Kevin Soobrian

U of T engineer studying energy efficiency and indoor environment inside TCHC buildings

ullahnor — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 18:21:08 +0000

U of T engineer studying energy efficiency and indoor environment inside TCHC buildings

ullahnor Wed, 01/25/2017 - 13:21

Cutline

Assistant Professor Marianne Touchie is working with Toronto Community Housing and The Atmospheric Fund to better understand how changes to energy use affect indoor environmental quality in multi-unit residential buildings (photo by Kevin Soobrian)

Kevin Soobrian

Author legacy

Kevin Soobrian

Topic

City & Culture

Cities

urban

Highrise

Environment

Energy

Subheadline

Marianne Touchie is collaborating with The Atmospheric Fund to collect data on energy consumption, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide concentration in more than 70 apartments spanning seven different TCHC buildings

From coast to coast, condominium towers are being constructed at an unprecedented rate in Canadian cities with 30,000 new units added in 2015 to the Toronto market alone.

This is driven both by recent advances in the design, engineering and construction of tall buildings, and a stark increase in demand for these multi-unit residential buildings (MURB).

“More people are moving downtown,” says Marianne Touchie, assistant professor of civil engineering at U of T's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “There’s very limited space so we need high-density housing options and MURBs provide that.”

With a background in building science, Touchie studies the relationships between energy efficiency and indoor environment quality parameters such as thermal comfort in these high-density buildings.

In Toronto, one of the largest suppliers of MURBs is Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), which owns 50 million square feet of residential space and houses 110,000 residents. Many of these are older buildings without air conditioning.

“A lot of these buildings rely on ventilation through the building envelope, which is not terribly effective. At the same time, we need to reduce our energy consumption and energy use,” she says. “But reducing energy usage has implications for occupants, and that’s what I’m interested in studying.”

Touchie is currently collaborating with The Atmospheric Fund (formerly the Toronto Atmospheric Fund) on a large research project – one that she has been involved with since her role as the organization's building research manager from 2014 to 2015. She and her colleagues are collecting data on energy consumption, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide concentration in more than 70 apartments spanning seven different TCHC buildings.

“It’s probably the most comprehensive MURB monitoring project in North America, if not the world,” says Touchie.

They are also working with Professor Jeffrey Siegel, who is examining concentrations of formaldehyde, particulate matter and through a partnership with Health Canada radon concentrations.

Touchie says that collaborations, such as those with TCHC, The Atmospheric Fund and Siegel, are critical to creating a comprehensive picture of the MURBs she studies.

“Buildings are so complex,” says Touchie. “I have training in one particular area, but I’m not an indoor air quality expert. When we make changes from an energy perspective to the ventilation system, or the heating and cooling system, it has an influence on the air quality. Working with other experts like Professor Siegel, we can gather data on all sides.”

Touchie’s findings with The Atmospheric Fund and TCHC have drawn the interest of Toronto Public Health. The agency is interested in the health impact of extreme heat, and the study has found that these TCHC buildings are often overheated, especially in the summer.

“Extreme heat is a health problem, especially for the most vulnerable populations,” says Sarah Gingrich, a health policy specialist at Toronto Public Health.

Very young children, the elderly and people with illnesses or taking certain medications are most at risk.

“This work is providing evidence that excessive heat is a problem in older apartment buildings in Toronto,” Gingrich says. “The research is showing that although the temperature cools down at night outside, in these buildings, it rises during the day, and they stay hot all night long.”

Touchie and her collaborators are finding that a major culprit for the inefficient heating and cooling performance is uncontrolled air leakage. These leaks often occur around windows, doors, exhaust fans and elevator shafts. She adds that “because people can do whatever they want in their own homes, like open and close their windows, MURBs combine the complexity of high-rise buildings with the occupant wild card,” which makes managing the indoor environment even trickier.

“The study provides valuable information on Toronto apartment buildings that will help to inform policy development,” says Gingrich. “It fills a very important gap by providing up-to-date data that highlights some of the challenges in this type of building and points to potential solutions.”

Next, Touchie hopes to expand her research to newer condos, where data is even scarcer.

