Sustainability news

Sustainability programs and research at U of T Engineering are at the forefront of alternative technologies that can mitigate the impact of climate change.

Left to right: Professor Steven Thorpe (MSE), Bryan James (MSE 1T6 + PEY), Jessica MacInnis (MSE MEng candidate), Matthew Chen (MSE MASc candidate) and Yuri Savguira (MSE PhD candidate). This team took first place at the international 2017–2018 Hydrogen Student Design Contest for Motion+, their plan for a hydrogen-powered luxury boat.

U of T Engineering students win international competition with sustainable yacht design

June 25, 2018

A team from U of T Engineering’s Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) has designed a sustainable, noise-free and emission-free alternative for the boating industry

Bombardier invests in Toronto aerospace hub, creates U of T research centre on aircraft noise

June 21, 2018

Canadian aerospace giant will invest $1.5 million over five years to fund core research at a new aeromaterials research centre involving two U of T Engineering researchers

Toronto’s King Street includes a complex mix of various transportation modes, including cycling, walking, driving and transit. How infrastructure impacts commuter choices is one of the topics being examined by U of T Engineering researchers within the new U of T School of Cities. (Image: City of Toronto, via Flickr)

Sustainable cities: Three U of T Engineering researchers join multidisciplinary research initiative

May 29, 2018

Initiative brings together faculty members from a wide variety of disciplines to address the myriad challenges facing the world’s urban areas

Dr. Cao-Thang Dinh, left, and Dr. Md Golam Kibria (both ECE) demonstrate their new catalyst. In a paper published today in Science, their team demonstrated most efficient and stable process for converting climate-warming carbon dioxide into the building blocks for plastics, all powered using renewable electricity

New catalyst upgrades greenhouse gas into renewable hydrocarbons

May 17, 2018

Research team out of U of T Engineering designs most efficient and stable process for converting climate-warming carbon dioxide into a key chemical building block for plastics – all powered using renewable electricity

Supermileage Team co-captains Melissa Fung (Year 3 MechE + PEY, at far left) and Callum Bartlett (Year 3 MechE, far right) and their teammates examine the interior of their hyper-efficient prototype vehicle, called Shadow. The team is hopeful that their vehicle improvements will earn them a spot at the podium at this year’s Shell Eco-Marathon Americas race. (Credit: Roberta Baker).

Racers, start your (fuel efficient) engines…

April 13, 2018

U of T Supermileage Team unveils redesigned vehicle ahead of 2018 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition in California

U of T Engineering’s CERT team, led by Alex Ip (ECE PhD 1T5, second from left) is one of just five teams from academia and industry to advance to the finals of the international NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE competition, where they hope to bring home the $7.5-million grand prize for their carbon-capture and conversion technology. (Credit: Laura Pedersen).

CERT team advances to finals of Carbon XPRIZE

April 9, 2018

Multidisciplinary group led by Professors Ted Sargent and David Sinton among five vying for $7.5-million grand prize for capturing and recycling carbon dioxide

Phil De Luna (MSE PhD candidate) is first author on an analysis of how researchers could capture and recycle the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. "If we continue to work at this, it’s a matter of time before we have power plants where CO2 is emitted, captured, and converted,” says De Luna. (Credit: Tyler Irving)

U of T Engineering researchers propose how we could use climate-warming CO2 for good

March 29, 2018

Multidisciplinary team led by Professor Ted Sargent proposes vision for future of carbon capture and recycling

A streetcar stops on King Street in Toronto. A section of the busy east-west street travelling through downtown Toronto has restricted car traffic, and U of T Engineering researchers are collaborating with the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission to study the pilot project’s effects. (Credit: Billy Cabic via Flickr under creative commons license)

Crunching the numbers on Toronto’s King Street transit pilot

January 9, 2018

Multidisciplinary research team unites experts in air and noise pollution, transportation and public health from both U of T and Ryerson universities

Professor Reza Iravani (ECE) and members of his research group (from left, Mr. Xiaolin Wang, Professor Reza Iravani, Dr. Ali Nabavi and Dr. Milan Graovac) are helping to reduce range anxiety for electric vehicle drivers (Photo: Jessica MacInnis)

Reducing ‘range anxiety’ for electric vehicles by speeding up charging time

December 19, 2017

Large-scale, utility level battery systems will reduce the charging time for electric vehicles from hours to minutes

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