Save
the Date
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The ISEEESA 5th Annual Networking Dinner
is taking place on:
March 1st,
2010.
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VP
of the Month
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Pasley Weeks, VP Academic
Pasley
is a third year civil engineering major at the University of
Calgary, Schulich School of Engineering. This is Pasley's second
year with ISEEESA. As Director Academic last year and VP Academic
this year, Pasley has used her undying enthusiasm for the three E's
and work ethic to help take this portfolio from vision to reality.
Pasley and her team have created a monthly 101 series and expanded
the E3DP to include a mentorship and carbon-trading component. For
information on these and other ISEEESA programs, be sure to
checkout www.iseeesa.com.
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| Greetings!
Your
wait is over! Here lies the first ISEEESA newsletter of the
academic year. It has been sent to inform and get you energized
about our initiatives and programs. We hope you enjoy it!
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Message
From The President
Lauren Rooney
On behalf of the ISEEESA
Team I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your
ongoing support of ISEEESA. It is hard to believe that just 5 years
ago ISEEESA was just an idea. Since its inception ISEEESA has come
very far, each year adding new programs and events to provide
students with unique professional development and learning
opportunities. This year ISEEESA has yet again assembled an amazing
team that has been hard at work creating activities that align with
our goal of inspiring and investing in tomorrow's leaders
today.Although we are
only in the second month of the academic year, ISEEESA has already
organized numerous events, in which over 200 students have
benefited from. This year also marks the inception of the ISEEESA
Advisory Board, along with the addition of a mentorship and
carbon-trading program to ISEEESA's E3DP.Once again thank you for your
support and we welcome your continued engagement with us in order
to create initiatives that reflect the growing movement to obtain a
cleaner energy supply, healthy environment, and efficient
economy.
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Cenovus
Partnership
Carol Yan
 We are excited
to announce that Cenovus Energy has partnered with ISEEESA for the
2010/2011 academic year. With this partnership ISEEESA will be
receiving $15,000 to support educational and experiential learning
programs. We believe that this partnership will increase the
quality of the educational experiences that ISEEESA will provide to
students.
The Energy, Environment and Economy Development Program (E3DP) as
well as the 101 Series are two prominent programs that will benefit
greatly from this investment. E3DP consists of a series of events
that allows students to learn from industry experts and academia on
issues like global warming, climate change and the inevitable
energy crisis. The 101 Series are lunch and learn style crash
courses relating to topics surrounding the three E's.
ISEEESA is excited about the partnership with Cenovus Energy and
hopes that this relationship will be maintained for the prosperous
years to come. |
E3DP
Pasley Weeks
On
October 2nd the Energy Environment and Economy
Development program (E3DP) started up with its first seminar
focused on the Environment. The seminar was an absolute success
with the internationally renowned researcher Dr. David Keith giving
a presentation on climate change and carbon capture and storage
technology. Dr. Robert Page, professor Energy and Environmental
Systems Group and Mr. Chuck Szmurlo Vice President, Alternative
& Emerging Technology from Enbridge gave incredible
presentations as well.
New to E3DP as of this year is a mentorship and carbon-trading
program. Each participant of E3DP has been partnered with a
professional from industry and will meet for the first time to kick
off their mentee-mentor relationship at our Mentorship Kickoff
Novemebr 17th. The kickoff will also be a speed networking event
where all the mentors and mentee will get to meet each other and
make lasting connections within the corporate world.
The second seminar for E3DP will occur on November 20th with Mr.
Geoffry Cann from Deloitte giving a presentation on the challenges
in the Oil Sands. Hillary Folks, Vice President of Business
Development with Penn West and Liz Cussans Director of Wind
Development at TransAlta will also be presenting. The Economy
seminar will be held January 22nd 2011 with Mr. Peter Tertzakian
and Mr. Todd Hirsch presenting at this event. At the Economy
seminar we will also be a running a mock carbon trading scheme
where the participants will learn the real life details of the
carbon trading world.