“They’re going up so quickly, and we really have no information about the quality of the indoor environment or their energy performance.,” she says. “I am very curious whether their energy consumption matches the performance level promised at the design stage.”

The next generation of solar pioneers: U of T alumni are electrifying the Democratic Republic of Congo

ullahnor — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 22:12:17 +0000

The next generation of solar pioneers: U of T alumni are electrifying the Democratic Republic of Congo

ullahnor Fri, 12/09/2016 - 17:12

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The Virunga landscape in the Democratic Republic of Congo (photo by flöschen via Flickr)

Kevin Soobrian

Author legacy

Kevin Soobrian

Topic

Research & Innovation

Solar

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Sustainability

John Paul Morgan found himself in the middle of a civil war. It was 2006, and after completing his graduate studies in electrical engineering at U of T, the 27-year-old had a one-year contract position with Doctors Without Borders (DWB) in Shabunda, a small town in the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“The town was strategically important to various warring factions and kept getting taken and retaken by different sides,” says Morgan. “As a result, it had a very acute medical crisis that needed addressing. DWB had established a fairly large network of hospitals and clinics, and I was in charge of logistics.”

U of T Engineering alumnus John Paul Morgan was inspired to found his company, Morgan Solar, by his experiences with Doctors Without Borders in the Democratic Republic of Congo (photo courtesy of John Paul Morgan)

Over the next 12 months, Morgan handled everything from construction and personnel management to making sure the organization had medical supplies and food. One thing that struck him during this time was the negative impact a lack of electricity was having on the local population.

“At the hospital, water was being supplied by a train of 20 labourers going up and down a hill all day to fetch water from a spring in jerry cans,” Morgan explains. “That simple necessity of fetching water could be addressed with pennies worth of electricity.”

Under Morgan’s direction, DWB installed a pipeline that provided some 90,000 gallons of water a day to the hospital for drinking, surgeries, showers and cleaning.

“It was a massive project, but at the end of the day there was a pole with two standard solar panels and a little electrical pump running the whole thing,” says Morgan. “That gives you a sense of how much potential there is in solar.”

According to a 2014 publication by the International Energy Agency, some 60 million people in the DRC – over 75 per cent of its population – do not have access to electricity. Solar power represents the most abundant form of renewable energy on Earth, and two pioneering U of T Engineering alumni are developing and delivering the technology that may help to electrify the nation.

John Paul Morgan (right) demonstrates his pioneering solar optic technology to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne (photo courtesy of John Paul Morgan)

A Bright Idea

Before leaving Shabunda, Morgan learned from the DWB doctors that there was a very strong correlation between access to electricity and a reduction in disease.

“It just seemed wrong that in 2006 so many millions of people should have to live without light because it wasn’t affordable. So I wanted to figure out a way to fix those problems.”

When he returned to Canada, Morgan leveraged his education to found his own solar energy startup, Morgan Solar. The company’s flagship product is a solar module developed by Morgan called the Sun Simba.

“We invented a way to make a super low-profile optic that traps light in the solar panel and guides it to a solar cell,” he explains. “This lets you reduce how much solar cell material you need to use, which also reduces the cost.”

After developing the Sun Simba, Morgan noticed a need for an inexpensive and easy-to-assemble tracking system to make this technology scalable. His answer is the Savanna Tracker, which can be assembled in minutes using only hand tools.

Morgan noted that inexpensive solar solutions like his company’s have the potential to address energy poverty in a way unlike other energy sources because it can be decentralized. He expects that solar mini-grid solutions will become increasingly common in Africa.

“It will be just like with cell phones,” says Morgan. “They leapfrogged past the need to build landlines, and jumped straight to cellular. With energy, they’re going to bypass the need to make expensive and difficult to maintain electrical grids, and go straight to solar.”

