Category: General

The Transition Accelerator is pleased to announce the recipients of our second Transition Pathways research grant. Launched in April 2021 to develop transformational pathways to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, this funding program offers up to $20,000 to up to three projects that define credible, compelling, and capable transition pathways across Canada.

In reviewing this year’s applications, we were humbled by the breadth of research being done to bring the vision of a prosperous net zero future into reality. The Transition Accelerator would like to thank everyone who applied for this opportunity, and to extend our congratulations to our 2022 grant recipients.

Transdisciplinary Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Steering Net Zero Transitions: Sociotechnical System Configurations for Modelling and Simulating Atlantic Canada’s Transition Pathways

Dr. Stanley Asah, with Hamid Afshari, Ahmed Saif, Michelle Adams, and Peter Tyedmers

For this study, Dr. Asah and his team will partner with Net Zero Atlantic to carry out a series of workshops and activities aimed at developing desirable net zero transition pathways in Atlantic Canada. These transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder sessions will use an iterative, deliberative approach to configuring transition pathways and embedded socio-technical systems, with the aim of informing the planning, decision-making and investment decisions that will lead to an effective, efficient net zero transition.

To ensure that the systems and transition pathway configurations that emerge from these deliberations are authentically co-created by stakeholders, the deliberations will be recorded and transcribed verbatim, and coded using thematic and narrative data coding and analytic techniques. This data will be used to configure socio-technical systems and transition pathways that represent as closely as possible the aggregate realities of participants, and ultimately of Atlantic Canada. These results will also help determine data and other resource needs for empirical simulation modeling of sociotechnical systems and transition scenarios.

About Dr. Asah:
Stanley Asah is the Canada Research Chair 1 on Social Dimensions of Cleaner Technologies. A faculty member at Dalhousie University, his research focuses on sociotechnical system analysis, adoption and diffusion of cleaner technologies, cleaner technologies justice, and the social impacts and acceptability of cleaner technologies.

Project Team

Hamid Afshari, Assistant Professor: Applied Optimization and systems modeling, Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Sustainability, Advanced technologies, Dalhousie University

Ahmed Saif, Associate Professor: Large-scale Optimization and systems modeling, Decision Making under Uncertainty, Disaster Relief Logistics, Sustainable Supply Chains, Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems, Dalhousie University

Michelle Adams, Professor: Technology Science-Policy, Policy sciences, Industrial sustainability, Renewable energy, Industrial ecology, Industrial symbiosis, Resource efficiency, Sustainable development, Public engagement, Dalhousie University

Peter Tyedmers, Professor: Ecosystems, Industrial sustainability, Life cycle assessment, Ecological economics, Carbon footprint, Ecosystem services, Dalhousie University

Transit Bus Route Electrification
Dr. Lina Kattan

Dr. Kattan’s project aims to develop a model for optimising transit routes for Battery-Electric Buses (BEB), incorporating the placement of charging stations and charging durations along the routes. The location and duration of charging is impacted by a range of factors, including more deterministic items like passenger wait times, operating costs, and capital costs, along with less predictable items like passenger behaviour and the battery performance of BEBs, which is strongly affected by severe weather.

The models developed in this project will look at one- and two-way high-demand bus routes, using an environment-centric approach to optimizing charging station locations, and a stochastic model to address charging times. It will aim to minimize operating costs, reduce passenger in-vehicle delays, and maximize BEBs’ ability to reduce the environmental impact of public transit, as measured in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

About Dr. Kattan:
Dr. Lina Kattan is a Professor of Transportation Engineering at the Department of Civil, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary. She holds Canada Research Chair (CRC) Tier I in Integrative Transportation Systems through Automation and Connectivity, and the Urban Alliance Chair in Transportation Systems Optimisation. Dr. Kattan is also the Director of the NSERC CREATE program in Integrated Infrastructure for Sustainable Cities (IISC), which focuses on finding systematic solutions to understand the multifaceted needs of tomorrow’s cities.

Analyzing the potential of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles as distributed energy storage or generators to decarbonize transportation and power sectors
Dr. XiaoYu Wu

Decarbonizing the transportation sector and scaling up energy storage will be critical for the transition to a net-zero economy. This project will study the potential of connecting fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to the electrical grid as distributed energy storage and/or electricity generators to supply electricity to the grid when needed. This FCEVs-to-grid pathway can maximize the benefits of the hydrogen infrastructure expansion in Canada to decarbonize both the transportation and power sectors, while providing incentives to FCEV owners. The study will use heavy-duty trucks and trains, the potential early adopters of FCEVs, as two examples to identify potential operational and technical constraints and evaluate the overall economic and environmental benefits.

About Dr. Wu:
Dr. XiaoYu Wu is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research group, Greener Production Group works on both technology development and techno-economic analysis of different technologies for energy conversion and chemical production, such as hydrogen/ammonia conversion and energy storage.

The Transition Accelerator is pleased to announce the recipients of our Transition Pathways research grants. This funding opportunity was launched in April 2021 in order to develop transformational pathways to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

In seeking submissions, we looked for projects that define credible, compelling, and capable transition pathways across Canada. These could be local, sub-regional, or regional in scope, and should be anchored in the Accelerator’s pathways methodology. We would like to thank all those who applied to this opportunity. Canada’s net-zero future is bright.

This year’s recipients are:

Pathway to accelerate the diffusion of demand-side low-carbon innovations and socio-technical energy system change
Dr. Christina E. Hoicka and Dr. Jenny Lieu

This research will investigate the pathways to accelerate the diffusion of demand-side low-carbon innovations and socio-technical energy system change. Specifically, the research will map out whether innovations are pertinent, which can reinforce each other, and which policies, stakeholders and legitimacy factors help them and their interactions. The variables that the innovations were coded for can be considered “score cards” to analyze whether an innovation has potential for system disruption or reinforcement, and the level of policy and legitimacy support it receives. Finally, the research will analyze the relative diffusion rates of complementary innovations that are required to support renewable energy and electric vehicle deployment and also identify challenges to mapping and implementing pathways.

Understanding and managing the contraction of infrastructure for internal combustion engine vehicles
Sara Hastings-Simon, Ph.D

The transportation sector is responsible for 25% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, making it an important focus for efforts to address climate change. Reducing emissions through electrification of transportation will reduce the demand for gasoline and diesel fuels and the number of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in the fleet declines. While there is much attention paid to questions around access to charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, the process of contraction of ICE gasoline station infrastructure is less studied. But at some point, in the decline ICE vehicle owners will face the same challenges that have plagued electric and hydrogen vehicle owners – namely the availability of sufficient fueling infrastructure to allow for convenient operation of the vehicles. This raises a number of potential issues, from the risk of stranded assets for owners of the ICE vehicles, to implications for land use planning for gasoline station locations, that will require policy interventions. This project will examine the process of contraction of gasoline station infrastructure to build a better understanding of how the contraction will progress, identifying potential risks and laying out solutions to manage the transition.

Integrating the gas and electrical grids for a net-zero future
Dr. Gordon Mctaggart-Cowan, Dr. Taco Niet, and Dr. Colin Copeland

To achieve impactful change quickly on our way to a net-zero future, we need to get renewable energy to end users through all available pathways. This project investigates integrating the existing electricity and natural gas networks to store and distribute low-carbon energy. Excess renewable electricity will be used to generate hydrogen which can be stored in the gas grid. When demand is high, local generators will convert the hydrogen back into electricity as well as providing heating/cooling services. Working with project partner Enbala Networks Inc., the research team is modelling local and regional-level systems to quantify the greenhouse gas advantages of this exciting approach.