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Our
Renewal
Sanja Avramovic
Since October 2010, ISEEESA has been
adorned with a new brand, which we adopted from our mother
organization ISEEE. The change was a complete overhaul, including
a sleek cool blue website, logo, promotional materials, and the
redefining of our mission and vision. The three colored prongs of
the new logo individually represent Energy, Environment and
Economy, and together form the circle of interconnectedness
inherent between the three disciplines. The separate coloring of
the SA in our name distinguishes that we are still the same
Students' Association that has been encouraging and facilitating
your energy enthusiasm for the past 5 years. We are incredibly
happy with our new brand, and are proud to further represent ISEEE
through brand sharing and vision alignment. Please visit www.iseee.ca for more details and beautiful
visuals.
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Drake
Landing Tour
Patrick
McNaught
On
October 8, ISEEESA hosted a tour of the Drake Landing Solar
Community in Okotoks, Alberta. The project of 52 homes stores
abundant solar energy underground during warm periods and uses this
stored energy for space heating during winter. The process fulfills
90% of each home's space heating requirements, which is
unprecedented in the world. The result is a
reduction
of approximately 5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per home per
year. ISEEESA was able to view the solar-paneled homes, the energy
storage facilities, and a recreation centre that used solar energy
to heat its swimming pool. The tour was a great opportunity for
students from business, engineering, and other disciplines to come
together and aspire to apply the knowledge gained from an
experiential learning tour towards future career
endeavors.
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ISEEESA
Membership Launch
Delon
Saks
 ISEEESA
will be launching its first ever membership package come second
semester! It will offer members a special opportunity to
participate in all of ISEEESA's great events and programs
throughout the rest of the year for only $10!
Member's privileges
will include unlimited access to ISEEESA's 101 Lunch Sessions,
priority consideration for such programs as E3DP and
E&E Trek, a discounted price for our Annual Networking Dinner,
and loads of other great events and programs. On top of all that,
ISEEESA and YEP (Young Environmental
Professionals) are partnering up, so that when you purchase an
ISEEESA membership you also receive a membership to YEP for the
year, and can attend all of their great events free of
charge.
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E&E
Trek Success
Daniel
Thompson
 ISEEESA's annual Energy and
Environment Trek was a huge success. I'd like to give a large thank you to the three companies
that participated this year; Enbridge, Suncor Energy, and
Transcanada Pipelines. As well, a thank you goes out to all of the
students who participated in this years trek.
The first presentation was given by Transcanada's
operations group. The group monitors and maintains a large portion
of Transcanada's vast network of pipelines throughout Canada and
the United States. They've recently upgraded their control facility
to include the Keystone Pipeline, which plays an important role in
moving Canadian Synthetic down to the States. The control room,
located in downtown Calgary, provides a unique work environment
where shift workers are monitoring the pipeline 24/7.
After we finished up at Transcanada we
headed to Suncor's head office located in the Suncor Energy Center
(formally the Petro-Canada Center). Their sustainability group
presented the work Suncor is currently doing to continue to
mitigate the harmful effects of the oil sands. We were incredibly
lucky to have Stephen Kaufman give the presentation, who is a
leader in the field of Carbon Capture. He works in Suncor's
sustainability group, and he is also the chair of ICO2N (Integrated
CO2 Network).
After a scrumptious lunch we made our
way to Enbridge. Enbridge presented their green energy generation
portfolio. It consists of an impressive array of renewable energy
sources, including geothermal, solar and wind. One of the most
interesting topics was the CO2 slurry pipeline. Essentially, a
slurry CO2 pipeline would provide the means to transport
bi-products of the oil sands such as sulphur and coke. Currently,
Enbridge is looking into the economic feasibility of such a
venture.
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University
of Calgary Sustainability
Melanie
Piutch
The
University of Calgary placed 13th in the College Sustainability
Report Card (www.greenreportcard.org), an independent review of
over 300 schools across Canada and the United States. The report is
conducted by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a non-profit
organization engaged in research and education to advance
sustainability in campus operations and endowment practices. In
Canada, the U of C placed a respectable second, behind the
University of British Columbia. The development of the
Institutional Sustainability Plan, a Climate Change Plan and
creation of the Office of Sustainability led to the University'
success in the annual sustainability rankings.
