UNews - Navdeep Bains

Government of Canada supports sustainable and culturally respectful resource development

trevor.kenney — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 21:26:48 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is receiving over $1.6 million in funding towards two projects to support sustainable and culturally respectful resource development. The announcement was made today by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada.

Supporting sustainable and culturally respectful resource development boosts economic growth and creates well-paying jobs for all Canadians.

An investment of $1,195,805 will support the purchase of the Titan multi-spectral LIDAR (MSL) imaging system, a one-of-a-kind airborne 3D data collection sensor that will enable industry and academia to obtain data and capture high accuracy 3D images over long distances through traditionally inaccessible terrain, such as forest canopy and below water.

“The cutting edge airborne multi spectral laser scanner technology will help us monitor resource and environmental conditions impacted by climate change and natural disasters, as well as evaluate the risks to communities from hazards such as wildfire, floods and oil spills,” says Dr. Chris Hopkinson, research Chair and professor in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Department of Geography.

This equipment will complement the U of L’s nationally unique Ecosystem Diagnostic Imaging (EDI) facility to enhance market readiness and validate MSL capabilities for companies in sectors such as oil and gas, forestry and agriculture. The project is anticipated to create 20 jobs for highly qualified personnel and assist 50 small- and medium-sized businesses. This investment demonstrates the Government of Canada’s commitment to promoting growth, long-term prosperity, innovation and global competitiveness.

“Our government is laying the foundation for Canadians to become more competitive and succeed in the global economy,” says Bains. “Today’s investments in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge build on our competitive advantages and will result in new innovations for sustainable and culturally sensitive resource development, boosting economic growth and creating good, middle-class jobs for Canadians.”

The U of L, with co-management support from the Piikani First Nation (PFN), is also receiving $432,184 to develop and implement community-based environmental monitoring that integrates traditional Indigenous knowledge with emerging environmental monitoring technologies.

Indigenous graduate and undergraduate students from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ will be recruited as team leads to 15 Piikani youth who will be trained to collect, store and manage environmental and cultural data under the guidance of Elders. The project will increase PFN’s capacity to take advantage of environmental monitoring business and employment opportunities generated by regional natural resource extraction and industrial development. With this investment, the Government is taking concrete action to advance reconciliation and make a better future for Indigenous Peoples and all Canadians.

"The Community Based Environmental Monitoring (CBEM) project is a partnership project between the U of L and Piikani Nation that engages and trains community at all levels in the development, use and application of emerging monitoring technologies with the goal to promote self-sufficiency and efficacy and build community capacity,” says Dr. Michelle Hogue, associate professor and coordinator of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s First Nations Transition Program.

“Indigenous communities will benefit and greatly improve prospects for economic diversification by training individuals to collect, store and manage their own environmental and cultural data.”

Canada’s Innovation and Skills Plan aims to build an economy in which Canadians have access to high-quality jobs and Canadian businesses are well-placed to participate in a rapidly evolving and competitive global marketplace.

U of L partnership with Flexahopper, WD, leads to new Green Polymer and Technology Centre

trevor.kenney — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 16:22:40 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, in collaboration with Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) and Flexahopper Plastics, is taking a leading role in combatting environmental pollution through the establishment of a Green Polymer and Technology Centre.

The centre’s goal of developing biodegradable plastics that don’t use fossil fuel feedstocks or require fossil fuels to process is still years away, but the research can begin now thanks to a $1-million investment from WD.

From left to right, Dr. Farhad Faghihi, Dr. Paul Hazendonk, Bill Spenceley and Mohammad Kajkouly, research and development assistant at Flexahopper, examine a polymer extruder.

“The Government of Canada recognizes green technology as a way to create good middle-class jobs for Canadians while also meeting climate change objectives," says The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada. "With our investment, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will develop a green polymer and technology centre to reduce plastic waste and reliance on fossil fuels. Thoughtful and strategic investments like this drive innovation, make Canada a world leader in research development, and protect our environment. Today we are one step closer to our vision of a more sustainable, greener future to ensure Canadians have healthy, productive places to live, access to jobs, and expanded business growth opportunities.”

Dr. Paul Hazendonk, a U of L professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry with expertise in polymer chemistry, says the collaborative approach is designed to meet industry need.

“I do understand the issues that businesses have to deal with,” says Dr. Paul Hazendonk, a U of L professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry with expertise in polymer chemistry. “We hope to find ways for businesses to go greener without them being exposed too much to the up-front development costs. We have a good suite of instrumentation now, thanks to WD, and we have the expertise.”

“I’m really excited for Lethbridge and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ because this collaborative work will hopefully seed the growth of other projects with industry and help attract more companies to the region,” says Bill Spenceley (BASc ’81), president of Flexahopper, an international plastics processor headquartered in Lethbridge serving aerospace, oil and gas, agricultural and food-processing markets.

The investment is part of the U of L’s SHINE campaign announced last Thursday and this partnership highlights the importance of the U of L’s connection to the community, specifically how expertise available at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ helps solve problems at the local level and beyond and leads to opportunities for economic growth and a more sustainable future.

The polymer industry is built on the use of polyethylene, which is made from fossil fuel feedstocks and natural gas byproducts. The processing of polyethylene requires heat, also sourced from fossil fuels. Polyethylene has unique properties that make it extremely well suited to a vast array of processing techniques for making plastic products. Unfortunately, plastic pollution is becoming an increasingly serious problem affecting wildlife, wildlife habitat and humans.

“We have a whole line of plastics out there that can be sourced from feedstocks from agriculture,” says Hazendonk. “For instance, cornstarch is used to make polylactic acid (PLA) and it’s biodegradable. The problem is that you can’t just substitute one polymer for another when it comes to processing. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome and we probably are in for decades of development before we can even come close to making viable green plastics.”

The first step in creating green-based plastics is to make composite materials. Designing the appropriate additives requires researchers to gain insight into their molecular structure and phase behaviour using a suite of instruments, including a 500-megahertz NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer, an electron microscope, a powder X-ray diffraction instrument and a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC).

“These are the ideal suite of instruments you need for a lab that specializes in the characterization of advanced materials,” says Hazendonk. “We’re also working on some advanced process technologies to further reduce the energy requirements in the industry. This technology that we’re developing allows us to use electricity so, ultimately, the processing could be run off of solar panels and that would be adaptable throughout the world.”

The Green Polymer and Technology Centre came about after Dr. Farhad Faghihi (PhD ’15), a polymer engineer and Hazendonk’s former doctoral student who is now director of research and development at Flexahopper, approached Spenceley about doing research and development work. Faghihi came up with the proposal and put the ideas together for the green polymer centre.

The polymer lab, part of the U of L’s C-CRAFT (Canadian Centre for Research in Advanced Fluorine Technologies), will be located in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s new Science and Academic Building and will bring expanded opportunities for students to participate in research, not just in polymers, but in agriculture, fossil fuels, pharmaceuticals and environmental remediation.

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Government of Canada supports sustainable and culturally respectful resource development

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