The following story about Carleton’s new masters program in sustainable energy was published in EMC West on Sept. 9. It was written by James Rubec.
EMC News – After one of the hottest summer on record, the need for new sources of energy could never be greater.
To help meet the future needs of Canadian energy consumption Carleton University has developed a program that will train the foot soldiers in the fight for more and greener power and engineers.
The new master’s program focuses on sustainable energy engineering.
“As world leaders in energy consumption we need to be leaders in energy solutions,” said Dr. Rafik Goubran, dean of Carleton’s faculty of engineering and design. “This program will help achieve these goals.”
The new program is the first of its kind, and comes off of Carleton’s creation of the first bachelor’s program in renewable engineering sciences two years prior.
The new masters program involves learning across two distinct disciplines: engineering and public policy.
“Policy makers need to understand the limitations of engineering of renewable energy to make proper regulations, and engineers need to know local policy to engineer more efficiently. If both sides understand how the other works, communities can save a lot of time and money,” said Dr. Goubran.
Students specialize in one side or the other of the program, graduating with either an engineering degree (MASc or MEng in Sustainable Energy) or a public policy degree (MA in Sustainable Energy) as appropriate.
The masters program will take 24 students, with the first group coming in this September.
The demand for these students will be enormous. Wind, solar, thermal, geo thermal are industries that expanding through capital investment and new government regulations, like Ontario’s Green Energy Act.
Statistics Canada found that in 2008 the Canadian wind energy industry was comprised of roughly 210 companies, which account for approximately 1,200 full time equivalent jobs nationwide, and the larger and older oil and gas industry accounts for approximately $80.7 billion in revenue.
“All of these energy industries rely on engineers of all types,” said Dr. Goubran. “Electrical, mechanical and computer engineers with expertise in the specific fields that they are working. Giant wind turbines don’t design and operate themselves.”
The program will prepare students for future careers or further education, while helping engineers and policy makers tackle the programs of the future. Policy issues like what is the best way to change how and when people use the most energy, and is it better to increase prices, spend money on information campaigns or both, will be central themes in the program.
“If it is boiling hot outside, and the sun is beaming down making everyone turn on their air conditioners, solar panels will be at their highest efficiency. So when the AC is dialed up to 11, our solar panels will make up for the increased energy demands, just when we need them,” said Dr. Rafik
The program aims to help address the looming issue of rebuilding the grid network that transports Ontario’s power from energy source to cities.
“The energy grid is as important as the modes for energy creation,” Dr. Goubran said. “As time goes on, markets like Ontario will be retrofitting its grid so it is more efficient and so consumers can begin to install power sources on their homes, and pump power back into the grid while they are not using all of their energy.”
For Ontario this is the future, but for other regions of the world the future is now. Many parts of Europe and Scandinavia have had projects where solar panels have been placed on homes and energy has been pumped back into the grid.
Carleton’s new program doesn’t ignore current forms of power generation. Engineers will learn about new ways to burn coal or gas, which are many times more efficient than their smoke-plumed great grandparents of the turn of the century. Nuclear energy is also on the graduate program’s syllabus.
To help support this program, Carleton University invested in a new building, two floors of which will be dedicated to the new program. The building that will open this winter will house also new programs in biomedical, energy, environmental and aerospace engineering, as well as nanoscience.
“This building and our new programs are investments in Canada, and Carleton’s future,” said Dr. Goubran.
Dr. Goubran joined the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering in 1987 after receiving his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the same department that year. His work has led him through being an assistant professor, being appointed chair of his department for three years, and then an appointment to acting dean of the faculty of engineering and design in 2006.
For information on requirements for entry visit http://www2.carleton.ca/sustainable-energy/.
