Clean Energy

Global

Startup

Millions of people in Nigeria live without access to electricity – but University of Toronto alumnus Olugbenga Olubanjo is aiming to change that with his startup Reeddi, which rents out small, lightweight solar-powered batteries that can power devices such as TVs, laptops and refrigerators, CNN reports.

Olubanjo, who grew up in Nigeria, told the U.S. news outlet that he developed the idea for the company during his time in U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. When he phoned up family and friends back home, he said their calls would often be disrupted by power outages. “I felt obliged to do something,” he said.

In 2021, Reeddi was one of the 15 finalists for the inaugural Earthshot Prize launched by Prince William.

Reeddi’s capsule batteries are currently only available in Nigeria, where Olubanjo says he hopes to optimize Reeddi’s model before expanding to other countries in Africa.

Read the story at CNN

AI used to discover clean energy materials 'faster and more efficiently'

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 16:15:27 +0000

AI used to discover clean energy materials 'faster and more efficiently'

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 02/07/2023 - 11:15

Cutline

Alex Voznyy, an assistant professor at U of T Scarborough, right, speaks with a colleague in the lab (photo by Dylan Toombs)

Don Campbell

Topic

Breaking Research

Clean Energy

U of T Scarborough

Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a method of harnessing artificial intelligence to discover new and more efficient materials for clean energy technology.

A team led by Alex Voznyy, an assistant professor in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, used machine learning to significantly speed up the amount of time needed to find new materials with desired properties.

“We are trying to find better alternatives to the materials we currently have,” says Voznyy, whose research looks at developing new materials for lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen storage, CO2 capture and solar cells.

“This could mean developing completely new materials or using materials we already know about but never considered using in clean energy applications.”

Voznyy says a major problem with the materials currently used in clean energy technologies is they are either expensive, inefficient or at the limit of their capabilities. The goal, he says, is to create new and better materials by combining elements of existing ones.

The machine learning model relies on data found in the Materials Project, an open-source database of more than 140,000 known materials developed over the past decade. It contains information about the components of known materials, including crystal structure, molecular composition, density, energy conductivity and stability.

To figure out what combination of existing materials could lead to a better lithium-ion battery, for example, Voznyy says it may require figuring out the stability of the new material and how much energy it can store.

The challenge is that the calculations required to do this work do not scale very well. More complex materials such as an alloy require twice as many atoms to encode, making it four times slower to calculate using conventional methods. Doing these types of calculations currently relies on a quantum chemistry approach that Voznyy refers to as “computing by brute force” because it is slow and uses a lot of computing power.

By contrast, the model developed by Voznyy’s team can do these calculations 1,000 times faster.

“Our philosophy is that we don’t want to spend another 10 years preparing data that will predict the same outcome,” says Voznyy, who runs the Clean Energy Lab at U of T Scarborough.

“We want to be able to predict new materials faster and more efficiently so we can start physically creating these materials sooner and with greater certainty that they will work.”

Previous models were able to reproduce the stabilities of known materials, but they couldn’t predict for materials with unknown crystal structures, which refers to the way atoms, ions and molecules are arranged in a material – an essential factor in determining its physical properties. By training the new model on something called distorted structures, it provides insights into how new materials will perform under strain and allows the model to relax a crystal structure to its more stable configuration.

“Knowing the precise crystal geometry is essential to accurately predicting what the properties of new materials will look like and how they will perform,” says Voznyy. “This method significantly speeds up this process and opens up a lot of possibilities.”

Voznny’s team used Niagara, U of T’s supercomputer located at the SciNet centre, to run the calculations for the study.

The research, which is published in the journal Patterns, was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

With U of T as a partner, advanced materials research facility in Mississauga to focus on clean energy

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 20:58:12 +0000

With U of T as a partner, advanced materials research facility in Mississauga to focus on clean energy

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 11/17/2020 - 15:58

Cutline

The 21,500-square-foot facility in Mississauga’s Sheridan Park will support the development of clean energy technologies and will be home to the Collaboration Centre for Green Energy Materials, a partnership between U of T and NRC (photo courtesy of NRC)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Ted Sargent

U of T Mississauga

The University of Toronto will play a key role in a new National Research Council of Canada (NRC) advanced research materials facility focused on clean energy.

The new research facility, the NRC’s first in Greater Toronto, will serve as a Canadian clean energy hub that supports research into advanced materials and transitions them to industrial use. It will bring together companies, governments and universities to work on clean tech projects.

The NRC Mississauga facility will also be home to the new Collaboration Centre for Green Energy Materials (CC-GEM) – a partnership between U of T and NRC.

“Tackling the reduction of the environmental footprint of Canadians is a grand challenge that requires bold ideas and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries to solve,” Derek Newton, U of T’s assistant vice-president, innovation, partnerships and entrepreneurship, said during a virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place Monday on Zoom.

“The University of Toronto looks forward to collaborating with the NRC to accelerate the work of U of T’s researchers and training students to achieve new discoveries and apply them to further reduce the environmental impact of the electricity that powers the businesses, homes and vehicles of Canadians and people around the world.”

