Symposiums by Subject
Climate Change Crisis
The symposium focused on what roadmaps can help achieve more sustainable energy and materials flows in cities (urban metabolism) and in industrial systems (industrial ecology). The symposiumdiscussed the theme in a global context as well as considering Canada’s political, economic, environmental and social setting.
What are the causes and consequences of global warming? How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so that everyone wins? While Montreal wants to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, the Sixth Annual Trottier Symposium will address the issue of climate change, from the perspective of just transition. What does this imply? Can society change? What role for the citizen, for businesses and for the government?
The 5th Annual Trottier Symposium on Sustainable Engineering, Energy, and Design will focus on resilience and human responses to the threats brought on by climate change while considering the following questions: What is resilience and why is it so important to ensure sustainability in the context of urbanization
and climate change? How can we be more resilient to disruptions such as extreme weather events, floods, drought, sea-level rise, and heatwaves? What solutions are being imagined, developed, and implemented? and much more.
Energy
The 2015 Trottier Symposium aims to raise public awareness and engagement with the energy choices that Quebec and Canada will make in the coming years. The presentation and discussions will expand on the issues raised in the paper Energy in Quebec and Canada: A Conversation Starter available on this web page.
In 2016, the landscape for renewables looks encouraging and challenging. The recent enthusiastic buzz and public support surrounding renewable energy confront doubt despite decades of roughly 30% annual growth in solar and wind production. Costs of renewables are dropping rapidly, as photovoltaic module costs have fallen by approximately 10% per year over the past 30 years and the costs of wind turbines by roughly 5%. Yet, still only 23% of installed capacity is from renewable resources. Why not a higher percentage?
Sustainable Built Environments
The symposium focused on what roadmaps can help achieve more sustainable energy and materials flows in cities (urban metabolism) and in industrial systems (industrial ecology). The symposium discussed the theme in a global context as well as considering Canada’s political, economic, environmental and social setting.
The Trottier Symposium series will contribute to this mandatory energy transition by dedicating its fourth symposium to the transport sector and the challenges it faces, by exploring a number of possible futures, knowing that many upcoming technologies make a transition to a low-carbon society more likely each day.