. Despite significant appetite from communities to develop clean energy solutions, many do not benefit from the available financing programs. This research seeks to understand what barriers exist for First Nations communities in accessing energy financing, as well as to identify some best practices from other jurisdictions. The project will use this information to propose innovative community energy financing options that could be applied in the B.C. context.

Lithium batteries are almost universally integrated in modern electronics applications due to their high efficiency and scalability. However, the liquid lithium-ion electrolyte utilized in these batteries has a multitude of safety concerns including flammability, toxicity, and the ability to explode if short-circuited. These issues lead to problems while operating in hazardous environments, more stringent transportation regulations, and pose a threat to the personal safety of consumers.

Electrification of transit vehicles is a part of Ontario’s long-term strategy to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, transit agencies and utility/local distribution companies face significant technological and operational hurdles in integrating “off the shelf” electric bus technologies. The postdoctoral fellow collaborating with Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium will work with transit agencies and utilities to overcome the technical challenges associated with a lack of international standardization for overhead charging systems.

The catalytic CO2 reforming process provides a sequestration alternative that holds promise for a viable solution for dealing with industrial gaseous effluents containing greenhouse gases CH4 and CO2. The process converts these gases to syngas (CO and H2) which can be used for synthesis for high value chemicals. The catalyst for the dry reforming process has been developed by Enerkem and is being scaled up by an industrial partner for implementation in an industrial sized reactor.

The current production methods for new generation refrigerants (HFO-1234yf) used in cars, refrigerators, air-conditioners, etc. require energy intensive and sometimes corrosive conditions. The current project seeks to reduce or eliminate these two caveats. We propose, by using readily available feedstock or by-products from Teflon manufacturing, we could use our process to easily manufacture HFO-1234yf. Using our less energy intensive, heating to only 50 °C, and mild conditions could lead to significant cost reductions in plant equipment and energy demands.

This research is based on the recognition that heat pump technology has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, while providing space heating, space cooling and domestic hot water. Both internationally and in the Ontario context, a lack of industry knowledge and capacity has been noted to be a barrier to the uptake of heat pump technologies.

As the dominating power supplies for current electric vehicles (EVs), the state-of-the-art LIBs are yet sulfuring from severe challenges in terms of safety, lifespan, and energy density due to the adoption of liquid electrolytes (LEs). Accordingly, developing next generation solid-state lithium(-ion) batteries (SSLBs) is considered to be a feasible approach to achieve safe and high energy density power supplies for future EVs with long driving distance and short charging time.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become a key player in the growing need for electric vehicles (EVs). State-of-the-art LIBs, using liquid electrolytes, still have significant challenges in their safety, lifespan, and energy density. Accordingly, solid-state lithium-ion batteries (SSLBs) have recently been attracting increasing research and industrial attention due to their ability to overcome intrinsic disadvantages of flammable liquid electrolytes used in current LIBs. The objective of this proposed research is to develop safe and high-performance SSLBs with sulfide-based electrolytes.

Substitution of existing diesel buses by zero-emission propulsion technologies (electric batteries and hydrogen fuel cell) in vehicles – specifically public transit fleets – can play an instrumental role in realizing Canada's obligation towards green house gas emission reduction. It is imperative to enable transit agencies to assess the capabilities of existing technology variants in meeting the demands of existing operations to achieve successful, long-term integration while maintaining commercially viability.

This proposed research project is an extension of a previous NSERC CRD project that is investigating hybridization optimization of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) used in FC bus and rail applications. The models developed in this research are expected to yield improved fuel cell and system lifetimes in service, and improved detection and mitigation of fuel cell faults causing degradation and unacceptable emissions, and detection/mitigation of critical system component faults.