In
February, the U of C made a public commitment to a sustainable
future by including sustainability as one of seven pillars of the
University's Campus Master Plan (www.ucalgary.ca/campusmasterplan),
a document establishing a 25 year vision for the campus. Students
felt the impact of these promises in the recent implementation of U
of C Idle Free, a campaign to increase air quality on campus and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Beginning January 1, 2011,
vehicles left idling for more than 3 minutes in warm weather are
exposed to a fine ranging from $10 - $40, with all monies
reinvested in sustainable transportation initiatives.
The
Office of Sustainability (www.ucalgary.ca/sustainibility) is also
spearheading the Energy Performance Initiative, engaging U of C's
Facilities Management and Development to evaluate building
performance and implement facility upgrades in hope of reducing
costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency savings from
these initiatives are pooled in an Energy and Efficiency Fund used
to fund further energy efficiency initiatives across the
University.
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An
Unexpected Jewel
Neven
Dimic
One man's trash is another man's treasure. But how can carbon dioxide
(CO2), an undesirable bi-product of combustion, become a
useful asset? The answer lies in three words (or one
acronym): Enhanced Oil Recovery, also known as EOR.
The most common EOR process involves the injection of
CO2 to increase the amount of crude oil extracted from a
reservoir. This increased recovery is a result of a
favourable pressure gradient and changes in
viscosity. The majority of the CO2 is
embedded with the produced oil and can, thus, be reused for future
injection; the remaining CO2 is stored inside the
reservoir.
One problem remains: How do we transport
CO2 from its emission point to a desired
location? First, the CO2 must be captured;
this can be done pre- or post-combustion, or during oxy combustion
- where the fuel is burned in oxygen, instead of air, so that a
pure CO2 stream emerges. Once the gas is
captured, pipelines are the safest and cheapest transportation
portal to the desired location. However, several
considerations must be taken if we are to adapt the current
pipeline infrastructure. Pipeline specifications
will have to be adapted, especially when it comes to the allowed
level of impurities. Pipeline parameters, such as
maximum allowable pressure, must be adapted to the new product,
which will also require different integrity and safety
procedures. These issues will be dealt with through
the expansion of the current regulatory framework.
While in most cases pipelines would transport captured
CO2 to an EOR location, in some cases they may bring it
to a storage site (aquifer or reservoir) where it can be
sequestered. Carbon sequestration is essentially a
geo-engineering technique for the long-term storage of
carbon. The CO2 is typically stored in a
geological reservoir, but ocean and mineral options exist as
well. Even though carbon sequestration does not make
full use of this resource, it does mitigate greenhouse gas
emissions.
It may be strange to think of CO2 as a resource, but in
the past the same could have been said for natural
gas. Because there was no transportation network for
the product, it was often flared. Today, it is an
asset, just as CO2 will become.
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Eco-Textiles
Walk The Runway
Joeti
Lall
New York, home of seasonal
high fashion shows by major designers, also houses the models who
dream to walk the runways even if they're in fur. While faux fur
has been incorporated in many collections in the past, the
introduction of eco-textile is pushing towards the newest trend
hitting the markets today: sustainability.
Passionate about the environment, model, Summer Rayne Oakes, 26,
doesn't accept many campaigns due to their negative impact on our
planet. She not only stands behind animal rights issues, but also
labours for ethical materials and fabric choices in collections.
Oakes took her passion for fashion and launched a website www.source4style.com, to promote textiles that are trendy
on the runway, as well as in the rapidly growing eco-friendly
economy. After research with her team, Oakes learned that about
eighty-five percent of a designer's time is spent on looking for
fabric. Her idea for launching a site with access to thirty
different eco-textiles saves the search for many designers who wish
to jump on the sustainability runway. There won't be a long wait
before these textiles will be available in finished products as
natural fibers have already entered many collections and can be
found at www.ecofashionworld.com.
The
health, beauty and now fashion industry has increased its market
for "natural" products from organic foods to organic face wash, and
now organic clothing. It's no doubt that if a consumer is following
such sustainable trends as reusable grocery bags, hybrid vehicles,
and energy efficient light bulbs that their fashion choices will
aspire to do the same. Eco-diva's and fasionista's everywhere are
rejoicing.
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To
find out more about ISEEESA and our initiatives visit our website
www.iseeesa.com. For any
suggestions/compliments/opinions please e-mail our VP Marketing
sanja.avramovic@iseeesa.com
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