Trent’s own Dr. Ian Power is Canada’s first ever Canada Research Chair in Environmental Geosciences. With a title like that, you’d be correct in assuming his research interests involve solving environmental challenges, such as rising greenhouse gas emissions.
Through the Canada Research Chair program, Prof. Power and his group at the Power Environmental Geoscience Laboratory (the PowerGeolab) at Trent’s School of Environment have been funded to conduct field and laboratory studies and pilot experiments on ways to store carbon dioxide in natural and mining environments.
“Essentially, we’re looking at how we can use rocks and minerals that naturally and spontaneously react with carbon dioxide and trap greenhouse gases in a mineral form,” says Prof. Power. Along the way, he and his group are working closely with the mining industry on ways to deploy the different technologies they develop.
The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) will require a doubling of mining activity over the next 50 years to produce the raw materials like nickel needed for EV batteries. How does the mining sector – not exactly known for being clean and green – increase production while reducing its carbon footprint?
Here’s where Prof. Power’s research comes into play. “The rock that has been mined for nickel and chromium can react with carbon dioxide and remove it from the atmosphere,” he says. At a time when the impacts of climate change are becoming more evident, this emerging field of geosciences is ripe for scientific inquiry and technological advances. And thanks to Prof. Power’s establishment of PowerGeolab, both graduate and undergraduate Trent students have opportunities to participate in his ground-breaking research.