Solar photovoltaic array at Rwindi Ranger Station (photo courtesy of Joe O’Connor)

Here Comes the Sun

U of T Engineering alumnus Shawn Qu is an indisputable leader in the solar field. In 2001 he founded Canadian Solar, which has grown to become one of the world’s largest solar power companies. Canadian Solar has successfully delivered solar modules to over 90 countries – one of which is the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This August, Qu donated a number of 30-kilowatt solar panels to Virunga National Park in the DRC to establish the park’s first mini-grid system. Poaching and the Congolese Civil War have significantly reduced plant and animal wildlife in Virunga. Electrification in the park has potential to prevent further destruction by powering security lights and radios that will enhance the park rangers’ ability to protect wildlife in remote areas at night.

“Protecting endangered species and environment is every corporate citizen’s responsibility,” said Qu in a press release issued by Canadian Solar. “As a founder and CEO of a world leading PV solution provider, I am happy to be able to empower rangers in their endeavour.”

Qu is also helping to support the next generation of solar researchers at U of T Engineering. In 2015, Canadian Solar committed $400,000 to support solar research at the faculty through the TalentEdge program.

Morgan, who has been giving back to his alma mater by serving on U of T Governing Council since 2013, sees solar as the only practical option for electrifying not only parts of Africa but the world.

“We can’t power the world off of wind, unless we’re willing to reduce our consumption by a factor of 10, and that doesn’t seem possible,” he says. “Solar is the only real technology that can meet humanity’s needs and do it in a way that will last for more than 40 years and won’t wreck the planet in the process.”

U of T team advances to next round of Carbon XPRIZE competition

ullahnor — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 22:08:22 +0000

U of T team advances to next round of Carbon XPRIZE competition

ullahnor Wed, 11/23/2016 - 17:08

Cutline

Alexander Ip and his U of T research team, led by Professor Ted Sargent has advanced to the second round of the $20-million Carbon XPRIZE competition (photo by Kevin Soobrian)

Kevin Soobrian

Author legacy

Kevin Soobrian

Topic

Breaking Research

Research & Innovation

Sargent Group

Ted Sargent

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Sustainability

Energy

A team of researchers led by Professor Ted Sargent has moved on to the second round of the $20-million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE. The international competition challenges teams to capture carbon-dioxide (CO2), a climate-warming greenhouse gas, from natural gas or coal power plant fuel emissions and convert it into valuable products.

U of T’s multidisciplinary team, called Carbon Electrocatalytic Recycling Toronto (CERT), submitted a technique they developed earlier this year to convert CO2 to carbon-monoxide using electrocatalysis. For the competition entry, the team has altered that technique by using nanoparticle-based catalysts to produce formic acid, a substance commonly used as a preservative for animal feed and within the textile industry.

“Basically, you take some of the hydrogen from water and connect it into your CO2 molecule to make your formic acid,” says Alexander Ip, director of research and partnerships for the Sargent Group. “But you can do different things. In principle, you can make any carbon-based product. The challenge is having the right materials to be able to selectively get what you want.”

Read about the technique the team developed earlier this year

Ip also noted that the method could be instrumental in closing the carbon cycle. Sargent and an international team of collaborators developed a highly efficient method for storing energy in chemical form earlier this year, raising the potential for intermittent, renewable power sources like solar and wind. This clean and renewable electricity is then used to capture and convert CO2 into an asset.

“One thing that is emerging right now that we think is interesting is using formic acid as a hydrogen fuel cell material,” says Ip.

Instead of storing a gas in pressurized tanks, hydrogen is stored within the formic acid liquid and released from there. This allows hydrogen to be safely stored and easily transported in a liquid form.

“It’s less developed, but we think it’s a way that the formic acid market might grow in the future,” Ip says.

The NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE launched last year, and CERT submitted its first round submission in July. They now have until August 2017 to prepare a submission for round two, in which teams must demonstrate an ability to scale their project. The team is currently working on less than a gram of CO2 in its experiments, but will have to reach a volume of 200 kilograms per day for round two.

“It’s a big jump, and I don’t think it’s something we would normally try to do in a year,” Ip says. “But, that’s what XPRIZE does – it challenges you to go for it.”

CERT chose formic acid as its product precisely because they anticipate that it will be easy to scale up, notes Ip. “Once we’ve gotten to scale, you can swap out the catalyst in your system to make a different product. It’s not quite that straightforward, but that’s the principle.”

