February 6, 2025
Energy Transition: Sectoral strategies in BC
Following last year’s Clean Energy Forum on the BC “energy transition” to meet the 2030 climate target (i.e. 40% below 2007 emission level), this year’s Clean Energy Forum focused on sectoral “Energy Transition” to meet the CleanBC targets for specific sectors (i.e. Buildings: 59-64%; Transportation: 27-32%, Oil and gas: 33-38%, and other industries: 38-43%).
Keynote presentations from industrial experts highlighted the decarbonization strategies and plans in six important sectors (Building, Electricity, Mining, Oil & Gas, Pulp & Paper and Transportation).
Over 100 students, faculty members, and industry partners participated in this year’s event.
Keynote speakers
 Mining Sector: Chih-Ting Lo, Principal, EELO Solutions |  Oil Sector: David Schick, VP Western Canada, Innovation and Regulatory Affairs, Canadian Fuels Association |
 Gas Sector: Tyler Bryant, Director of Decarbonization and Sustainability, FortisBC |  Transportation Sector: Ralf Nielsen, Director of Enterprise Sustainability, TransLink |
 Buildings Sector: Betsy Agar, Director, Buildings, Pembina Institute |  Electricity Sector: Kristin Hanlon, Business Planning and Energy Management, BC Hydro |
 Pulp & Paper Sector: Davis Chiu, Partner, Global Investment and Innovation Incentives, Deloitte |
Panelists
Together with the keynote speakers, four additional panelists discussed broadly the government policy and community engagement to support the sectoral energy transitions.
 Arthur Bledsoe, Senior Policy Analyst, Renewables in Remote Communities, Pembina Institute |  Gordon Floe, Suzuki Elders, Principal of NLK Consulting |
 Sean LeRoy, Executive Director, Low Carbon Fuels Branch B.C Ministry |  Allison Macfarlane, Professor and Director School of Public Policy and Global Affairs Faculty of Arts, UBC |
Winners of Oral Presentation and Poster Competitions
21 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers presented their posters. Four student researchers from UBC Okanagan campus participated in the poster competition via Zoom. 14 among them also participated in the 3-minutes oral presentation competitions. The winners of each competitions are selected by voting based on the preferences of the faculty members and industry partners.
Winners of Oral Presentation Competition
First place:
Sawyer d’Entremont. Title: Pathway of Carbon Fiber Growth during Molten Metal Methane Pyrolysis
Second place:
Keegan Parkhurst. Title: Feasibility and Scaling of a Capillary-Driven Artificial Tree
Third place:
Natascha Miederhoff. Title: Production and Purification of Carbon Fibers using a Molten Cu-In Alloy
Winners of Poster Presentation Competition
First place:
Shiva Zargar. Title: BIO-OPT: An Integrated Analytical Platform for Pioneering Sustainable Bioeconomy Solutions
Second place:
Pu Yang. Title: Phase Diagram-Guided Molten Salt Engineering of Biocarbon Pores at Low Temperatures for Energy Storage and CO2 Capture
Third place:
Peijin Jiang. Title: Mapping Material Recovery from Rooftop Solar Panels Using Computer Vision and Material Flow Analysis
Photo Gallery
