UCalgary hosts leading international experts on environmental monitoring and carbon capture storage

Leading experts from across the globe descended on the University of Calgary to participate in a series of workshops and meetings on environmental monitoring and carbon capture and storage (CCS). The vice-president (research), in partnership with CMC Research Institutes (CMCRI), hosted IEAGHG, an international organization supporting and funding research into CCS, whose work focuses on technologies that can reduce our carbon emissions, and mitigate climate change and global warming.

Overall, more than 100 leading industry and academic experts and thought leaders from nine countries participated over the week-long event, which included a joint industry partnership workshop focusing on the CMCRI-UCalgary Containment and Monitoring Institute (CaMI); a site visit to the CaMI field research station, where participants toured the facility and observed active monitoring surveys; IEAGHG’s Monitoring and Environmental Research Combined Networks Meeting; and a fault experimentation workshop concluding the event.

• Photo above: UCalgary’s Steven Bryant presents on Reaching Site Closure Quickly. Photo by Adrian Shellard, for the University of Calgary

“Hosting an organization like IEAGHG provides a tremendous opportunity to connect with industry and thought leaders globally, across essential areas of expertise,” says Dr. Andre Buret, interim vice-president (research). “It provides a platform to address the challenges facing storage of anthropogenic CO2 — a key technology for mitigating the environmental effects of our reliance on fossil fuels — and to work on innovative ideas and solutions collaboratively.”

Collaboration essential to outcomes

The lengthy list of participants resulted in IEAGHG’s second-largest delegation, highlighting the relevance of environmental monitoring and CCS, and emphasizing how collaboration and experience sharing makes an impact to research outcomes.

“UCalgary is a leading institute for energy research and many of our innovations have grown out of these points of collaboration,” says Dr. Don Lawton, director of the Containment and Monitoring Institute. “Bringing an international delegation to our campus and the CaMI field research station to show them first-hand the technology we have developed and our ability to run controlled experiments at field-scale allows us to feed the growing global interest in innovations that reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions through carbon capture, utilization and storage.”

With a focus on collaboration and knowledge sharing, many presenters shared new, yet-to-be published research results and outcomes from the field, which led discussions for practical solutions that can be applied to real-world scenarios.

“I have been actively engaged with IEAGHG over many years, and this meeting was one of the most engaging I have been to,” says Lawton. “Participant feedback was tremendous and they left with an arsenal of practical knowledge they could bring back to their organization.”

Sponsors for this event included the Vice-President (Research) Office, CMC Research Institutes, Enhance Energy and CNRL.

Learn more about energy and the environment:

• How is cutting carbon like winning a world war? Applying unconventional thinking to an increasingly urgent problem
• Engineering a cleaner, safer energy future

Located in the heart of Canada’s energy sector, the University of Calgary has built a reputation as a global leader in energy research and innovation. With a focus on a low-carbon future, diverse teams are also assessing the effects of energy-related processes while harnessing unconventional hydrocarbon resources through its Energy Innovations for Today and Tomorrow Research Strategy.