Predominantly fueled by natural gas and electricity, the heating and cooling of buildings is the third largest GHG emission sector in Ontario. A new city centre with approximately 7,500 residential units has been proposed for an unoccupied 28-acres of land in Humber Bay Shores, Toronto. GeoFurnace Inc. has designed an innovative renewable energy heating and cooling system for these units using underground geothermal energy storage and solar photovoltaics. This design achieves a significant reduction in environmental impacts, including GHG emissions and water usage.

Faculty Advisor: Maurice Dusseault

Food security in Canada’s north is a pressing issue with few solutions. Beaver Creek, Yukon is an example of a town that lacks access to nutrition. The climate is too harsh to sustain a long growing season, and shipping fresh produce is costly. To address this need, a design for a geothermally heated greenhouse is proposed. This greenhouse will be able to provide year-round, fresh produce for the community of Beaver Creek. This design can be modified for other Northern communities in Canada.

Faculty Advisor: Maurice Dusseault

Lack of energy access in developing countries is a growing concern for global sustainability. Many communities do not have access to safe, reliable, or affordable energy due to their remote and off-grid characteristics. Infra-Solis is tackling this problem by deriving an innovative solution for energy access in Got Ngur, a representative remote village in Northern Uganda. The proposed solution involves implementing an agrivoltaic design; a technique of co-developing the same area for both photovoltaic solar and agricultural activities to provide dual benefits.

Faculty Advisor: Jatin Nathwani

Nunavut, Canada’s largest territory, solely relies on diesel power plants for electricity. The majority of this goes towards heating in the freezing Arctic climate. This is costly, unreliable, and produces massive greenhouse gas emissions. JCA Consulting aims to meet the energy needs of Nunavut, while significantly reducing their carbon footprint and desirably, the local cost of electricity as well. This will be achieved by designing a hybrid low-grade geothermal system to lighten heating loads, and wind power system for renewable energy generation.

Faculty Advisor: James Craig