19. Affordable and Clean Energy
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy focuses on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.
Marina Freire-Gormaly, Ph.D., EIT, LEED GA is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University. Her research focuses on the development of stand-alone solar-powered reverse osmosis water treatment systems and energy recovery systems for remote communities that lack access to grid electricity. She also is interested in machine learning applications for the smart design of innovative energy and water systems. Her research interests are also in advanced manufacturing, smart systems using the Internet of Things & artificial intelligence, and advanced additive manufacturing methods. She completed her Ph.D. and M.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto in Mechanical Engineering. She has previously been a course instructor for undergraduate energy-related engineering courses at the University of Toronto. She has also worked at Ontario Power Generation (OPG) on the Darlington New Nuclear Project and the Darlington Refurbishment Project. She contributed to a World Bank project evaluating Canada’s ‘Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE). She currently serves as the Chair of Student and Young Professional Affairs for the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers (CSME).
Nitish Ranjan Sarker is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Water and Energy Research Lab at the University of Toronto (U of T). He is also associated with the Centre for Global Engineering at U of T and teaches strategies and challenges of replacing high GHG-emitting energy technologies with renewable and low-carbon alternatives to senior year undergrad/ graduate students. Additionally, Nitish volunteers as the program director of the International Water Association Young Waters Professional in Canada and manages several Pan-Canadian networking and professional development events to dissipate the understanding of the social, economic, and technological aspects of Canadian water research. As a cross-disciplinary researcher, Nitish focuses on technological and systemic innovation of water and clean-energy technologies, broadly relevant to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and how to customize them appropriately based on the target community's needs and constraints. Nitish was also vested with the Mortenson Global Engineering Award earlier this year.
CREDITS: This podcast is co-hosted by Dr. Erica Di Ruggiero, Director of the Centre for Global Health, and Ophelia Michaelides, Manager of the Centre for Global Health, at the DLSPH, U of T, and produced by Elizabeth Loftus. Audio editing is by Sylvia Lorico. Music is produced by Julien Fortier and Patrick May. It is made with the support of the School of Cities at U of T.