SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
Learn more about UN SDG 7 and take action
Managing and developing new and renewable energy resources while minimizing their environmental impact is one of our world’s most pressing challenges. Dalhousie is a national and international leader in advanced materials and clean technology research, with world-renowned researchers developing products that improve performance, productivity and efficiency while at the same time reducing costs, energy consumption and waste.
High-impact research
Seeing the light: clean technology’s stellar future
It is a question that researchers everywhere are grappling with: how can we meet an increasing global demand for energy and how can we do it in ways that eliminate dangerous carbon emissions? For Dalhousie researchers like Dr. Mita Dasog, one way is as clear as day: solar energy.
Read more in DAL Magazine
Long‑lasting impact: Battery research icon earns top international award
Dalhousie’s Dr. Jeff Dahn has been named the 2023 recipient of the Olin Palladium Award — a top international science prize — for his pioneering work in the development of lithium-ion battery technology.
Read more in Dal News
From the ground up: How heat recycling could help keep Nova Scotians warmer each winter
A study led by Dal researcher Sussanne Benz, a Banting postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Water Resources Studies, found that shallow subsurface heat recycling offers a viable alternative to entirely heating spaces with fossil fuels like oil.
Read more in Dal News
Getting ready for the next energy revolution
Dr. Freund’s project, the Leaders in Energy Sustainability training program, will produce highly qualified energy and sustainability professionals ready to ensure Canada’s role as a global leader in the emerging energy revolution.
Read more in Dal News
Supporting research and education in sustainable development
The Clean Technologies Research Institute (CTRI) was established in June 2017 to advance clean technologies research at Dalhousie University. It is one facet of the university's support of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We facilitate collaboration, promotion, and administration of clean tech research projects at Dalhousie University.
Exceptional student experience
How an award-winning Halifax professor nurtured a network of battery entrepreneurs
They call themselves the "Dahn lab" graduates, and they're powering an unlikely, Halifax-based research hub for batteries designed to replace fossil fuels. At the tightly wired network's heart is Jeff Dahn, a professor of chemistry and physics at Dalhousie University, who on Oct. 9 was presented with the Olin Palladium Award from the Electrochemical Society for a lifetime of working to improve rechargeable batteries. The prestigious prize has previously been won by Nobel laureates.
Read more on CBC.ca
Dal‑built solar car off to the races
The structure was built by more than a dozen dedicated Dal Engineering students who have worked day and night for the last month to put the finishing touches on their solar car — the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada.
Read more in Dal News
Two Dal PhD students heading to global Falling Walls Lab finals in Berlin
Alternative energy was the big winner at the inaugural Falling Walls Lab – Atlantic Canada pitch competition Wednesday night (Sept. 21), with Dal PhD researchers focused on advancing hydrogen and battery science taking first and second place.
Read more in Dal News
Civic university with global impact
Sharing practices and technologies
Dalhousie hosted a Carbon Neutrality Forum in April 2023. The Forum brought together provincial and federal governments, along with industry and academia, to develop the best practices and review the latest technical developments on reducing emissions and related impacts.
Open Dialogue Live to discuss clean energy for the next generation
The United Nations estimates that energy production in the world’s cities accounts for 60 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. How can Dalhousie help transition our fossil fuel-driven economy, into a ‘clean-tech’ economy, powered by renewable energy? This Open Dialogue Live event (no cost, streamed and in person) tackled this very question.
Read more in Dal News and watch on YouTube
Dal Innovates is pleased to announce the winners of the Ready2Launch Pitch Day.
Ready2Launch is a three-month summer accelerator for early-stage startups. The 2022 program concluded with eleven teams competing for a chance to win three cash prizes. In first place was Zen Electric Bikes Inc. winning $6,000. Zen E-Bikes is a clean tech company building electric vehicles with advanced battery technology.
“What Do Scientists Do?” Podcast kicks off Season 2 by featuring Dalhousie's Dr. Michael Metzger
From “What Do Scientists Do?”: Supernova’s family-friendly STEM podcast, What Do Battery Scientists Do? featuring Dr. Michael Metzger, Herzberg-Dahn Chair in Advanced Battery Research, as he teaches us all about building better batteries for electric vehicles.
Listen now on YouTube
Supporting the clean technology job market
The certificate in Sustainable Energy Technologies offered by the Faculty of Open Learning and Career Development introduces students to renewable energy, smart cities, and the clean technologies that are shaping the future.
Foundation for inclusion and distinction
Systems overhaul of Dal’s biggest library to shrink environmental footprint
The Killam Library deep energy retrofit project fits into the work Dalhousie is doing to improve the energy and water efficiency of existing buildings. As a deep energy retrofit, the project aims to achieve greater energy efficiency by looking at the whole building and incorporating upgrades and maintenance to multiple systems at once.
Read more in Dal News
Among the energy elite: Dal’s biomass plant generates international accolades for energy‑efficiency gains
The Truro campus biomass plant represents a significant leap forward for alternative energy at Dal. The plant now provides enough power to satisfy nearly 75 per cent of all the Truro campus' electricity needs, an achievement that recently landed a coveted global award for innovation from the International District Energy Association (IDEA).
Read more in Dal News
Innovative energy efficiency practices on campus lead the way for the wider community
Many of the energy efficiency practices used on campus are leading the way within our communities. This includes the Howe and Shirreff Halls retrofit projects, which are among the first in Atlantic Canada to receive Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ (IREE) certification from the Canada Green Building Council.
Read more in Dal News
Accessible and equitable spaces that are functional, resilient, energy efficient, and ecologically and socially centered
Dalhousie's Energy and Green Building Plan is positioning the university to meet the next set of targets by ensuring decision-making and investments consider climate and carbon costs, life cycle costing, and longer-term planning horizons in keeping with the university ambitions.