First annual Energy and Environmental Systems Research Day held on campus

What do all these things have in common: consumer choices, life cycle assessment, smart grids, glaciers, wind turbines, oilsands and energy systems analysis?

They are just some examples of the diverse interdisciplinary energy-environment research presented by University of Calgary graduate students at the first annual Energy and Environmental Systems Research Day on campus.

The Graduate Students’ Association for the Energy and Environmental Specialization (GEES) organized last Friday’s all-day event, co-sponsored by the Faculty of Science and Innovate Calgary.

“We wanted to encourage graduate students working in the energy-environment area to talk with each other more, to realize they have this opportunity to collaborate on interdisciplinary research,” says Bahman Radnejad, president of GEES and a PhD student in the Haskayne School of Business.

Exposure to industry challenges, commercial opportunities

Innovate Calgary, which helps take University of Calgary researchers’ ideas to commercialization, wants to identify those ideas as soon as possible, so the research expertise can be matched to problems facing the energy industry, says Ken Porter, vice-president of intellectual property management at Innovate Calgary.

“Some of the oil and gas companies are very interested in working with University of Calgary faculty,” he notes.

By supporting Energy and Environmental Systems Research Day, “the more exposure Innovate Calgary has with the students and the faculty, the better known we are, and the better partner we’ll be with the university,” Porter says.

Energy and environmental specialization is truly interdisciplinary

The Energy and Environment Systems (EES) specialization “is truly interdisciplinary” with graduate student research that crosses all disciplines, Brian Keay, vice-dean of the Faculty of Science and interim executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE), told participants.

The specialization, administered by ISEEE, is an add-on specialization (noted on the degree) for grad students working on master's or PhD degrees in their home faculties.

Environmental and Energy Systems Research Day featured 10-minute research presentations by 20 EES grad students, including from the Schulich School of Engineering, the Haskayne School of Business, and the faculties of Science, Environmental Design, and Arts.

Opening channels between five faculties

“There are common issues that we’re all working on,” says Maha Al-Zu’bi, a PhD student in Environmental Design whose research focuses on climate change impacts on water, energy and food in the Arab region’s cities.

“This event gives us the opportunity to listen to others from different perspectives and disciplines . . . it’s a pool of talented people sharing their knowledge and experience,” she says.

Matt Godfrey, a master's student in the Department of Communication and Culture whose research focuses on environmental metrics and consumer choices, says the research day helped him understand other interdisciplinary students’ research. “I didn’t actually grasp it until I saw it presented today and got to hear what their research is about.”

All the research presentations were videotaped so students could review and improve their performance before they defend their theses.

A panel of five judges that included faculty, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and guests assessed the presentations. Awards were presented to the top three presenters:

• Marc Demeter, Department of Biological Sciences (supervisor: Raymond Turner)
• Matt Godfrey, Department of Communications and Culture (supervisor: Patrick Eng)
• Hamid Shaker, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (supervisor: Hamid Zareipour).

List of grad students and presentations:

Policy and Decision Making:

• “Responding to climate change impact: Water, energy, and food nexus in the Arab region's cities” – Maha Al‐Zu’bi, Faculty of Environmental Design
• “Environmental metrics and consumer choices: Can scientific information be translated into actions and attitudes?” – Matt Godfrey, Faculty of Arts
• “Energy system visualization” – Haleh Alemasoom, Faculty of Science
• “Social life cycle assessment design for natural gas services” – Roberto Hernandez Villarreal, Faculty of Environmental Design
• “Improving CanESS transportation component: Microsimulation of long distance personal travel in Alberta” – Mina Hassanvand, Schulich School of Engineering (Civil Engineering)

Renewable Energy:

• “Designing a visual analytics decision support tool for wind farm placement planning in Alberta” – Ovo Adagha, Faculty of Environmental Design
• “Developing and comparing Alberta's electricity generation scenarios using CanESS” – M.D. Raied Hassan, Schulich School of Engineering (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
• “Wind power forecasting techniques, measuring their errors and tying forecast accuracy to power systems operation” – Hamid Shaker, Schulich School of Engineering (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
• “Low‐cost triangular lattice towers for small wind turbines” – Ram (R.C.) Adhikari, Shulich School of Engineering (Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering)
• “Smart grid integration of building‐sized thermal storage” – Godo Stoyke, Faculty of Environmental Design

Environment and Climate Change:

• “Glacier's energy balance and their sensitivity to climate change” – Samaneh Ebrahimi, Faculty of Arts
• “Assessment of carbon stock potential and carbon accounting approaches in the harvested wood bioeconomy using a life cycle perspective” – Yemane Weldu, Faculty of Environmental Design
• “Integrated life cycle assessment and life cycle costing of baseline scenario as a tool for scenario development” – Debebe Yilma Dererie, Faculty of Environmental Design
• “Collaborative competitors in a fast‐changing technology environment:  Open innovation in environmental technology development in the oil and gas Industry” – Amir Bahman Radnejad, Haskayne School of Business
• “Developing a model for space heating energy consumption using NRCan thermal archetype project and City of Calgary GIS cadastral data” – Rustam Kamberov, Faculty of Arts

Greening Fossil Fuels:

• “Life cycle analysis of carbon activation process for SAGD water treatment” – Mehrshad Parchie Esfahani, Schulich School of Engineering (Chemical and Petroleum Engineering)
• “Soil gas diffusion and reaction model to build an early CCS leakage detection method” –Monzurul Alam, Faculty of Science
• “Biotechnology implications of oilsands tailings derived bacteria” – Marc Demeter, Faculty of Science
• “Life cycle comparison of greenhouse gas emissions of Canadian oilsands and American tight oil (produced in the Bakken Reservoir)” – Andrea Orellana, Schulich School of Engineering (Chemical Engineering)
• “Investigation of the geomechanics of CO2 storage and co‐production of CH4 from natural gas hydrate reservoirs” – Umair Asghar, Schulich School of Engineering (Civil Engineering)