The team of 20 includes researchers from across the university, many of whom came together through a $1-million grant from the University of Toronto’s Connaught Global Challenge Fund. Nanoparticle expert Professor Eugenia Kumacheva from the department of chemistry and fluidics specialist Professor David Sinton from the department of mechanical & industrial engineering are among the faculty members collaborating on the project.

“Tackling critical sustainability challenges requires collaboration across traditional disciplinary lines,” says Sargent. “CERT’s method holds incredible promise for practical implementation of carbon capture and conversion – that focus on applicability is at the core of the XPRIZE competition.”

The next step, says Ip, is making varied and more complex products, such as ethylene, from CO2. “We’re looking at how we can get two, or three, or more carbons linked together because that’s where you start getting more energy density and value in products.”

Round 2 of the Carbon XPRIZE will be judged in late 2017, with the top five teams in the natural gas and coal power plant streams sharing $2.5 million in prize money and advancing to the final round. Finalists will apply their methods to real power plants and be evaluated by both the amount of CO2 they are able to convert, and the net value of their final product.

“It’s a big challenge for us, but we want to see where it goes,” says Ip. “We think it’s a very important problem being addressed in this competition, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”

U of T Engineering alumni set fastest human-powered vehicle record — again

lavende4 — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 15:46:13 +0000

U of T Engineering alumni set fastest human-powered vehicle record — again

lavende4 Mon, 09/26/2016 - 11:46

Cutline

The Aerovelo team with Eta (Photo by Anupam Singhal)

Kevin Soobrian

Author legacy

Kevin Soobrian

Topic

Global Lens

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Aerovelo

On September 14, 2016, a team founded by U of T Engineering alumni broke their own world record for fastest human-powered vehicle on earth when their bullet-shaped bike reached 142.04 kilometres per hour at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain, Nevada. Three days later, they surpassed themselves once again, setting a new record of 144.19 km/h.

For comparison, the cycling sprint gold medalist at the 2016 Olympic games finished with an average speed of 75 km/h.

Read about the new record in Popular Mechanics

The record-setting vehicle, named Eta after the Greek letter used to denote efficiency in engineering equations, was the same 25-kilogram bike they raced to establish their record last year, with some significant upgrades.

“We made a few focused changes to the bike this year, including a new ventilation scoop, upgrades to the wheels and improved chain waxing methods,” said Aerovelo co-founder and Eta pilot Todd Reichert (EngSci 0T5, UTIAS PhD 1T1). “The training regime changes every year as well, as we get more data on how my body reacts to specific types of workouts.”

Aerovelo co-founders Reichert and Cameron Robertson (EngSci 0T8, UTIAS MASc 0T9) have been setting human-powered vehicle records since building the first human-powered ornithopter in 2010. In 2013, they went a step further and became the first to achieve sustained flight using a human-powered helicopter.

Eta was originally the product of a long-standing collaboration between Aerovelo and U of T Engineering’s Human Powered Vehicle Design Team (HPVDT), who also participated in this year’s challenge with two vehicles: the Eta Prime and Vortex.

Eta Prime was cut from the same mold as the original Eta, but has a fully redesigned interior. The Vortex was a bicycle built exclusively for the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in 2011. It was raced for the hundredth time this year, making it the most raced vehicle at Battle Mountain according to HPVDT faculty advisor and official timekeeper of the competition, Professor Jun Nogami (MSE).

While Reichert and Robertson have turned Aerovelo into a competitive entrepreneurial venture, Nogami sees the HPVDT and competition as a great opportunity for engineering students todevelop practical competencies.

“I think that any design team where engineering students actually make things with their hands, work toward a deadline as a team and compete against other universities gives invaluable experience,” said Nogami. “I’m very hopeful that with the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship and the maker spaces available within, more students will acquire the hands-on skills needed to build and design good products.”

Never content to stay still for long, the ever-ambitious Aerovelo team already has their eyes fixed on the next set of records they aim to break.

“We hope to set the one-hour distance record with Eta in the late fall, and of course return to the World Human Powered Speed Challenge next year,” says Robertson. “Future projects will likely include a human-powered aircraft to fly a marathon in one hour, or potentially an even faster bike.”