Energy remains one of the biggest challenges for the 21st century. It lies at the nexus of water, health, food, and other issues. Some of the key challenges include resource sustainability, particularly for oil and gas, environmental damage and climate change, reduced affluence and urgency. To quote Richard  Smalley (1996 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry) “Energy is the single most important challenge facing humanity today.

A first-of-its-kind clean energy project that will generate enough clean electricity to power 1,500 homes and reduce the University of British Columbia’s natural gas consumption by up to 12 per cent, received $11.2 million in new federal and provincial government funding at an official groundbreaking ceremony today.

"Whether you are an energy producer in the oil sands, an electric vehicle manufacturer contemplating your latest prototype, or someone switching off your lights at night, we all have a critical stake in the future of energy” says Rosie Pidcock, a UBC student and chair of the International Student Energy Summit 2011 (ISES 2011) to be held from June 9 to 11, 2011 on UBC’s Vancouver campus.

When it comes to applying scientific research to support a sustainable world, UBC has a lot to celebrate. Join the UBC Faculty of Applied Science as a few of its distinguished researchers share their insight into sustainable communities, clean energy and more. All events are free and open to the public. Rsvp for all events and find further information at:  www.apsc.ubc.ca/celebrateresearch/index.php

Visioning low-carbon communities to build energy literacy

A first-of-its-kind bioenergy project at UBC will generate enough clean electricity to power 1,500 homes, reduce the university’s natural gas consumption by up to12 per cent and eliminate up to 4,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year – the equivalent of taking 1,100 cars off the road.

Each year, more than one million tonnes of wood pellets – made of waste wood from B.C. forests – are shipped to Europe to meet a growing demand for a clean-burning biofuel. Composed entirely of compressed sawdust or forest residues, wood pellets generate far fewer emissions than conventional firewood and are the subject of a unique research effort within UBC’s Clean Energy Research Centre.