U of T researcher signs on to charter aimed at making Toronto ‘flood resilient’: Toronto Star

Posted on June 4, 2019July 15, 2019 by Tony Gray

Fadi Masoud, an assistant professor of landscape architecture and urbanism at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, has signed on to a landmark charter that will see representatives of municipal and provincial agencies work together to find ways to reduce urban flooding in Toronto.

Signatories to the Flood Resilient Toronto Charter – which include officials from Toronto Hydro, the Toronto Transit Commission, Conservation Ontario and the provincial environment ministry – will use cutting-edge data and collaborative projects to identify and protect city locations most vulnerable to flooding from storm water, the Toronto Star reported.

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Out of thin air: U of T researchers shorten path to capturing and recycling CO2 with new process

Posted on May 29, 2019July 15, 2019 by Tony Gray

A research team from the University of Toronto has developed a new electrochemical path to transform CO₂ into valuable products such as jet fuel or plastics. The technology could significantly improve the economics of capturing and recycling carbon directly from the air.

“Today, it is technically possible to capture CO₂ from air and, through a number of steps, convert it to commercial products,” says University Professor Ted Sargent, in the Edward S. Rogers department of electrical and computer engineering, who led the research team.

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EaRTH-focused: U of T-Centennial College partnership to advance cleantech, build ‘vertical farm’

Posted on April 22, 2019July 15, 2019 by Tony Gray

The University of Toronto Scarborough and Centennial College are teaming up to establish the EaRTH District – an initiative aimed at advancing the cleantech sector through research, academic programming and commercialization.

EaRTH, which stands for Environmental and Related Technologies Hub, will be a knowledge and training centre at U of T Scarborough focused on the development of clean technologies.

Among the partnership’s plans: apply innovative technologies to food production in an urban setting through the development of Canada’s first net-zero vertical farm.

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Secrets of the permafrost: New U of T research reveals evidence of climate change in the Yukon

Posted on April 9, 2019July 15, 2019 by Tony Gray

A new University of Toronto study confirms that recent climate warming in the central Yukon region has surpassed the warmest temperatures experienced in the previous 13,600 years, a finding that could have important implications in the context of current global warming trends.

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U of T researchers sign on to call for action on climate change

Posted on February 12, 2019July 15, 2019 by Tony Gray

U of T researchers from a variety of backgrounds are among the more than 15,000 scientists from around the world who have signed onto a recent call to action on climate change.

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The last straw: U of T ecology expert, students create inventory of plastic litter that collects in the Don River

Posted on February 12, 2019July 15, 2019 by Tony Gray

On a hot and muggy July day, Chelsea Rochman, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto, and a group of students made their way to the mouth of the Don River, armed with gardening gloves, garbage bags and a first aid kit.

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