19. Affordable and Clean Energy

10/05/22 • 39 min

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.

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18. Life Below Water

SDG 14: Life Below Water focuses on conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Hiliary Monteith is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto and a Registered Dietitian. Hilary's research focus is on diabetes prevention and maternal and infant health using community-based participatory research in partnership with an Indigenous community in Northwestern Ontario. Alongside community members and leaders, she considers the role of health and social factors in infant and early childhood growth trajectories and intergenerational pathways to support chronic disease prevention. Her research interests also include cultural safety within health professional training, food and water security and sovereignty for Indigenous communities, equitable healthcare access and services, Indigenous student mentorship and the intersections between these areas. She is a co-editor for the Turtle Island Journal of Indigenous Health, which aims to co-create safe spaces within the academic environment and beyond for Indigenous voices and ways of knowing and being.
Dr. Tracey Galloway is a biological anthropologist and community health scholar at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Her research aims to reduce the burden of chronic disease among Indigenous people living in northern communities by removing existing barriers to health and food security. Tracey works alongside Indigenous leaders, Elders and other allies on projects that improve access to health services and affordable food in northern communities. Tracey’s partnerships extend across the circumpolar north and she is recognized globally as an expert on the health of circumpolar Indigenous populations. She is an active member of the International Union for Circumpolar Health and has worked extensively with scholars from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the Greenland Institute for Public Health, and the Danish National Institute for Public Health. Her work is valued for its commitment to decolonizing principles and its support for Indigenous governance.
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.

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20. The Finale

In this final episode, we will look at the intersection between SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
The focus of SDG 11 is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable while the focus of SDG 3 is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Leonard Mwesigwa is a 2nd Year Ph.D. Student in Planning at the University of Toronto and a Founder/CEO of Inclusive Green Growth Uganda (IGGU), an NGO based in Uganda whose vision is “A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development”. Leonard was born & raised in Uganda. He is a Professional Civil Engineer with a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil & Building Engineering, Kyambogo University, Uganda; Master of Science in Transport Planning & Engineering, Newcastle University, UK; Master of Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University, UK and a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Planning & Management from Uganda Management Institute.

He has worked in both private and public sector organizations for over 10 years and on several urban policy design and urban infrastructure development projects. Notably as a Senior Urban Transport Planner at Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for over 6 years, he oversaw and participated in several city road designs and construction projects. As a practicing Urban Transport Planner, he is passionate about developing equitable and sustainable urban transit systems in the Global South. His Ph.D. research aims at examining the potential use of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in delivering socially inclusive and equitable urban transit systems in rapidly urbanizing African cities.
Karen Chapple, Ph.D., is the Director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto, where she also serves as Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning. She is Professor Emerita of City & Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as department chair and held the Carmel P. Friesen Chair in Urban Studies. Chapple studies inequalities in the planning, development, and governance of regions in the U.S. and Latin America, with a focus on economic development and housing.
Chapple is currently engaged in many research projects related to inequality and sustainability planning, with a focus on residential and commercial/industrial displacement. Since 2006, she has served as faculty director of the UC Berkeley Center for Community Innovation, which has provided over $2 million in technical assistance to community-based organizations and government agencies. This has included research on the potential for gentrification and displacement near transit-oriented development (for the Association of Bay Area Governments); more effective planning for affordable housing and economic development near transit (for the Great Communities Collaborative); the relationship between the arts, commercial and residential revitalization in low-income neighborhoods; and the role of green jobs and industrial land in regional economies.

Chapple holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Columbia University, an M.S.C.R.P from the Pratt Institute, and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Prior to academia, Chapple spent ten years as a practicing planner in economic development, land use, and transportation in New York and San Francisco.

Healthy Cities in the SDG Era - 19. Affordable and Clean Energy

Transcript

Ophelia Michaelides [00:00:08] I'm Ophelia Michaelides and this is Healthy Cities in the SDG era, a podcast about the Sustainable Development Goals and how research conducted by faculty and students at the University of Toronto is helping to achieve them. We're recording from Toronto or Tkaronto, which for thousands of years has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting space is still home to many indigeno