Congratulations to the 2018 Energy Council of Canada Energy Policy Research Fellowship Recipients

BENJAMIN SANCHEZ Civil & Environmental Engineering	HSIU-CHUAN CHANG Management Sciences	NICHOLAS PALASCHUCK Science, Bioscience, Technology & Public Policy
NICK MERCER Geography & Environmental Management	NITIN PADMANABHAN Electrical & Computer Engineering	TRUZAAR DORDI Sustainability Management
	SCOTT MORTON NINOMIYA Sustainability Management

Benjamin Sanchez

Benjamin Sanchez is a doctoral student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo and an Energy Council of Canada Energy Policy Research Fellow, at the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE). Ben’s research explores the valuation and monetization of the environmental impacts of the residual life of building stock in North America. The first stage of his research involves adding a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective to the decision-making methodology involved in adaptive reuse of buildings. The aim is to contribute to the sustainability in construction and climate change through mitigation of negative environmental impacts such as energy demand, carbon emissions, and water depletion, among others. The second stage focuses on the optimization process to assist in maximizing the environmental benefits in the process of adaptive reuse. The final stage will extend the analysis across the building stock market in North America to determine the potential environmental benefits in a typical city.

Benjamin is a Civil Engineer with a Master in Engineering from the University of the Americas. He is originally from the city of Puebla in Mexico. Before initiating his doctoral studies, he worked as an Environmental Inspector of the State of Puebla. Puebla is the fourth largest state in Mexico with 6 million inhabitants. Some of his duties were to verify the fulfillment of the applicable laws inside of the environmental jurisdiction for new and existing buildings. Later, he had the opportunity to become Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technological Institute of Monterrey campus Puebla (ITESM). His effort and dedication have allowed Benjamin to participate in research projects in collaboration with universities and investigation centers in Mexico, U.S.A., Canada, and Sweden.

Hsiu-Chuan Chang

Hsiu-Chuan Chang is a MASc student at the Department of Management Sciences in the University of Waterloo. He is interested in optimization, stochastic process, production planning and scheduling, and data analysis. His current research is working on the allocation of community energy storages for households, and he focuses on the optimization of solar system using machine learning as well.

Prior to coming to the University of Waterloo, Hsiu-Chuan worked for 7 years as a production planner at SunEdison Semiconductor Ltd., which calculated production yield and estimated bottleneck, modified priorities for product manufacturing, and negotiated with department heads to optimize production decision-making. He also formed a global supply chain network with production planners in Italy, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the United States.

Nicholas Palaschuck

Nicholas holds a BSc in Biology, and MSc in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Policy from The University of Winnipeg. As a doctoral student at the University of Waterloo and ECC Energy Policy Research Fellow, he will focus on research seeking to integrate community-based energy systems as an alternative to conventional energy systems by creating functional linkages between local energy production and consumption that matches local needs, values, and resources. In developing and understanding of how local perspectives and values shape transition processes towards low-carbon futures, he believes research can maximize empowerment and engagement towards realizing flexible and integrated energy infrastructures. By advocating for clean innovation policy that is adaptive and tailored to the local context, Nicholas hopes to conduct research that works towards strengthening Canada’s policy framework by promoting a diversity of technologies and learning opportunities that may be shared at national and international levels.

Nick Mercer

Nick Mercer is pursuing PhD studies at the University of Waterloo, Department of Geography and Environmental Management. My research focuses on renewable energy as a tool for community sustainability, particularly in Atlantic Canada, and in remote off-grid communities throughout Canada.

Nitin Padmanabhan

Nitin Padmanabhan received his Bachelor’s degree (B.Tech) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and the Master’s degree (M.Tech) in Electrical Engineering (Power Systems) from the University of Calicut, Kerala, India in 2007 and 2010, respectively. He worked as a Lecturer and Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Vidya Academy of Science & Technology, Thrissur, Kerala, India from 2009 to 2014. He is currently working toward his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His research interests include demand response, energy storage applications, electricity market modeling & design, and optimization of power systems. He is a recipient of the Energy Council of Canada Energy Policy Research Fellowship and the Faculty of Engineering Fellowship, University of Waterloo. He has also received the Best Teaching Assistant Award for exemplary teaching from department of ECE, University of waterloo. He has been serving in various volunteer positions in IEEE Kitchener Waterloo Section, Canada and Kerala Section, India.

Truzaar Dordi

Truzaar’s research examines financial system stability in the face of rapid decarbonization policies, to enhance the role of the private sector in mobilizing green financing. Specifically, Truzaar is interested in the systemic consequences of decarbonization and stranded assets in asset pricing and portfolio allocation strategies. His research utilizes advancements in computational finance to develop a robust method of portfolio allocation that minimizes systematic risk affiliated with rapid decarbonization and stranded carbon assets.

Scott Morton Ninomiya

Scott Morton Ninomiya is a sustainability scholar, energized by working across sectors and disciplines to find creative solutions to big problems at local and global levels. Under the mentorship of Dr. Sarah Burch, Scott is pursuing his PhD in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. As an Energy Council of Canada Fellow, he led a participatory action research project in 2016-17 investigating a local decarbonization project in Waterloo Region, Canada’s technology hub. Scott is also a research team member of the GATE project, (Governing and Accelerating Transformative Entrepreneurship), a collaboration of leading international scholars investigating the transformative potential of entrepreneurs in sustainability governance. Scott is a leader of Climate Action Waterloo Region’s committee that engages the local Industrial/Commercial sector in innovative solutions to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions. Scott has held several leadership positions in his diverse career. He directed pioneering programs in justice and housing within provincial and municipal government contexts and headed two civil sector organizations working on conflict resolution, restorative justice and refugee advocacy.

