energy

From the initial application: The opportunity for this project arose when the McGill Gault Nature Reserve (GNR) in Mont-Saint-Hilaire proposed a mechanical engineering project (MECH 463). The mission is to help them reduce their carbon footprint by providing them with a less environmentally-harmful electric ATV to perform their every day maintenance tasks. The project aims to convert a gas-powered All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) to an electricpowered one to be used by GNR. The ATV will have to fulfill similar requirements to those satisfied by the gas-powered ATV’s.

From the initial application: The McGill feeding McGill project, the Macdonald Campus Farm and McGill Food and Dining Services are building part of a sustainable food system at McGill. The University is blessed by the fact that it has a Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences within close proximity (35 Km) to its major downtown campus which houses and feeds nearly 3000 students on a daily basis for eight months of the year. The amount of food that is being produced and the potential for more production in the future is staggering.

The McGill Food and Dining Serves (MFDS) produces approximately 14000 liters of waste vegetable oil (WVO) per year. Disposal of this oil represents a loss of a valuable commodity: WVO contains an amount of chemical energy comparable to crude oil. While unsuitable for direct use in its native form, a simple chemical reaction transforms WVO into biodiesel, an ASTM International regulated alternative to fossil diesel fuel. Biodiesel offers many benefits over fossil diesel and combusts in conventional diesel engines without modification.

The Off-Campus Home Energy Team is a student effort to bridge the on-campus and off-campus experience of others living in the sometimes freezing cold but beautiful city of Montreal. The basic idea is that students living in apartments near campus sign up for a visit from a knowledgeable OCHET student team to help them reduce energy bills and live more comfortably through the winter. Arriving with an easy to follow checklist and all the needed materials to reduce the significant energy consumption resulting from heating our homes.

From the ammended application dated April 2 2012: Since the SPF grant was awarded, an integrated design team was formed, and following two team meetings in 2011, changes to the project plan have been recommended, mainly to include Phase 1 (building and operation audits) and Phase 2 (involvement of the McGill Community) together, which is why the Studio MMA Atelier d’architecture presented two options after their preliminary consultations (see Annex 1):