Carleton engineering students packed into the Minto Centre to mingle with energy industry professionals and discuss innovation at the Green Energy Symposium Nov. 3.
The event sought to introduce engineering students – specifically those interested in green energy – to potential employers and industry experts.
“There was a lot more enthusiasm and a lot more industry support and industry attendees [this year], so the students really got to interact with a much bigger variety of industry leaders in all forms of sustainability,” said Nicholas Dumoulin, president of the sustainable and renewable energy engineering (SREE) students’ society.
The event was originally started by fifth-year SREE student Kati Sidwall, and has grown since its introduction in 2010.
“I wanted to have people in policy meet people in engineering to talk about green energy,” Sidwall said.
The symposium began with three short speeches followed by networking periods between each speech. Big names like energy company Enbridge and electronics company Philips interacted with the students as they showcased their newest innovations in sustainability.
“We couldn’t even get [the students] into the room for the presentations after the networking period because everyone was just learning so much and they just wanted to talk to everyone,” Dumoulin said.
While there were some remarks about how Enbridge’s participation as a world leader in oil and natural gas distribution, Dumoulin said it is important to note that the company has also put in a lot of green initiatives in recent years.
Sidwall agreed and said she is by no means against the development of oil energy as long as green energy is developed as well.
“I think that fossil fuels have their place,” Sidwall said. “There’s been a lot of attention on the fact that the provincial government has been resistant toward green energy development but it’s obviously going to be something that’s really important as we move forward.”
Elizabeth McDonald, the president and CEO of Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance, was one of the speakers at the symposium. She said that policy-makers and engineers often have a hard time seeing eye to eye.
“When you get involved in energy policy, you get a headache,” McDonald said during her presentation, but noted that interactions with all levels of governments and their policies are important steps to implement green energy initiatives.
Michael Brown, a masters of engineering student at Carleton was another speaker at the symposium. Working with Aboriginal peoples in Nunavut, he said that green energy initiatives are more important now than ever before.
“We see the same story happening over and over again,” he said. “It’s this idea of existing energy supplies being depleted and the substitution away to new sources of energy and this is partly based on technological innovation and it’s partly based on the choices we as a society make.”
Brown also said that while engineering students tend to focus on only technology, they have to examine all aspects of the problems they are trying to fix. This includes looking at the issue from all social and economic aspects as well as the technological aspects.
“Technology is not socially neutral,” Brown said. “Technology is very much a social construct and how we use technology in society is extremely important.”
