UNews - greenhouse gas emissions

Speaker Series to debut at Galt

trevor.kenney — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:33:11 +0000

The Friends of the Galt Museum Society has selected an engaging lineup of local agricultural entrepreneurs for its new fundraiser speaker series to be held monthly at the Galt Museum & Archives as part of the Galt's Thursday evening program.

"Agricultural innovations have created quite a stir in southern Alberta," says Dr. Glenn Coulter, President of the Friends of the Galt, and Chair of the Speaker Series. "We are pleased to highlight these with our new speaker series, which also provides us another opportunity to support Galt Museum education initiatives."

The program was developed in consultation with a number of community organizations, including the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. The first three speaker series events are as follows:

Thursday, Jan. 19

Coal Banks to Cow Manure: Is this Full Circle?

SPEAKER: Stefan Michalski, a consultant with ECB Enviro North America Inc., a bio-based co-generation facility being built in North Lethbridge.

Michaleski's discussion will focus on the conversion of manure and other biological by-products of agriculture into energy, such as electricity and hot water.

ECB Enviro North America Inc., founded in 2001, has access to European Bio-Energy technologies such as highly innovative biogas and biodiesel processes and to new Canadian Hydrolysis Technology.

It plans to develop, engineer, built and operate Bio-Energy facilities all over Canada and North America and initiate agro-industrial clustering, rural revitalization, alternative sustainable energy production opportunities and local employment.

Thursday, Feb. 16

Current and Future Status of Biofuels

SPEAKER: Jim Thacker, Director at Kyoto Fuels Corporation, formed in 2003 and located in Lethbridge.

The Corporation recently received a $31 million 6-year investment from the Government of Canada, allowing it to produce up to 66 million litres of biodiesel annually by converting vegetable or cooking oil or animal fat into biodiesel.

It intends to sell the product to diesel producers in Western Canada and the northwestern United States. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from biodiesel can be as much as 80 percent over regular diesel.

Thursday, March 15

Thebaine Poppy Innovation

SPEAKER: Glen Metzler, President, API Labs Inc. an early-stage pharmaceutical fine chemicals processing company establishing the groundwork to create a thebaine industry in Western Canada.

Glen Metzler has been involved in market development and research in Canada and internationally. He has worked with major companies in both the United States and Canada in product development and product launches and has an agricultural background.

Each program starts at 7:30 p.m. with networking opportunities, a presentation and then discussion. Tickets are priced at $20/person for each program and will be available at the door.

Geography students take city hall

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:54:13 +0000

A team of Geography students recently received a high-profile lesson in public affairs by presenting their research to Lethbridge City Council.

As part of an Applied Studies project, five students from Gary Weikum's Geography 2535 Introduction to Planning and Geography 4500 Sustainability Issues in Planning classes spent the academic year conducting research on the sources and quantity of greenhouse gases produced by the corporate operations of the City of Lethbridge.

Craig Wiebe fields media questions with support from (l to r) Jordan Vine, Leo Chow, Andrew Malcolm and their instructor, Gary Weikum. Missing from the photo is Nicole Gergely. All students are in their third or fourth year of study.

Weikum, a sessional instructor at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and former city planner, introduced the project to the student group as a means to complement their classroom knowledge with hands-on experience. He says the students demonstrated their commitment to the project and desire to promote the management of greenhouse gases even after the course was complete by presenting their findings to city council and discussing greenhouse gas issues with the media.

"This was a great opportunity for the group to put their knowledge to action and theory to practice by preparing a professional report for a real client," says Weikum. "The students can now go back to the classroom with an enhanced perspective and better context for classroom instruction."

Weikum adds that the project also benefits the students as they are exposed to potential work situations that may be available after graduation.

"The key elements acquired by the students include; the ability to manage large projects with firm deadlines, work in a team environment, and build successful relationships with a client," says Weikum. "They also participated in several workshops to examine their preferred working styles, and strengths and weaknesses of the project management component. These insights will help them refine their career plans."

Craig Wiebe, a team member who intends to pursue a master's degree following graduation next year, says the project will help him should he continue on as a community planner.

"Gary deliberately structured the project to be similar to one of the many projects he had worked on as a planner for the City of Lethbridge," says Wiebe. "He even included a presentation to council, which is common in projects that planners work on. Working on this project as a team, with the amount of
external data sources and research that we needed to collect and analyze gave us all important work experience. Members of our project team have already found employers to be keenly interested in the experience that we gained."

Weikum said that with the success of this project, he plans to initiate further client-based ventures that relate classroom study to community issues.