Nick's research focuses on sustainability implications of renewable energy [RE] development in off-grid communities throughout Canada. In particular, the research project seeks to assess how RE projects create economically, environmentally, and socially vibrant communities. Furthermore, the project aims to identify policy factors which have facilitated off-grid sustainability via RE development in a global context - with particular attention given to Alaska and Canada's northern territories.

Annual fellowships are valued at up to $15,000 for Master's students and up to $25,000 for Doctoral students registered at the University of Waterloo. We thank the Energy Council of Canada for their generous contribution. We thank all applicants for their submissions and encourage interested candidates to stay tuned for the upcoming 2015 Call for Applications.

About the Energy Council of Canada

The Energy Council of Canada is a vehicle for strategic thinking, collaboration and action by senior energy executives in the private and public sectors with an interest in national, continental and global energy issues.

The Energy Council's mission is to forge a better understanding of energy issues in order to optimally shape the energy sector for the benefit of all Canadians.

Energy corporations, energy industry associations, Canadian federal and provincial government departments and agencies, academic organizations, professional services firms, as well as Crown corporations are members of the Council.  Their energy interests cover all forms of energy. The Energy Council holds public policy forums, various member activities, and hosts the annual Canadian Energy Person of the Year Award.

The Energy Council is a founding member of the World Energy Council (1923). We represent Canada and coordinate participation in WEC activities, contributing to development of global expert knowledge, energy information and policy perspectives.

Congratulations to the 2016 Energy Council of Canada Energy Policy Research Fellowship Recipients

About the Fellows' Research:

Stephanie Whitney

Stephanie’s research investigates the impact of specific components of energy conservation programmes on the level of customer participation in those programmes, and ultimately the reduction in energy consumption achieved. Her research applies behavior change and social marketing theories, as well as statistical analysis, with focus on Ontario’s residential and commercial electricity conservation programmes. Stephanie’s research pertains to the Energy Council of Canada’s Energy Literacy/Public Outreach and Engagement research priority, and will be applicable to conservation and demand management policy development in Ontario, and more broadly.

Bronwyn Lazowski

Bronwyn's research investigates the use of smart grid technologies to encourage residential electricity conservation and demand management. Her research studies user adoption and acceptance of smart grid technologies within Ontario and is relevant to the Energy Council of Canada’s Smart Cities and Energy Networks research priority. The results of this research will be applicable to smart grid policy development in Ontario and other jurisdictions.

Herijadi Kurniawan

Herijadi's research will produce socio-technical scenarios for Canada's low-carbon energy futures using Delphi and multi-stakeholders participatory scenario methodology called the cross-impact balances or CIB. During a scenario planning workshop, which is planned for Spring 2017, participants from different sectors will collaboratively co-create multi-scale scenarios (global-local) that are internally consistent. Multiscale scenario research is part of the ongoing effort by research communities for developing more localized scenarios under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (or SSPs), which is one part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (or IPCC) new integrated scenario process for climate change research.

Dane Labonte

Dane's research investigates the financial, social, and regulatory impacts of further integrating distributed generation in the Canadian electricity grid. 

Benjamin Sanchez Andrade

Ben’s research will explore the valuation and monetization of the environmental impacts of the residual life of building stock in North America. His research will add a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective to the decision-making methodology involved in adaptive reuse of buildings, in order to contribute to sustainability and climate change through mitigation of CO₂ emissions.

Scott Morton Ninomiya

Scott’s participatory action research project will engage the multiple local stakeholders driving the DeCarbonize Waterloo Region initiative in systematic learning about that unfolding local transition process. Communities around the world are taking on the complex but imperative challenge of making the transition toward low carbon energy systems, but there is a gap in understanding how to make local transition processes successful from the start. This research project will help to shape local action, provide lessons for other Canadian municipalities and contribute to the international body of knowledge on locally-driven low carbon transition processes.

Christopher Beninger

Christopher's research will focus on comparing and evaluating economic, environmental and social outcomes of low-carbon energy transition policies around the world. The purpose will be to provide a road map for policy and decision-makers of the future who are aiming adopt or implement such policies in their own jurisdictions.

Congratulations to the 2015 Recipients of The Energy Council of Canada Energy Policy Research Fellowship:

Tanya's research examines solutions to local opposition and conflict of wind turbine development in Ontario, to improve process from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.

Bronwyn's research investigates the use of smart grid interventions to encourage residential electricity conservation. Her research uses social science theories to focus on smart grid case studies in Ontario and is relevant to the Energy Council of Canada’s Smart Cities and Energy Networks research priority. The results of this research will be applicable to smart grid policy development in Ontario and other jurisdictions.

Herijadi's research is to produce a list of internally consistent scenarios for Canada's lower carbon energy futures under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) framework. These national energy scenarios will also address the global-local nexus, which is often neglected in traditional energy futures studies.

Dane's research will explore the financial, social, and regulatory impacts of further integrating distributed generation in the Canadian electricity grid. The resulting policy recommendations will aim to provide fairness to the customers and utilities while encouraging further integration of distributed generation and balancing resilient infrastructure and opportunities for innovation. 

The 2014 recipients of The Energy Council of Canada Energy Policy Research Fellowship: