Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere keep rising, warming up our planet. And that has many researchers looking at two key catalytic reactions — photocatalysis and electrocatalysis — that can convert CO₂ into hydrocarbons. It’s an exciting idea, using either sunlight or electricity to activate a catalyst that transforms CO₂ pollution into fuels and other valuable chemicals. 

However, current techniques tend to create products with just a single carbon atom. That’s a problem, because…

More than a third of the world’s electricity comes from coal-fired generating plants — and so does a hefty chunk of carbon emissions. WISE researcher Xiao-Yu Wu and his colleagues set out to make the process greener.

In the next-generation coal-fired plants, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is used to increase power output. High pressure and temperature is used to convert coal into syngas — a mix of carbon and hydrogen — that is burned to drive turbines. The more carbon you can…

Microgrid managers face a big challenge: ensuring the smooth flow of electricity between intermittent energy sources (such as wind, solar and hydro), storage systems and energy users. WISE researchers want to help. John Simpson-Porco, Mehrdad Kazerani and their Chilean colleagues have developed a distributed control system that overcomes many of the weaknesses of existing models.

Distributed control systems serve as automated checkpoints and traffic police that help regulate frequency, manage…

Some days are windier than others. So when you’re relying on wind farms for electricity, you need a way to store unused energy, creating a buffer between supply and demand. 

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) offers a solution. This approach uses excess energy to pressurize and cool air, storing it in underground caverns. When energy is needed, that stored potential can be released by heating and expanding the air. 

The promise is strong. What has been lacking, however, are comprehensive…

Of 259 off-grid communities in Canada, 190 depend almost exclusively on diesel to generate electricity. And although the majority of these communities identify as First Nations, Inuit or Métis, little work has been done to understand Indigenous views on energy sustainability.

 To help change that, the NunatuKavut Community Council partnered with WISE member Nick Mercer to undertake research in southeast Labrador into local perspectives on energy. Mercer teamed up with fellow WISE member Paul…

Call it a double win. WISE researcher Maurice Dusseault and his Iranian collaborators have proposed a system that tackles two global imperatives: cutting carbon emissions and addressing water shortages at the same time. 

Renewables like wind and solar offer green sources of electricity. But to be viable on a large scale, we need a way to store excess energy when production is high and demand is low. To achieve this, Dusseault’s colleagues in Iran (Dr. Madjid Soltani, the second author, is a WISE…

The battery in an electric vehicle (EV) faces serious performance demands every time the driver steps on the accelerator or the brake. So after a number of years, when its capacity has dropped 20 to 30 per cent, it gets replaced.

But that retired battery can still function well in less demanding applications — like stationary energy storage systems of microgrids — where the fluctuations in power/energy and charge are much smaller.

Because the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always…

Some municipalities take a greener approach. Some burn the methane to produce electricity, but that’s an expensive process. Others use anaerobic digestion to break down food waste, but the value of the resulting compost isn’t high. 

Hyung-Sool Lee, director of the Waterloo…

Producing food consumes a lot of energy — and, as a result, creates a significant proportion of the world’s greenhouse gases. As the global population grows and the planet continues to heat up, it becomes more important than ever to produce food efficiently.

That’s why WISE member Keith Hipel, along with colleagues at York University and Queen’s University, recently scrutinized five different agricultural systems in coastal Bangladesh to compare energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.

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