This text is part of the special Energies section
In late April, the Canada First Research Excellence Fund awarded a grant of more than $123 million over seven years to Concordia University for its project Electrifying Society: For Low-Carbon, Resilient Communities. The funds will be invested in a multitude of research projects and applied initiatives aimed at accelerating the electrification and decarbonization of Canadian cities.
“If we really want to do something for the climate, we have to go faster,” believes Ursula Eicker, professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering at Concordia University and holder of the Excellence Research Chair of the Canada on smart, sustainable and resilient communities and cities.
“We want to go from the development of the technology to the implementation in the neighborhoods, she adds. We want to go beyond pilot projects that are done only once, we want to create concepts for communities that can be applied across Canada. The goal is to change the way energy is used in the city. »
The funded projects will be articulated around three axes: the built environment, energy systems and public transport, as well as governance based on social equity and citizen participation. According to Ursula Eicker, priority will be given to projects that will make it possible to apply new technologies or methodologies in concrete environments, from eco-districts to cities and private sector initiatives.
Concordia University will be able to rely on a partnership with the University of Calgary, Metropolitan University of Toronto and Dalhousie University, which stand out respectively in the fields of cybersecurity, construction and the battery sector. A multitude of partners from academia and the private sector have already joined the initiative, such as Polytechnique Montréal, Carleton University, Indigenous Clean Energy, Power Corporation of Canada, Nouveau Monde Graphite, or the cities of Shawinigan, from Varennes, Halifax and Calgary. And the list could go on.
“We invite partners, businesses, NPOs, associations that want to discuss how we want to live in the city,” says Ursula Eicker, who insists on the collaborative aspect of the initiative. The end of the program will coincide with the next target of the Government of Canada, which has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. The country has also committed committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
From eco-districts to lithium-ion batteries
The laboratories of Karim Zaghib, professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at Concordia University, could shine even more with the grant from Canada First, which is in addition to investments by the Government of Quebec to develop the lithium battery sector. -ion. Karim Zaghib specializes in the manufacture of cells, anodes and cathodes, and he is considered one of the architects of the battery sector required for electric vehicles.
“There is a whole ecosystem in Quebec and Ontario to accelerate the supply chain of critical materials, processing, the circular economy,” he says enthusiastically. We are talking about the electrification of society, it is a unifying project for society! »
In addition to the battery sector, the 123 million grant will finance a range of projects. In particular, the Concordia University team wishes to contribute to the Namur-Hippodrome eco-district project led by the City of Montreal, which aims to transform this space into a carbon-neutral living environment focused on active and public transportation, with the presence large green spaces. In Lévis, a project would also improve the envelope of a building, integrate more renewable energy sources and install charging stations for electric cars, in collaboration with a real estate developer. Similarly, another project aims to optimize the management of a photovoltaic site in collaboration with an Aboriginal organization.
The funds will be distributed to various initiatives according to calls for projects, explains Ursula Eicker. “We want to go fast enough,” she said. We don’t want to wait a year to have perfect governance before starting to do research! The first call for tenders will take place this summer, for projects that will begin in September.
A campus for the transition in Shawinigan
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