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Climate change is a growing concern across the globe, and the Provincial Government of Ontario recognizes that climate change impacts need to be considered in all decision-making. In Southern Ontario, a critical and ongoing challenge is balancing the competing water demands under changing climate for various uses to ensure prosperity and sustainability in the future. A better understanding and quantification of impacts of possible climate change on regional hydrology are necessary for sustainable water resources management and maintaining healthy ecosystems in this region. In order to study the impacts of future climate on the regional water resources, a large-scale hydrologic model was developed for Southern Ontario within the Great Lakes basin using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The study area includes four basins: Eastern Georgian Bay, Eastern Lake Huron, Northern Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario and Niagara Peninsula basins, covering a total area of about 84,650 km2. The hydrologic model was calibrated and validated using monthly observed streamflow data at 40 gauging stations, and spatially validated at another 40 gauging stations across the study area. The developed model was employed to estimate water budget components for a reference period (1971-2000), and to assess climate change impacts on the hydrologic regime during the mid-century (2041-2070) and the end-century (2071-2100). Projected climate data from five GCM-RCMs simulations for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were obtained from the NA-CORDEX archive. After bias correction, climate data sets were used in the SWAT model for the impact assessment. Based on the model calibration and validation results, the overall performance of the model was found to be satisfactory. Its performance was better in the predominantly agricultural Northern Lake Erie and Eastern Lake Huron basins than the other two basins. The average annual precipitation, evapotranspiration (ET), surface runoff and water yields for the study area over the period 1971-2000 were estimated at 979 mm, 540 mm, 183 mm and 410 mm, respectively. The average annual precipitation in the four basins varied from 923 mm to 1049 mm, and water yields were found to vary between 377 mm and 465 mm. The projected increases in mean annual temperature are 3.0oC and 2.4oC by the mid-century, while the increases are 5.2oC and 3.2oC by the end-century for RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios, respectively. The average annual precipitation of the study area is projected to increase by 8% to 16%, depending on the scenario and time period. The possible increases in precipitation are relatively high for the RCP8.5 scenario and likely to vary between 13% and 18% in the four basins by the end of the 21st century. By the mid-century, the average annual water yields in the four basins are predicted to increase by 7% to 20%, and 5% to 13% under RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios, respectively. By the end-century, the projected increases in the annual water yields of the basins are 5% to 26% for RCP8.5 scenario and 3% to 11% for RCP4.5 scenario. In general, the average monthly water yield in the study area is likely to increase during December to February, but decrease in the months of March and April. The results are also presented spatially for the subwatersheds across the study area. The study results would help in planning and management of water resources, and in developing climate change adaptation plans and strategies.

There is a significant need to research and develop a compatible controller for the DC–DC converter used in fuel cells electric vehicles (EVs). Research has shown that fuel cells (FC) EVs have the potential of providing a far more promising performance in comparison to conventional combustion engine vehicles. This study aims to present a universal sliding mode control (SMC) technique to control the DC bus voltage under varying load conditions. Additionally, this research will utilize improved DC–DC converter topologies to boost the output voltage of the FCs. A DC–DC converter with a properly incorporated control scheme can be utilized to regulate the DC bus voltage–. A conventional linear controller, like a PID controller, is not suitable to be used as a controller to regulate the output voltage in the proposed application. This is due to the nonlinearity of the converter. Furthermore, this thesis will explore the use of a secondary power source which will be utilized during the start–up and transient condition of the FCEV. However, in this instance, a simple boost converter can be used as a reference to step–up the fuel cell output voltage. In terms of application, an FCEV requires stepping –up of the voltage through the use of a high power DC–DC converter or chopper. A control scheme must be developed to adjust the DC bus or load voltage to meet the vehicle requirements as well as to improve the overall efficiency of the FCEV. A simple SMC structure can be utilized to handle these issues and stabilize the output voltage of the DC–DC converter to maintain and establish a constant DC–link voltage during the load variations. To address the aforementioned issues, this thesis presents a sliding mode control technique to control the DC bus voltage under varying load conditions using improved DC–DC converter topologies to boost and stabilize the output voltage of the FCs.

The overarching objective of the Glasgow Climate Pact, a bold and ambitious undertaking, is to lay the groundwork for all the world’s economies, without exception, to decisively and irreversibly achieve the remarkable feat of hitting the net zero greenhouse gas emissions mark by the year 2050. The rationale behind this audacious goal is to arrest and neutralize the increasingly dire, ominous and pervasive impact of global warming on a planetary scale, and ensure that the rise in temperatures does not exceed the precarious 1.5◦ Celsius threshold above pre industrial levels. As such, it becomes crystal clear that it is a matter of utmost urgency that we, as a collective, wholeheartedly embrace and fervently pursue the adoption of green energy technologies, in all their multifarious and sundry forms, to enable us to inexorably advance to wards a state of civilization that leaves no carbon footprint, net or otherwise. However, this formidable challenge can only be surmounted through the vigorous and concerted efforts of the scientific and engi neering communities, who must endeavor to both invent and engineer innovative, cutting-edge low- or zero-carbon energy technologies, while also seeking to optimize and augment the efficiency and efficacy of our current energy systems, all while being mindful of the imperative to optimize cost-effectiveness in the process.

Development of energy codes requires an appropriate building stock representation. To this end, information available within municipal construction permit records (e.g., dwelling type, floor and footprint area, foundation type, number of above-grade storeys, availability of an attached garage, and number of bedrooms) represents an untapped opportunity. However, these records are often stored in a semi-structured fashion with relevant information scattered within free-form text description fields, which necessitates text analytics. This paper introduces a text analytics-based method, employing the association rule mining, for information retrieval from permit records to support building stock modelling process; and the method is demonstrated with permit records from small residential buildings in seven major Canadian cities comprising over 240,000 unique entries. The analysis highlights that detached housing is the most common housing type and the average dwelling floor area was between 174 and 266 m². Each permit record is associated with existing Canadian housing archetypes. It is found that mid-to-large-size detached archetypes are more common than smaller row or semi-detached archetypes. A building performance simulation-based investigation revealed that assuming an equal weight for each archetype, instead of using the distributions identified from the permit records, causes an underestimation of the housing stock's energy use by 36%.

A mixed conductive garnet/Li interface consisting of electronic conductive nanoparticles embedded in an ionic conductive network is constructed for dendrite-free solid garnet batteries.

The wind loading provisions in the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) have not been updated for decades despite developments in wind tunnel methods since the original source data. This study aims to review the NBCC 2020 provisions compared to wind tunnel experiments, field measurements, and the ASCE 7-22 provisions for single and multi-span gable roof buildings. Field measurements and wind tunnel tests are used to collect data: both for isolated building the later for multi-span gable. The wind turbulence and surface pressure measurements from the field agrees well with that of the wind tunnel experiments. The results provided evidence that NBCC provisions for single-gabled roofs (with slope 7°<α≤27°) and multi-span gabled roofs (with slope 10°<α≤30°) are currently underestimated. New provisions are suggested for the three roof zones (Zones c, s, and r) of the single-span gabled roof and for Zone s’ of the multi-span. It is suggested to merge Zone s into Zone c to form a new Zone p for the single gabled roof and to merge Zone s’ into Zone c for the multi-span gabled roof. The proposed changes correct the current provision underestimation and add simplicity for easier construction.