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Ambika Opal was invited as a guest presenter and judge for the Velocity Innovation Challenge, ran by Velocity. Three global challenges were presented to student participants: energy, food, and health. Ambika led the energy challenge. She conducted a presentation on energy access challenges and technologies to the students teams, including access to electricity, access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, and global statistics on energy access. Four teams chose to focus on the energy challenge, developing solutions such as clean cookstoves, lighting efficiency education programs, and renewable energy policy improvements for specific countries. The overall winner of the event was an energy team who designed a new clean cookstove and venting process to reduce indoor air pollution.

It was held at the National Fuel Cell Research Centre, the University of California Irvine. Professor Xianguo Li (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering) served as the conference co-chair. It was a multidisciplinary conference that covered the latest developments and advancements in fuel cells, from fundamentals, to advanced materials, design, engineering, products, and applications. It was of a particular value and interest to those in the relevant fields.

As Waterloo continued to advance its Shift: Neutral climate and energy action plan, the University has undertaken a study to determine how it could decarbonize the campus district energy system, which accounted for around 75% of its emissions. The project was led by the Sustainability Office and Plant Operations, and is being completed by Doherty Engineering. The Sustainability Office and Plant Operations had partnered with Waterloo Climate Institute and Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy to host a special open house for researchers with interest and expertise in sustainable energy technologies and policy, climate action planning in an organizational context, or district energy systems. The focus was on: reviewing summary information on the project; reflecting on initial assessments of potential technology solutions and implementation strategies; speaking to the project team members; and submitting thoughts, ideas, and suggestions on technologies and strategies.

The Waterloo Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA) summit was held at the Region of Waterloo International Airport Operations Centre. The summit brought together more than 200 researchers and leaders from academia, industry and government. Experts discussed solutions to build a sustainable future for air travel and advance the aeronautics industry. WISE participated in this event as an exhibitor and showcases its R&D activities in the power and energy area.

N-ZAP is a five-year action research partnership/project led by the University of Waterloo with Professor Amelia Clarke as the PI, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and ICLEI Canada. It is funded by the Government of Canada through the Climate Action and Awareness Fund (CAAF). The focus was to analyze different strategies to support the Canadian municipalities to monitor, measure and achieve net-zero (GHG) mitigation goals. The aim was to ensure emissions reduction projects, policies and programs were aligned with Canada's national reduction commitments. The discussion was on creating improved measurement, analysis and monitoring systems for both municipal and community-wide GHG emissions to advance the quantification of GHG emissions, enable the application of methods to identify mitigation opportunities and evaluate their effectiveness. This would augment national reporting processes and align with international practice. The meeting was the first in-person meeting at the University of Waterloo in October of 2022.

Professor XiaoYu Wu (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering) participated in the summit. Under the theme, Transition to Net Zero, the 5th annual Canada’s Innovation Corridor Summit highlighted and identified where the Corridor could utilize its strengths and talents to lead Canada’s transitional economy and ensure our region takes on a global leadership position in providing and commercializing solutions. Specifically, programming focused on the challenges and opportunities that decarbonization will bring within the following key themes: industry, infrastructure, transportation, and research.

Professor Ponnambalam (Systems Design Engineering) delivered a talk on “New trends and technology advancement in environmental systems and their effect on nations and societies towards sustainability”.

The conference addressed challenges and issues related to artificial intelligence technologies, cloud computing, the internet of things, quality of life, green and sustainable universities, cybersecurity, automation, robotics, autonomous vehicles, environmental engineering, renewable energy, and water resources management under the cluster of engineering and technological sectors.

Professor Nazar (Chemistry) attended the meeting organized by the “International Battery Materials Association (IBA)”. Her presentation was on “Creating and understanding stable cathode-electrolyte interfaces for solid state batteries”.

The meeting focused on the latest findings that had led to battery materials of enhanced performance and safety, and to deepened understanding of the electrode processes that determine and dictate the electrochemical performance. Scientists and researchers of battery community around the world participated to share recent advances in battery materials and electrolytes for lithium ion batteries and beyond.

Professor Nazar (Chemistry) discussed “Electrochemical energy storage using lithium sulphur conversion chemistry with liquid and solid state electrolytes” at the meeting.

The Molecular Foundry is a nanoscience research facility that provides visiting researchers (“users”) with access to cutting-edge expertise and instrumentation in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. The Molecular Foundry’s 2021 Annual User Meeting will be hosted virtually with free registration to bring our scientific community together in a safe and accessible format. This annual conference focuses on frontier research topics of interest to that community of users, providing a forum to share results and exchange ideas, and bringing together leading researchers, junior scientists, postdocs, and students.

Professor Li (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering) served as the President of the Fuel Cell Division, International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE), and the Fuel Cell Division that organized the 2021 World Fuel Cell Conference (WFCC).

The WFCC is a multidisciplinary conference on the latest development and advancement of hydrogen and fuel cells, and provides a forum for the exchange of the latest scientific and technical information, for the dissemination of high-quality research results, and for the debate and shaping of future directions and priorities in hydrogen fuel cell science, technology, engineering, application and commercialization. This conference targets technical issues and interconnections between fuel cells and hydrogen.