Hybrid Power Systems for Integrated Energy and Food Production in Autonomous Communities

Community integrated energy and food systems bring production and management to the local scale in order to increase autonomy and resiliency. These are particularly expedient in the face of global climate change, more frequent and severe extreme weather, geopolitical instability and peak oil. Bioenergy systems offer enormous potential for such applications because they stand at the nexus between food and energy security; specifically, food waste is an input to bioenergy systems, and bioenergy effluent is an agricultural input. The proposed research will examine energy flows in closed-loop power and food production systems. The potential for bioenergy to provide controllable heat and power in hybrid with other renewables (in this case, solar) and thereby avoid energy storage devices will also be evaluated. The expected output and benefit to the partner organization is a viable model for community integrated energy and food production.

Faculty Supervisor:

Mark Lefsrud

Student:

Jonathan Maisonneuve

Partner:

Montréal ZERO Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

McGill University