TOPIC
#1:
CLIMATE CHANGE— THE CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GREEN ENERGY
Panelist:
Gordon McBean, Research Chair,
Institute of Catastrophic Loss
Reduction; Professor, Department of
Geography, The University of Western
Ontario
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
This presentation will address how the
climate is changing and will change in
the future, presenting challenges in
adapting our agricultural production.
The uncertainty of the evolving climate
must be considered when discussing the
sources of green energy.
Governments are now developing
strategies to reduce the human impact on
the climate and these policies may or
may not be supportive of green energy.
We need a comprehensive analysis to
avoid making the "wrong" choices on
green energy.
Download:
Presentation PDF
TOPIC
#2:
INTEGRATING RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION
Panelist:
Franco Berruti, Director,
Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from
Alternative Resources; Professor,
Department of Engineering, The
University of Western Ontario
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Fundamental and applied research has
been a key component of the activities
in engineering schools for many years.
However, recently Canadian universities
have made technology transfer and
commercialization one of their highest
priorities. This trend results from the
Government of Canada's Innovation
Strategy, which promotes the development
of projects and activities leading to
tangible contributions to society, and
resulting in the creation of businesses,
jobs and wealth. As a result,
universities throughout the country are
helping diversify Canada's economy and
are creating a reputation for excellence
and impact that extends well beyond our
borders. The discussion will focus on
The University of Western Ontario's
recent experience in the integration of
basic and applied research with
technology development and
commercialization. The example that will
be discussed is the creation of
Agri-Therm, a spin-off "green energy"
company dedicated to developing,
manufacturing and marketing portable and
stationary equipment for producing
bio-oils and products from biomass, and,
specifically, from agricultural
residues, wastes and transition crops.
Download:
Presentation PDF
TOPIC
#3:
IMPLEMENTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES AT EVERY
SCALE
A)
PUTTING TOGETHER MAJOR PROJECTS
Panelist:
Frank Dottori, Director,
Cellulosic Ethanol Division, Greenfield
Ethanol
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Greenfield Ethanol – from corn to
ethanol for fuels, industrial and
beverage alcohols, and distillers grains
as a secondary product stream – has been
taking cellulosic feedstocks and turning
them into commercial products for over
twenty years. The process of converting
cellulosic supplies into ethanol
produces more energy than it consumes.
The positive energy balance together
with carbon reduction and sound water
management strategies is a real positive
toward a greener world. Greenfield
continues to push research in cellulosic
production to turn one company's waste
into another company's fuel.
Download:
Presentation PDF
B)
FARM-SCALE IMPLEMENATION
Panelist:
Dean Tiessen, Partner, Cantus
Bio Power Limited, General Manager,
Pyramid Farms
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
In his presentation, Dean Tiessen will
give insight into the challenges of
building a new bio-based energy supply.
Using biomass for energy is a relatively
new area and Dean Tiessen will outline
some of the hurdles that consumers of
new biomass/energy must overcome and how
consumers may address them. Some of the
challenges are identifying appropriate
feedstock, building appropriate
infrastructure, partnering with
researchers to improve genetics, and
developing efficient production and
cropping systems.
Download:
Presentation PDF
TOPIC
#4:
COGENERATION IN GREENHOUSES: THE DUTCH
EXPERIENCE
Panelist:
Dick Kramp, Marketing Program
Manager, GE Energy, Jenbacher Gas
Engines, Netherlands
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
There are a number of reasons why in
recent years cogeneration has become
such an overwhelming success in the
Dutch greenhouse industry. First of all,
there is not one other industry that can
utilize both the heat recovered from the
engine combined with the carbon dioxide
(CO2) that is present in the engine
exhaust from a cogeneration system,
while power either is exported into the
grid or utilized in the greenhouse
itself. Secondly, the wide scale
utilization of large thermal storage
facilities allow CHP systems to run when
CO2 is required by the plants and power
prices are high, while heat recovered
from the engine is stored for
utilization at a later time of day. The
end result is that greenhouses are able
to provide flexible, dispatchable power
at system efficiencies that often exceed
90%. Thirdly, by becoming food and
energy producers, the Dutch greenhouse
industry has been able to fend off
foreign competition, maximize vegetable
and flower production at the lowest
possible costs, while continuing to be a
leading jurisdiction for new greenhouse
and related energy technologies.
Given
that Ontario is home to the largest
North-American greenhouse industry, it
requires flexible, dispatchable power in
order to facilitate the maximum
implementation of renewables.
Furthermore Canada/Ontario is under
tremendous competitive pressure from the
Southern US and South America, creating
an environment in which growers can
invest in cogeneration systems and
ensure that Ontario can continue to be
home to North-America's leading
greenhouse industry. Facilitating
cogeneration development in the
greenhouse industry will ensure that
sustainable energy, environment and
employment all come together in a
multi-billion dollar industry.
Download:
Presentation PDF
SESSION THREE BIOGRAPHIES
Session
Chair- David Sparling, Associate Dean,
Research and Graduate Studies,
University of Guelph
David
Sparling is Associate Dean for Research
and Graduate Studies in the College of
Management and Economics at the
University of Guelph. In 2006 and 2007,
he was seconded to be the Executive
Director of the Institute for Agri-Food
Policy Innovation.
David
has been President of a farming company,
a biotechnology start-up and an
agri-business insurance company. He is a
Senior Associate at the University of
Melbourne and has taught at the
Australian Graduate School of Management
in Sydney and in the Schools of Business
at McMaster and Wilfrid Laurier
Universities. His research interests are
in the areas of agri-food policy and
regulation, value chains, innovation and
commercializing new technologies.
In
August, David will be joining the
Richard Ivey School of Business as the
new Chair in Agri-Food Innovation and
Regulation. The Chair is supported by
the Agricultural Adaptation Council.
