NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Advanced Material Development for Generation, Storage and Integration of Renewable Energy

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Soaring energy costs, emergence of new technologies, and an ever-increasing awareness of harmful emissions from burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation have necessitated an urgent need for more abundant and less polluting sources of energy. Renewable energy technologies offer alternatives to conventional technologies; however, their intermittent nature has limited their widespread penetration into the electricity market. Electrochemical energy storage devices such as rechargeable batteries and ultra-capacitors have been identified as critical enabling technologies for advanced, reliable and cost-effective energy storage. Nano-engineered materials and coatings have attracted the attention of industrial and scientific communities because of their unique physical, chemical and catalytic properties and their impact has nowhere been more pronounced than in the field of energy conversion and storage. The proposed continuation of the Industrial Research Chair for Colleges (IRCC) program at Lambton College in 'Advanced Nano-Engineered Material Development for Conversion, Storage and Integration of Renewable Energy' will continue and expand the applied research program on development of advanced, affordable materials for the energy sector as well as conducting business-oriented research in energy system design, optimization and integration. Currently, there are six (6) confirmed local and regional SME partners committed to collaborate on multiple industry-driven research projects and is anticipated to grow the program by initiating new partnerships and by expanding the collaborative work with the current partners in the course of the IRCC program. The proposed program will create a conducive teaching environment to train highly qualified personnel, at least paid and unpaid fifty students, and five recent graduates in the next five years. The IRCC program and its project outcomes can have significant positive impacts on local economy and the environment through skilled job creation, development of high-value commodities in the form of new products and processes, and substantial reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other harmful pollutants.