This summer, researchers from UPEI’s Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering provided an update to residents on efforts to bring Georgetown to Net Zero.
Dr. Kuljeet Grewal is the lead investigator on the project. He has been involved since day one, when plans for the Georgetown project began in October 2023.
Grewal said he is happy with how everything is going and says the work is relevant not just to Georgetown, but it is also relevant for the entire scientific community.
“We developed tools to process that data, predict insulation values and other energy modeling tasks. And then we coupled those findings with a geometric model to make a comprehensive energy model. We have successfully demonstrated our work on a calibrated environment for 71 buildings. The next step is to extend it to all Georgetown buildings.”
Grewal was also pleased with the real-world training his students are receiving and credited the community of Georgetown for assisting with the project. He said there was a sense co-creation building between residents and his team, on top of completing the technical work.
“We couldn't have done this without the community support. At the end of the day, we are engineers. We don't have any training around community-based engagement. So, it was a learning experience for me and for the students. They had the chance to interact with the community and learn more about the culture,” said Grewal.
“We are integrating data that was collected with the help of the community. Some of them even took our thermal cameras and did their own thermal imaging, to learn how their own energy usage is looking.”
At the event, residents packed the Kings Playhouse. They were welcome to see the proposed model in action, as well as ask whatever questions they had about the presentation.
Anne Van Donkersgood was one of the people who attended the event. She is a municipal counselor for the Town of Three Rivers.
Van Donkersgood said her interest in all things Three Rivers brought her to the meeting. Plus, she had never had a chance to attend anything on the Georgetown Net Zero project, so she wanted to see how progress was coming along.
“I think the gentlemen that are running this project have put a lot of work into it. They have a lot of data, and they're coordinating that data. And it's fascinating that you can know, hour by hour, how much energy a community needs.”
Van Donkersgood said the event reminded her of how some clean energy ideas have been floating around the Three Rivers area.
“Isn’t Georgetown fortunate to be the first net zero community, or working towards the first net zero community, in Prince Edward Island. That's a pretty amazing thing that they get to be part of, and that's really exciting for the whole town of Three Rivers,” she said.
Julien Bowron was another attendee of the town hall meeting. He owns a home in Georgetown during the summer months but lives in Toronto during the rest of the year.
Bowron said his connection to the meeting came from a strong interest in energy modelling and the load balancing of power grids. He was one of four people who asked questions.
“This work is the is the data you need in order to establish the baseline that would allow you to figure out what you would do to get to net zero. So, it’s vital,” said Bowron. “Without this research, there's no benchmark. You wouldn't know whether your energy performance is good or bad.”
Bowron believed the mission of the project was much larger than Georgetown. Instead, he thought similar research could be completed in a community of any size.
