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.

Optimizing traffic flow between the City of Oshawa, at right, and Toronto, lower left, is one challenge that Master of Engineering students in the Cities Engineering and Management program at U of T will study in the newly established ‘teaching city.’ (Image: Google Maps).

New partnership establishes a Canadian teaching city for engineering students

June 5, 2017

A first in Canada, the agreement between academia, industry and the City of Oshawa launches the municipality east of Toronto as a ‘living lab’ for exploration in fields from traffic to urban planning

Left to right: Rahim Rezaie (U of T Engineering), Erastus M. Mwanaumo (Assistant Dean, School of Engineering, University of Zambia) and Professor Murray Metcalfe (U of T Engineering) at the University of Zambia. A partnership between U of T Engineering and various institutions in Africa aims to prepare the engineering leaders who will build the world’s fastest-growing cities.

Preparing the next generation of engineering leaders to grow Africa’s megacities sustainably

May 30, 2017

U of T Engineering initiative to offer scalable online education in partnership with universities in Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia and others

Supermileage Team lead Mengqi Wang (ECE PhD candidate) hopes improvements to her team’s student-designed and student-built vehicles will get them to the podium at the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition. (Photo: Marit Mitchell)

Supermileage Team aims to retake top spot at Shell Eco-Marathon Americas

April 25, 2017

Students race hyper-efficient gasoline and battery-powered vehicles at international competition in Detroit

Professor Greg Evans measure air pollution on a Toronto subway platform. A new study shows that airborne particulates in such locations are much higher than in the outside air. (Photo: Tyler Irving)

Toronto’s subways expose passengers to more air pollution than Montreal, Vancouver systems

April 25, 2017

Airborne particulates on subway platforms and trains are up to 10 times higher than outside air, around three times higher than levels in Montreal’s Metro

Alexander Ip and his U of T research team, led by Professor Ted Sargent, will receive nearly $1 million from the Ontario government for the semi-final round of the Carbon XPRIZE competition (Photo: Kevin Soobrian)

Ontario supports U of T Engineering researchers competing for Carbon XPRIZE

April 12, 2017

The Ontario government has invested $833,000 to support a team of U of T researchers trying to turn carbon into something useful for the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE

The winners of the RBC Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, held March 31, 2017. Team Genecis, led by Luna Yu (sixth from right) took second place in the Early Stage category.

Hatchery startup Genecis receives RBC Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

April 5, 2017

Company aims to address the problem of food waste by turning table scraps into biofuel, plastics and other products

Professor Shoshanna Saxe (CivE) analyses the environmental and social impact of large public transit infrastructure projects, equipping policymakers with data as they decide which investments to make. (Photo: Tyler Irving)

Infrastructure’s impact: How public transit affects our environment

February 27, 2017

Shoshanna Saxe applies engineering methodologies to measure the social and environmental impact of transit projects

The new perovskite solar cells have achieved an efficiency of 20.1 per cent and can be manufactured at low temperatures, which reduces the cost and expands the number of possible applications. (Photo: Kevin Soobrian)

Printable solar cells just got a little closer

February 16, 2017

New research removes a key barrier to large-scale manufacture of low-cost, printable perovskite solar cells

Professor Fae Azhari (MIE, CivE) holds a sample of the self-sensing concrete she designed. Her work helps monitor the structural health of crucial infrastructure such as bridges, roads and hydroelectric dams. (Credit: Roberta Baker).

Concrete check-up: Fae Azhari develops diagnostics for critical infrastructure

February 15, 2017

U of T Engineering professor develops novel approaches to monitoring the health of large structures, from bridges to hydroelectric dams

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