Start
Nov 11, 2011 - 17:15
End
Nov 11, 2011 - 18:51
Venue
Main Auditorium VMCC
Event Type
Speaker
Prof. Murray Gray Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering University of Alberta
Title
Development and Management of New Energy Supplies: Canada’s Experience with Unconventional Energy Development
Abstract: The two dominant energy carriers for a modern economy are petroleum-derived fuels and electricity. High prices for petroleum coupled with increased awareness of the environmental impact of the combustion of fossil fuels are driving a wave of innovation in new energy technologies. Implementation of these replacement technologies requires long term investment in infrastructure development of new policies and legislation and careful analysis of the social and environmental impacts of new technologies. Over the past three decades Canada has developed the oil sands into a major world petroleum reserve. This presentation will review the technical innovation and policy decisions that enabled investment in the oil sands and discuss the challenges in managing the social and environmental impacts of a major new industry. This Canadian experience offers important lessons for India as it develops new energy industries based on renewable resources.About the Speaker: Dr. Murray Gray has over 25 years of research experience in upgrading of heavy oil and oil sands bitumen. He is currently Director of the Centre for Oil Sands Innovation at the University of Alberta. His success in collaborative research with industry has been recognized by numerous awards and prizes including the Centennial Award from the professional engineering association in Alberta (2011) and the Industrial Practice Award of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (2003). In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. In 2006 he was awarded a Canada Research Chair and an Industrial Research Chair in Oil Sands Upgrading. Gray obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1984. He also holds a M.Eng. degree with a specialization in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Calgary (1980) and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto (1978).