The CC-GEM joint initiative will be co-led by: U of T Professor Dwight Seferos in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science; U of T Professor Timothy Bender in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; and Michel Dumoulin, the NRC’s vice-president of engineering.

It will contribute to the green economy and address a range of research areas including more sustainable energy solutions and renewable fuels.

“Sustainably meeting our growing energy needs is one of the most critical challenges we face,” said Christopher Yip, dean of U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “Professor Bender and his multidisciplinary team have a strong track record of success in transforming fundamental insights in chemistry, engineering and materials science into innovative technologies.

“This partnership will catalyze the transformation of these discoveries into innovative products and new business ventures that will power a greener Canadian economy.”

The NRC Mississauga research facility, home to the new Collaboration Centre for Green Energy Materials (CC-GEM), was officially opened during a virtual ribbon cutting ceremony this week (image via Zoom)

“This centre combines the world-class materials science and research capabilities of the University of Toronto and the National Research Council to accelerate the discovery of new materials that will be critical to the next generation of energy technologies,” said Melanie Woodin, dean of U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science. “This initiative will also help train the scientists and engineers needed for Canada’s clean-tech sector. ”

CC-GEM is the second collaboration between NRC and U of T and is expected to lead to discoveries and advances that will yield publications, patents, and the commercialization of technology, as well as the creation of jobs and new industries.

Newton was one of several participants on Monday’s Zoom call. Others included: Roger Scott-Douglas, acting president of the NRC, Navdeep Bains, the federal minister of innovation, science and industry and Bonnie Crombie, mayor of Mississauga.

“The opening of our new facility in Mississauga represents a major stepping-stone for the National Research Council of Canada in advancing Canada’s clean-energy agenda,” Scott-Douglas said.

“Our vision is for this collaborative hub to become the home to new technologies that will enable industry to be more sustainable, and we look forward to working with all our partners in accelerating the development of innovations in advanced materials to support industry.”

The 21,500-square-foot facility in Mississauga’s Sheridan Park will support the development of cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence-driven robotics platforms dubbed “material acceleration platforms,” otherwise known as self-driving labs. The initial focus will be developing materials that allow the conversion of carbon dioxide into fuels and other high-value industrial products, including multi-functional powder and nanomaterials, and “advanced metamaterials and devices for consumer, automotive, aerospace and biomedical applications.”

The facility will see government, companies and post-secondary institutions like U of T and the University of Waterloo working together on clean-tech projects, with the space accommodating university equipment as well as researchers and students. The facility is part of the Canadian Campus for Advanced Materials Manufacturing (CCAMM), a joint initiative between the NRC and the Xerox Research Centre of Canada, which is adjacent to NRC Mississauga.

At the launch, Bains said the government is “committed to supporting innovative partnerships that will cement Canada as a world innovation leader.”

He also announced the addition of the Materials for Clean Fuels Challenge program, a seven-year, $57-million collaborative research program that will be housed at the new facility. It will focus on the development of new materials to be used in the production of clean energy, with the aim of decarbonizing Canada's oil and gas and petrochemical sectors.

EaRTH-focused: U of T-Centennial College partnership to advance cleantech, build 'vertical farm'

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 15:15:51 +0000

EaRTH-focused: U of T-Centennial College partnership to advance cleantech, build 'vertical farm'

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 04/22/2019 - 11:15

Cutline

The proposed net-zero vertical farm at U of T Scarborough is part of a broader partnership between the university and Centennial College focused on advancing the cleantech sector (rendering courtesy of U of T Scarborough and Centennial College)

Topic

U of T Scarborough

The University of Toronto Scarborough and Centennial College are teaming up to establish the EaRTH District – an initiative aimed at advancing the cleantech sector through research, academic programming and commercialization.

EaRTH, which stands for Environmental and Related Technologies Hub, will be a knowledge and training centre at U of T Scarborough focused on the development of clean technologies.

Among the partnership’s plans: apply innovative technologies to food production in an urban setting through the development of Canada’s first net-zero vertical farm.

“We know the future belongs to sustainable, clean technology and this partnership complements the strengths of both Centennial College and U of T Scarborough,” says Andrew Arifuzzaman, U of T Scarborough’s chief administrative officer, adding that U of T Scarborough is renowned for its expertise in environmental sciences while Centennial College is a leader in providing training in new and emerging sectors of the economy.

“This commitment is also an exciting opportunity to bring economic activity and jobs to the eastern GTA in a sector that is only going to become more important in the future.”

The proposed vertical farm, a state-of-the-art building, will create training and research opportunities in a variety of fields, including waste management, clean energy, sustainable building design, water conservation and urban agriculture, among others.

Andrew Petrou, the director of strategic initiatives and external relations at Centennial College, says cleantech is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Ontario economy, and that the EaRTH District will help train a skilled workforce to ensure the province remains internationally competitive.

“Every single component of the building, from the heating and cooling to the lighting to the vertical farm, is an element that students, industry and the community can interact with,” says Petrou.

“The goal is that they would be able to engage with this facility at all levels through programming, research, testing and experiential learning opportunities.”

