Policy development for clean energy technology
McMaster University works closely with local, federal and international governments and organizations to support the development of clean energy and low-carbon technology policies. These are some examples of the work our experts perform on an annual basis.
Engineering researcher Jim Cotton is using waste heat as an example of how different partners can work together to develop a local policy for clean technology development and implementation. Through the ICE HARVEST project, Dr. Cotton is working with 30 municipalities and 19 industrial partners to pilot a system that uses heat recovered from industrial applications to re-insert into their own operations.
Sustainable health care: Why it matters and how you can help
PEACH Stands for Partnerships for Environmental Action by Communities within Healthcare systems. At PEACH our mission is to cultivate and sustain partnerships across health care facilities in Ontario to support climate action.
McMaster University has a long history of collaborating both locally, nationally and globally. The university’s extensive network, partnerships and commitment to sustainability make it well-positioned to be a leader in this space.
With support from McMaster, we started PEACH Health Ontario three years ago and it was made up of, at the time, four volunteers and now three years later we have a full-time research coordinator and other supports from around the McMaster campus.
We make targeted health care toolkits and guides and focus on knowledge translation to make climate change initiatives accessible to various audiences, such as clinicians, office managers and health care leaders.
Our publications, knowledge translation materials, webinars, and leadership personnel have been highlighted in many media outlets. This includes Global News and CTV News interviews, and articles in news outlets “The Conversation” and “Policy Options”. Partner organizations, such as Choosing Wisely, Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario, CASCADES, Deprescribing.ca, and Ontario Health West – Palliative Care Network, have shared our resources on websites, newsletters, and social media.
The ICE HARVEST project is also being used as a pilot to showcase the feasibility of energy sharing between different buildings at the McMaster Innovation Park, where a major renovation is to take place in the next few years. A set of key principles is being developed to ensure that we have a resilient system with minimized carbon impacts. This type of project will be crucial for the provincial government, as we try to tackle the issues on demand and frequency stabilization the current grid is undergoing.
Nuclear energy would be a clean win for remote and northern communities
Our experts are advancing research in SMR technologies to advise our industry and government partners on design, safety and deployment. As the headquarters for Canada’s small modular advanced reactor training (SMART) program, we’re developing highly skilled professionals to be the country’s next generation of nuclear scientists, engineers and policymakers.
This past spring, we hosted a meeting of the Indigenous Advisory Council for Canada’s SMR action plan – designed to ensure a national Indigenous leadership voice on the development of SMRs in Canada. The council’s commitment to the action plan is a positive step that will help interested Indigenous communities advance clean-energy solutions and nuclear educational programs.
Together, the university, the government, Indigenous partners and remote communities can find a way to use nuclear power to create a clean-energy future that leaves no community behind and builds a sustainable path toward net-zero emissions.
McMaster is known for its nuclear capabilities; having an on-campus nuclear reactor used for medicinal research purposes, we have experts on the field that are looking to expand the impact beyond research.
McMaster welcomed leaders from the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (UNSC), Global First Power (GFP) and Hyundai Engineering Corporation to talk about micro modular reactors (MMR) and how they fit in McMaster’s vision for low carbon technologies. The partnership will help explore the role MMRs will have in moving forward with low carbon, safe energy technologies that can potentially be applied anywhere in Canada. The work on small and micro modular reactors will clarify how this type of technology will fit under the overall energy policy of the province of Ontario and beyond. McMaster will continue working with external partners such as Westinghouse Electric Canada to explore collaborations and support the development of small and micro modular reactors.
As Canada and First Nations look to a future of achieving safe, reliable and zero-emission energy, collaboration with residents from northern and remote communities is key to exploring viable and long-lasting solutions. The need to build relationships and mutual understanding inspired a two-day Community Energy Transition Workshop at McMaster University. McMaster and its co-host, First Nations Power Authority (FNPA), welcomed 50 attendees from Indigenous communities, government labs and academia across Canada.
Workshop guests had the opportunity to tour campus facilities, including Professor Jim Cotton’s ICE Harvest Lab where energy systems synergize to provide stable electricity, heating and cooling, and the McMaster Nuclear Reactor, Canada’s most powerful research reactor and the country’s primary neutron source.
McMaster, CNL and AECL explore opportunities for collaboration in nuclear research and education
McMaster, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) gathered for a day-long workshop to explore opportunities for collaboration in nuclear research, education and training.
The workshop was designed to build on McMaster’s partnership with CNL, Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology organization, and AECL, a federal Crown Corporation.
Experts at McMaster University are paving a path for a new class of nuclear reactors that can potentially transform clean energy production – the Small Modular Reactor (SMR). This type of reactor functions like a larger one but at a fraction of the size, providing clean, safe, and reliable energy powered by nuclear fission. In 2020, the Canadian government released its SMR Action Plan, recognizing the potential benefits of SMRs. As part of the Plan, McMaster University will work to advance SMR research, education, and training at the university and explore the potential of hosting an SMR on- or off-campus.
Researchers at McMaster have also received funding to support the development of international partnerships that will help pave the way for international research and policy development. Energy-related topics include underground hydrogen storage, improving rechargeable zinc-ion batteries for large scale energy storage, using aluminum as a carrier of Icelandic geothermal energy, introducing novel methods for solid-state-batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles, and the use of biomass gasification for electricity generation and methanol production.
IAEA review of the McMaster Nuclear Reactor supports plans for expansion
McMaster welcomed a team of international nuclear experts to campus at the start of 2024 for an in-depth evaluation focused on the research, education and commercial utilization of the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR) and its plans for expansion.
The review was led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the world’s centre for cooperation in the nuclear field, headquartered in Vienna, Austria – as part of their Integrated Research Reactor Utilization Review (IRRUR) mission.
The review took place at a pivotal time for MNR. In 2023, McMaster received a total of $13.6M in funding from the Government of Canada and Government of Ontario to expand medical isotope production and increase operating hours at MNR to enable more research in nuclear medicine, materials science, clean energy and small modular reactors (SMRs).
‘Together, we can work to stop the climate crisis’
The 2024 Canada-Caribbean Institute Symposium, held at McMaster last week, included panel discussions with globally recognized experts as well as student researchers. McMaster is the lead Canadian partner of the Canada-Caribbean Institute.
In addition to sharing research and ideas on a vast range of topics — climate justice, health, housing and food security, climate vulnerabilities, climate resilience, and promoting the adoption of alternative energy sources, to name a few — attendees from Canada and a large number of Caribbean nations also had an opportunity to create and strengthen relationships with peers, colleagues and allies in advocacy.
McMaster researchers to share expertise in climate justice, sustainable healthcare at COP29
Two McMaster researchers will be among the global experts at the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) next week, lending their expertise to critical conversations around climate change.
Bonny Ibhawoh, vice-provost, International, will be engaging in bilateral talks and part of an interactive dialogue on climate justice, sustainability and the right to development. The professor of legal history and global human rights serves as chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development in the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva.
Myles Sergeant, an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine who is deeply entrenched in efforts locally, provincially and nationally to reverse the effects of climate change, will be part of a session on decarbonizing healthcare as part of the Canada Pavilion at COP 29.
We spoke to the two experts ahead of COP29, which is taking place Nov. 11 – 22 in Baku, Azerbaijan about what they hope to accomplish at the global summit and the work we can do with global partners to tackle the threat of climate change.