Federal government invests $75M in U of C carbon reduction research

The federal government announced $75 million in funding for the University of Calgary on Tuesday, meantto go towards reducing the carbon footprint of unconventional oil and gas operations, includingthe oilsands and fracking.

It's part of a $1.5 billionbonanza for post-secondary institutions across the country aimed at supporting their research strengths. On Tuesday, $900 million was doled out to various schools.

"We want to make the most of Canada's scientific and research strengths, to invest in the areas where we really have the potential to dominate on the world stage," said Kent Hehr, Calgary Centre MP and the minister of Veteran Affairs.

Reducing or eliminating emissions

The U of C money will be used to develop more efficient ways of getting oil and gas out of the ground, including reducing the energy and water used to extract oil, and reducing the scale of developments required for a single tightreservoir.

Also on the table is improving the efficiency ofcarbon capture and conversionas opposed to storage, that aims to lock CO2 away, and eliminating the release of CO2 altogether by developing new means of extracting energy from carbon fuels.

"Research conducted here will help ensure the development and use of these resources can be done in support of Canada's environmental goals," Hehr said to the crowd gathered at the U of C.

'This is game changing'

Steven Bryant, the Canada Excellence Research chair in materials engineering for unconventional oil reservoirs, thinks it's important to reduce the environmental impact of oil and gas as "that oil is still needed for a while."

"This is huge. This is game changing. It allows us to do the kind of innovation with different branches of science all brought together to answer the big questions that we need to be answering for this low carbon transition," he said.

"To have the opportunity to do science to address the big challenges is the kind of things academics long for. This is a huge opportunity."

The U of C teamwill be working with partners in Mexico, China and Israel on the research.

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