Petrou adds that an important goal of the EaRTH District is to bring together industry, governments, community and academia to develop clean technology that can help build more resilient communities. Another is to connect with other cleantech innovation hubs around the world, building a global network to support and advance the sector.

U of T Scarborough and Centennial College signed a memorandum of understanding in early 2019 and have already undergone an extensive consultation process for the vertical farm. The facility’s design will allow industry to test and commercialize clean technologies.

“The vertical farm will become a key resource in assisting communities across Canada in tackling issues related to food, water, air, energy, waste and advanced design and integrative systems,” says Professor Bernie Kraatz, who is U of T Scarborough’s vice-principal of research.

“These are all key areas in understanding how to create resilient communities in the face of climate change.”

U of T Scarborough and Centennial College are actively looking to expand EaRTH, which already includes the Environmental Science and Chemistry Building at U of T Scarborough. Built using sustainable building practices, the building houses research and teaching labs for environmental sciences.

Artificial intelligence can accelerate the race toward sustainable energy technologies, prominent researchers argue

rasbachn — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 19:16:34 +0000

Artificial intelligence can accelerate the race toward sustainable energy technologies, prominent researchers argue

rasbachn Wed, 12/06/2017 - 14:16

Cutline

In an opinion piece published today in Nature, Ted Sargent and his co-authors suggest that artificial intelligence and machine learning could be leveraged to speed up the development of sustainable energy technologies (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Global Lens

Artificial Intelligence

Clean Energy

Global

Graduate Students

Ted Sargent

Subheadline

Call to action by U of T's Ted Sargent, Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Yoshua Bengio and others says machine learning could focus the efforts of scientists looking to harvest, convert and store clean energy

We’ve all heard that artificial intelligence and machine learning are poised to transform our lives with self-driving cars and voice-activated robotic assistants. But these technologies may also be the key to speeding up the development of clean energy – from better batteries to more efficient solar cells.

That’s the argument advanced today in Nature by a team of prominent researchers, including the University of Toronto’s Ted Sargent, Harvard’s Alán Aspuru-Guzik, and internationally renowned AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio of Université de Montréal. University Professor Sargent of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering is U of T’s vice-president, international.

Solar and wind power have seen dramatic reductions in cost in recent years; however, in order to displace significant amounts of fossil fuels, they urgently require further improvements in conversion efficiency and energy storage. Sargent’s team is among those racing to develop new technologies that can meet these needs.

The problem, argues Sargent, is that “the search space is vast.”

“According to the Materials Project, there are more than 700,000 potential materials to choose from,” says Sargent. “But when researchers select which materials to use in a new device, such as a solar cell or battery, they typically focus on a few combinations of elements they deem interesting, based on their own experience. They ignore everything else.”

Sorting through all possible materials to determine the very best ones to use in each particular situation is a task for which humans are ill-equipped. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is very effective at mining large databases to find the optimal match for given set of criteria. The approach could avoid a lot of dead ends, saving valuable time and money.

Read the opinion piece in Nature

“What we’d like to see is more collaboration between the artificial intelligence community and the clean energy community,” says Phil De Luna, a PhD candidate in the department of material sciences and engineering and an author on the paper. “If machine learning algorithms can decode human speech and recognize faces, they should also be able to point us to the combinations of materials that will be most promising.”

The Nature opinion piece was a product of a joint seminar between two research programs of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR): Bio-Inspired Solar Energy and Learning in Machines and Brains. Held at MIT last summer, the meeting resulted in this collective call to action, sponsored by more than a dozen internationally renowned professors and industrial scientists in fields ranging from materials science and engineering to computer science.

U of T's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering is well-positioned to mediate these new collaborations. Researchers such as Sargent and others in the Institute for Sustainable Energy are developing innovative solutions in energy generation and storage. On the artificial intelligence side, faculty members have developed algorithms that can provide sophisticated facial recognition in real time, or hunt through the human genome to find the root causes of disease.

U of T is also home to the Vector Institute, which brings together a vibrant community of innovative problem-solvers to work across disciplines on both curiosity-driven and applied research challenges: Applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to sustainability would be a perfect fit.

Interested in publicly funded research in Canada? Learn more at UofT’s #supportthereport advocacy campaign

Sargent and his co-authors acknowledge that what they are proposing is a tall order, yet they believe that it is a necessary step.

“Time is running out for finding the new energy technologies the world needs,” says Sargent. “Existing strategies may not get us there fast enough, so we need to try something new.”

The full list of co-signatories includes professors and scientists from the following institutions and companies: The University of Toronto, Université de Montréal, Harvard University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, Total, IBM Watson Health, Toyota Research Institute, and Citrine Informatics.

U of T's Supermileage Team hopes to reclaim top spot at Detroit competition

ullahnor — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 15:48:24 +0000

U of T's Supermileage Team hopes to reclaim top spot at Detroit competition

ullahnor Tue, 04/25/2017 - 11:48

Cutline

Supermileage Team lead Mengqi Wang hopes improvements to her team’s student-designed and student-built vehicles will get them to the podium at the Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition (photo by Marit Mitchell)

Marit Mitchell

Author legacy

Marit Mitchell

Topic

Breaking Research