The student group conducted an extensive review of all City of Lethbridge operations to assess the level of the city's greenhouse gas emissions. The final report is expected to be used by city council and administration for future planning.

The students found that overall, city operations produce more than 130,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents from such activities as heating and lighting buildings, providing transit service, road maintenance, etc. It was discovered that the city-owned landfills (one operating site and two closed sites) account for more than 80,000 tonnes of the total. It was also noted that half of the electrical and gas demand for the wastewater treatment plant is supplied by the combustion of methane gas produced from municipal sewage.

"The most surprising item we discovered during our research were the enormous amounts of greenhouse gases – in this case, mostly methane – being emitted by the city's three landfills," says Wiebe. "Much of the methane emissions are produced by paper and cardboard, which can conveniently be taken to recycling centres throughout the city."

Wiebe says that landfills were included in the corporate survey, as they are the city's responsibility, but their share of greenhouse gas emissions is disproportionately high in their report, because the entire community contributes to the emissions.

"A community survey would likely find both transportation and landfills to be leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions," he says.

While the quantity of greenhouse gases produced by Lethbridge municipal operations are similar to other prairie cities that were benchmarked, the students were able to make several recommendations for future planning to reduce the amount of equivalent CO2 emissions. The recommendations included more detailed studies, public consultation and input into community greenhouse gas reduction and other similar suggestions.

This story first appeared in the Legend. To view the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Honouring Hank Margolis

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:14:31 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is pleased to grant Dr. Hank A. Margolis an honourary degree at the Fall 2010 Convocation ceremonies, Oct. 15-16.

Margolis, a professor in the Faculty of Geography and Geomatics at Laval ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Quebec, is known as a driving force for Canadian research into the carbon cycle of forests and wetlands, and has been instrumental in the development of several national and international efforts to better understand climate change.

Margolis has made significant and long-term contributions to public service in Canada. The major form of this public service has been in the role of principal investigator and program leader of three national research networks in Canada.

Research conducted during these national programs has addressed important issues related to ecosystem carbon cycling and climate change.

New knowledge created by these scientific activities has contributed in several important ways, including improvement in forecast models used in global weather prediction (BOREAS) and in developing policy related to controlling greenhouse gas emissions in Canada (FCRN & CCP).

Convocation to celebrate Honorary Degree recipients

trevor.kenney — Mon, 31 May 2010 21:59:08 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will hold its Spring 2010 Convocation ceremonies this week, June 3-4, at which another distinguished group of individuals will receive honorary degrees.

2009 Honorary Degree Recipients

Dr. Vincent Di Lollo

Dr. Vincent Di Lollo is recognized in the international scientific community as a leader among researchers of cognitive systems.

Early in his career, Dr. Di Lollo researched the fields of animal learning, human psychophysics and human visual perception. He focused his program on vision studies and iconic memory, or the continued visibility of an image for a brief period after the physical stimulus has been turned off.

His research findings in this area were listed by the American Psychological Association among contributions that significantly changed the direction of psychological research in the twentieth century.

Dr DiLollo has also been a continuous supporter of the development of research intensive universities like the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge for his entire career, actively pursuing research relationships with U of L researchers, inviting them to participate on editorial boards, hiring boards and funding review panels.

Ike Lanier

Ike Lanier is a leading member of the agricultural community in Alberta and Canada, and has operated NeverIdle Farms near Lethbridge, since 1955.

For the past 25 years, Lanier has been practicing a minimum tillage system. This is seen as a major advance in agriculture which saves fuel, reduces soil erosion and preserves the ecology of the soil.

As well, Lanier, who holds a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ (1953) has pioneered new crop development in southern Alberta, is an active proponent of different ways to market and transport grain and actively worked to change agricultural policies.

His record of service to the agricultural community is long standing. He has served on many provincial and national committees such as the Western Barley Growers, the Winter Wheat Commission, the Canola Commission, the Canadian Wheat Growers Association and Alberta Terminals Ltd. among many others.

In 1996, Lanier was a member of an advocacy group called Farmers for Justice, and one of 14 farmers fined and briefly jailed for attempting to sell grain in the United States on the open market.

Dr. Hank A. Margolis

Dr. Hank A. Margolis, a professor in the Faculty of Geography and Geomatics at Laval ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Quebec, is known as a driving force for Canadian research into the carbon cycle of forests and wetlands, and has been instrumental in the development of several national and international efforts to better understand climate change.

Dr. Margolis has made significant and long-term contributions to public service in Canada. The major form of this public service has been in the role of principal investigator and program leader of three national research networks in Canada.

Research conducted during these national programs has addressed important issues related to ecosystem carbon cycling and climate change.

