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Centre_for_Urban_Energy_Promo_reg_Transcript
[music] By 2030, 80% of the world’s population will
live in urban areas.
And the way we use energy in these environments, will dramatically impact how we live, work,
and grow as a community.
That’s why Ryerson University created the Centre for Urban Energy, or CUE for short.
Here in downtown Toronto, world-class researchers, students and partners are solving urban energy
issues.
>>It was about time that we started to focus on some of the issues that urban centres were
facing to make our systems more efficient for our customers >>It’s an old system that
was built, most of which, after the Second World War, and is in desperate need of renewal
>>It’s basically about modernization and leveraging technology that we have >> Getting
the most out of what you have, is what renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are
all about.
But it’s not always windy or sunny when you need it.
CUE’s Energy on Time Project solves that challenge by using an innovative approach
to store clean energy, and then make it available when it’s needed.
>>This is the first flywheel in the world that has been able to store energy over many,
many hours at a time. Over an eight to ten hour period we'll only lose about five percent
of the energy due to frictional losses.
>>Say if the flywheel is the muscle, Energy on Time was the brain that helped it to use
its capabilities as efficiently as possible >>It’s really world beating in my opinion.
It’s small, it’s contained, and it can be put in right where the problems are.
[music] >>Homeowners want to live comfortably, but
keeping energy bills under control, all year round, can be a challenge. CUE's intelligent
home sensor gets rid of all the guesswork by monitoring and adjusting energy usage without
compromising the homeowner’s comfort.
>>What is missing is the energy management devices to bridge the gap between informing
the homeowners of their energy consumption and optimizing the complex operation of the
HVAC units.
>>Intelligent home sensor makes all the appliances like television, heating, ventilation, lights,
everything communicates to each other, which saves money, and also saves energy.
>>What is the action we're looking for?
To really shift the demand off of peak times, when the system is so overstressed, and be
able to move it into periods when the system is at rest.
[music] >>Innovation comes in many forms. That’s
why we created a business incubator and accelerator called iCUE, for energy entrepreneurs. Here,
companies like Plug and Drive are creating solutions for electric cars, in urban environments.
>>We live in a condensed city, where millions of people live in a pretty small footprint
area, and the electric car and its distances of the batteries are ideally suited for that
kind of application.
>>Our studies show that about 80% of people charge at home, but the reality is to get
people on board with electric cars they need to see stations out in the public realm.
>>We want to have more people using electrical cars, we have to make this transition easier
and simpler for them, that’s what our system does.
>>Before long you’re going to see charging stations sprinkled throughout the downtown
core [music] >>Universities are hotbeds of research and innovation. What we’ve been
able to do in our work with Ryerson in particular, is to say, "Here’s where we’re going.
Here are the issues that we’re having." "How can you help us?" and,
"How can we help you direct your research in a way that’s going to be useful to industry?"
>>If we’re going to build the system over, what are we going to build it to look like?
How is it going to perform for us? What technologies are we going to use?
How will those technologies change the relationship we have with our customer today? And so our
relationship with CUE really provides us that expert, smart, young, technology savvy thought
process on what Toronto Hydro will look like fifty and a hundred years from now.
>>At the Centre for Urban Energy, our researchers, students, and partners are working to solve
tomorrow’s energy problems today. So check us out, visit our website, or just drop by.
[music]