Panelist- Gordon McBean, Research Chair,
Institute of Catastrophic Loss
Reduction; Professor, Department of
Geography, The University of Western
Ontario
Dr.
Gordon McBean is a professor and the
Director of Policy Studies for The
Institute for Catastrophic Loss
Reduction at The University of Western
Ontario. He is a member of many national
and international committees related to
climate and environmental change
including: Board of the International
Institute for Sustainable Development,
Ontario Premier's Climate Change
Advisory Panel, Ontario Ministry of
Environment's Expert Panel on Climate
Change Adaptation, and City of London's
Mayor's Sustainable Energy Council. He
was previously a Professor of
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UBC
and then Assistant Deputy Minister in
Environment Canada. As a significant
contributor to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, he shared in
the awarding of the 2007 Nobel Peace
Prize to the IPCC. He is a Member of the
Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada, Canadian
Meteorological and Oceanographic
Society, and American Meteorological
Society, and received the Patterson
Medal for distinguish contributions to
meteorology by a Canadian.
Panelist- Franco Berruti, Director,
Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from
Alternative Resources; Professor,
Department of Engineering, The
University of Western Ontario
Dr.
Franco Berruti (Dott.Ing. Politecnico of
Turin (1982), MASc (U. Waterloo, 1983),
PhD (U. Waterloo, 1986) has been
Professor and Associate Dean at the
University of Calgary (1986-1996),
Professor and Dean of Engineering at the
University of Saskatchewan (1996-2000)
and Professor and Dean of Engineering at
the University of Western Ontario
(2000-2007). Since 2008, he is Professor
of Chemical Engineering at the
University of Western Ontario, Director
General of the Institute for Chemicals
and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR)
and Scientific Director of the national
Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation
Network (ABIN).
With
areas of expertise in particles
technologies, gas-solid fluidization,
heavy-oil upgrading technologies,
biomass conversion into biofuels, he has
contributed over 150 publications in a
number of prestigious journals and
books. He holds three patents and has
trained over 60 graduate students. Dr.
Berruti is the founding editor of the
International Journal of Chemical
Reactor Engineering and one of the
technology developers for Agri-Therm, a
successful spin-off company developing
and marketing an innovative technology
for the conversion of agricultural
residues into very valuable biofuels,
biochemicals and biopharmaceuticals.
Panelist- Frank Dottori, Director,
Cellulosic Ethanol Division, Greenfield
Ethanol
Mr.
Dottori was born in Timmins, Ontario. He
grew up on a dairy farm and went on to
graduate from the University of Toronto
in 1963 with a B.Sc in Chemical
Engineering and Applied Science.
During
his career he has held a wide range of
positions in both the mining and forest
products industry. In 1973, Mr. Dottori
and three other executives formed Tembec
Inc. to acquire a shutdown pulp mill in
Temiscaming, Quebec. The project gained
national attention as it was a unique
and unprecedented relationship between
Union, Management and Governments. The
Company went on to become a large global
forest products company with 55 mills in
North America, Europe and South America,
10,000 employees and assets of
approximately four billion dollars. He
retired as CEO in January 2006 after 32
years of service. Tembec was recognized
and received many awards for its
leadership role on innovation,
sustainable forestry, FSC, reduction of
greenhouse gases, social and community
programs and support of the Kyoto
protocol.
Mr.
Dottori has served on numerous industry
related associations such as Chairman of
the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association
(FPAC), Canadian Pulp and Paper Research
Institute (FP Innovations), FERIC, OFIA,
QFIA, etc. as well as participating on
government task forces related to
training, productivity and forest
industry issues. He has served as a
governor of the Montreal Stock Exchange,
as well as a director on several public
corporations. He has served as
Vice-Chair of Habitat for Humanity
Canada, sits on the David Suzuki
National Business Advisory Board and the
Rainforest Alliance.
In
recognition of his diverse achievements
in the business and community service he
has received numerous awards such as
four doctorate degrees, several medals
for professional excellence, the
Rainforest Lifetime award with the most
notable being the Order of Canada
received in 1989, the highest award
given to a Canadian citizen. He
currently works as an independent
business consultant and is a frequent
speaker at international events on
environmental issues. Mr. Dottori and
his wife Eileen have 3 children and 3
grandchildren.
Panelist- Dean Tiessen, Partner, Cantus
Bio Power Limited, General Manager,
Pyramid Farms
Dean
Tiessen is the General Manager of
Pyramid Farms. This family owned
business has been established since the
1960s and Dean co-owns the farm with his
brother Jason Tiessen. This family-run
business specializes in tomato
greenhouse operations. In 2008, Pyramid
Farms created the Feed Stock Division,
responsible for creating biomass to
generate heat for greenhouses (currently
use biomass/wood waste), as well as
supplying plant material/genetics to
third parties.
Panelist- Dick Kramp, Marketing Program
Manager, GE Energy, Jenbacher Gas
Engines, Netherlands
Since
2008, Dick Kramp is the Marketing
Program Manager of GE's Jenbacher Center
of Excellence for Greenhouse
Applications. In his role as the
Marketing Program Manager, Dick Kramp
assumes strategic and program
responsibility for GE's Jenbacher
worldwide applicable standardized
greenhouse concept.
The role
of Marketing Program Manager marks the
latest chapter in Dick Kramp's
successful career with GE's Jenbacher
gas engines business. Since 1995, he
gained a significant understanding of
greenhouse application knowledge at the
Dutch Subsidiary for GE's Jenbacher gas
engines. He assumed different roles,
such as Project Manager, leader of the
Project management / engineering
department and Service Leader. Dick
Kramp holds a degree in Electrical
Engineering from the Technical
University of Rijswijk. |
