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The 4th International Conference on Solar Technologies & Hybrid Mini Grids to improve energy access, known in short as the S-@ccess conference, occurred from April 26-29, 2023. This conference was run by Trama TecnoAmbiental and the University of the Balearic Islands in Palma, Spain, and WISE was one of the conference partners, sponsors, and on the organizing committee. Prof. Jatin Nathwani, the founding Executive Director and a WISE member, was also on the conference scientific committee. Throughout the 2022-23 year, WISE supported the organization of the conference, and Prof. Nathwani and Ambika Opal attended the conference as representatives from the University of Waterloo.

WISE along with WCI, WISA, and Water Institute, hosted a day-long Net-Zero workshop to highlight key projects and research related to Net-Zero. University of Waterloo professors, researchers, and industry partners presented their projects and research in three panels:

• Panel 1: Renewable Energy Technologies
• Panel 2: Net-Zero Communities
• Panel 3: Sustainable Transportation

Engineering Science Quest is a program run by the Faculty of Engineering for high school and elementary school students to get involved in science and engineering. One program is a weekly after school session for students in grades 9-11. Ambika Opal and Professor Jatin Nathwani were invited to conduct a presentation on access to energy for environmental engineering week. Students learned about the Sustainable Development Goals, access to electricity and clean cooking, learned about WISE and AE4H partners and projects, and had a meaningful discussion on how they can contribute to sustainable energy and energy access goals.

In the case of a 100,000-square-foot office building recently constructed in Waterloo, Ontario, closing that performance gap required a complex process of optimizing the HVAC systems. 

WISE, along with Impact Alliance (a student club) and Cooperative and Experiential Education ran a two-day collaborative hackathon for students of all disciplines and years of study. At the hackathon, Rajnish Jain, founder of Avani Bio Energy, presented two real-life sustainability challenges his India-based organization is facing. One challenge was focused on calculations to develop a business case for selling carbon offsets as a revenue stream for Avani, and the other challenge was focused on the development of a resource centre or library to scale the work that Avani does.

In March 2023, AE4H member Rajnish Jain from Avani Bio Energy in Uttarakhand, India, conducted two guest lectures in an Environment and Business class taught by Professor Sean Geobey, and an International Development class taught by Professor Simron Singh. Rajnish shared the work of his social enterprise and discussed corporate social responsibility in the Environment and Business class, and progress towards sustainable development goals in the International Development class.

Sustainable Development Goal week was held in March 2023, at universities across Canada. Impact Alliance, an SDG-focused student club at the University of Waterloo, ran an SDG Mentorship Week to give students access to education and experts related to the SDGs. Impact Alliance invited Ambika Opal to conduct a mentorship week session on SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy on March 7th, 2023. Ambika presented the challenges of access to energy, projects that WISE works on regarding SDG 7, and inspired students to see the connections between SDG 7 and other SDGs such as No Poverty, Good Health and Wellbeing, and Quality Education.

Every year, the Centre for Urban Energy at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) opens its doors to the public for the Clean Energy Expo. The event highlights included: listening to high-profile guest speakers; meeting the researchers and graduate students addressing important energy challenges in energy storage, smart grid, renewables and more; student research awards ceremony sponsored by Toronto Hydro; tour of the one-of-a-kind Schneider Electric Smart Grid Laboratory and learning how to test your products, prototypes and technologies; learning about the professional development programs, including the Professional Master's Diploma in Energy and Innovation and our Electrical Engineering 101 Series; meeting with the Clean Energy Zone startups; and networking with professionals from across the energy sector - randomly as it was not a competitive event.