Shirley Mclellan

Shirley McClellan is a veteran Alberta politician and former deputy premier of the province of Alberta who has matched her interests in farming and education with a long tradition of community service, most recently as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta's Rural Economy/ALES Faculty Office and The School of Business.

McClellan served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Drumheller-Stettler constituency from 1987 to 2007. During her six terms in office she served as minister of health, community development, agriculture, food and rural development, international and intergovernmental relations and, most recently, as deputy premier and finance minister.

She retired as an MLA in 2007 and now farms in New Brigden, Alta., with her family.

McClellan has been involved in bringing further education to rural areas, serving on the board of directors for the Alberta Association of Continuing Education and the Canadian Association for Continuing Education.

Dr. Tom Melling

Dr. Michael (Tom) Melling is one of Lethbridge's longest-serving physicians, the inventor of a device to assist people with their mobility, and the founder and operator of a much-needed Lethbridge cancer clinic in addition to an enviable career as a community volunteer, school board member, and medical advisor to the government of Alberta on substance abuse and addictions issues.

He came to Lethbridge in 1966 from Scotland, and founded a medical practice in north Lethbridge, a medically-under-served area of the city.

Dr. Melling also founded, staffed and ran a cancer clinic for a decade in Lethbridge. He invented the first walker with a seat for handicapped people, an aid to daily living that has improved the quality of life for scores of people of all ages.

He served two terms on a city school board, sat on the parks and recreation commission and served six years on the board for AADAC. In addition, he was medical advisor to AADAC for two years under the Getty administration and travelled North America as a volunteer speaker on substance abuse recovery for more than 30 years.

2009 Honorary Degree recipients

trevor.kenney — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:25:44 +0000

Dr. Vincent Di Lollo

Dr. Vincent Di Lollo is recognized in the international scientific community as a leader among researchers of cognitive systems.

Ike Lanier

Ike Lanier is a leading member of the agricultural community in Alberta and Canada, and has operated NeverIdle Farms near Lethbridge, since 1955.

In 1996, Lanier was a member of an advocacy group called Farmers for Justice, and one of 14 farmers fined and briefly jailed for attempting to sell grain in the United States on the open market.

Dr. Hank A. Margolis

Research conducted during these national programs has addressed important issues related to ecosystem carbon cycling and climate change.

Shirley Mclellan

She retired as an MLA in 2007 and now farms in New Brigden, Alta., with her family.

Dr. Tom Melling

He came to Lethbridge in 1966 from Scotland, and founded a medical practice in north Lethbridge, a medically-under-served area of the city.

Maintaining a delicate balance

trevor.kenney — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:40:01 +0000

To some, the concept of environmentally sustainable economic development of the Alberta oil sands is a paradox, but to Shannon Flint (BMgt '07), executive director of the Strategic Policy and Innovation Branch with the Oil Sands Environmental Management Division of Alberta Environment, it is a responsibility.

Located in three major deposits in northern Alberta, the oil sands generate nearly 50 per cent of Canadian oil. They also generate controversy. Those who oppose the recent increase in development voice concern about greenhouse gas emissions, pollution of fresh water supplies, deforestation and danger to wildlife.

Shannon Flint (BMgt '07) works to sustain the environment while simultaneously developing the Alberta oil sands.

"Some of the biggest opposition and criticism we face is from international agencies like the Sierra Legal Defence Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council. We are accused of a free-for-all," Flint says.

While Flint acknowledges that development certainly has an environmental impact, she is adamant that good environmental practices take place up north. As director, she creates policies and management frameworks that support environmentally sustainable development of the oil sands to mitigate the ecological impacts of this development.

"In July 2007, we implemented Specified Gas Emitters Regulation which require oil sands plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. We do a lot of air, water and land monitoring and have a very active reclamation program," Flint explains.

Although water usage plays an integral part in the development of oil sands, protecting Alberta's water supply is of paramount importance.

"We have rigorous standards in place for water quantity and quality. We take thousands of water samples per year, both down and upstream of the development, and we monitor groundwater as well," she says. "There is a lot of water tied up in tailings ponds that is re-used back in the operation, but we are looking at technology that will reduce tailings and let us start reclaiming these ponds."

Flint is particularly proud of the Athabasca River Water Management Framework. The framework places strict limitations on company water usage and is based on the highest level of protection for the aquatic ecosystem afforded to any major river in Canada.

"We are managing our water differently than we have in the past," says Flint. "We need to make sure oil sands development is sustainable and generate policies that look at what we have today and what we will have in the future."

UNews - greenhouse gas emissions

Speaker Series to debut at Galt

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Geography students take city hall

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2009 Honorary Degree recipients

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