Past Event! Note: this event has already taken place.

When: Wednesday, February 17th, 2021
Time: 12:00 pm — 1:00 pm
Location:

Online via Zoom

Audience:Anyone
Contact:FacultyofEngineeringandDesign@carleton.ca

The climate change alarm bells are ringing for researchers as mounting evidence reveals the extent of humanity’s impact on the Earth and the growing risks of inaction on carbon pollution. Emissions are rising at 1-2% per year, which sets the world further back from stabilizing the climate at internationally agreed upon temperature targets, like the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC goal. An aggressive, clear-eyed response is required to address climate change — first and foremost by decarbonizing the global energy system. This response should be similar to pandemic and wartime mobilizations in both scale and urgency.

In this talk, Professor Ahmed Abdulla will discuss energy system design in this radically new context, presenting results from recent research on the role of unproven technologies, like direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). He will conclude by discussing how his research group at Carleton is working to develop a new generation of energy system models that integrate real-world challenges to energy deployment.

Speaker Bio

Professor Ahmed Abdulla co-leads the Alternative Pathways for the Energy Transition (APEX) research group at Carleton University, devoted to accelerating the transition to a deeply decarbonized energy system in Canada and across the world in order to avert the worst consequences of climate change. His research investigates energy system design for deep decarbonization — employing large-scale optimization, process engineering, and systems engineering to assess the potential contribution of disruptive energy technologies that sit at a low level of technical readiness, such as electric vehicles, power to fuels, and negative emissions technologies. Prior to Carleton, Professor Abdulla was an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


About the Series

Ingenious Talks is a special speaker series from the Faculty of Engineering and Design that engages the community in discussions of timely and innovative ideas in engineering, design and technology.

 

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