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Your Path to a Career in Geothermal

Several Canadian universities are active with geothermal programs and research, development and innovation projects. Many of these programs are funded in part by Canadian federal grants through the National Science and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) in addition to university, provincial and territorial support. Beyond those listed below, several other Canadian universities and colleges offer undergraduate and/or graduate programs with options to pursue research within the geothermal energy field.

 

 

University of Alberta

Geothermal & Alternative Energy:

  • Research area in the Faculty of Science

  • Imaging, Characterizing and Modelling Canada’s geothermal resources

  • Fluid/Rock Interactions in Canada’s geothermal systems

  • Optimizing geothermal energy, production and utilization technology

  • Socio-economic roadmaps to commercial geothermal energy production in Western Canada

 

 

University of Calgary

Geothermal Energy Laboratory:

  • Multidisciplinary collaboration between members of the departments of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and Civil Engineering (Schulich School of Engineering), the Department of Geoscience (Faculty of Science), and the Faculty of Law

  • Thermal and Fluid Flows in Reservoirs

  • Drilling, Well Designs and Completions

  • Thermodynamics and Surface Facilities

  • Sustainability, Social License and Indigenous Perspectives

 

 

Institit national de la recherche scientifique

Geothermal Research Program:

  • Laboratoire ouvert de géothermie (LOG): open access laboratory

  • Geothermal Open Laboratory

  • Northern geothermal potential research chair

  • Aquifers: a natural infrastructure for energy-efficient cooling to fight the urban heat island

  • Geothermal resources and technologies for active and closed mines

  • Analysis of heat transfer processes in favorable geothermal environments

  • The Grenville Province of southern Quebec: geophysical interpretations and implications for deep geothermal and regional correlations

  • Geothermal potential of sedimentary basins

  • Geothermal heat pump systems to heat greenhouses

  • Underground energy storage: heat, compressed air and hydrogen

Master in Earth Sciences - Joint Program with INRS and Reykjavik University

  • Earth Science Master program with focus on renewables

 

 

Polytechnique Montreal

Recherche en Géothermie:

  • Focus on thermal response test interpretation, rapid and accurate simulation of ground coupled heat pump systems, and on the operation of standing column wells
    Research projects benefit from a large scale geothermal laboratory (4 HPs operated in cooling or heating, data acquisition system, etc.) and from a smaller thermal response test unit.

Chaire de Recherche en Géothermie:

  • Dedicated to the integration of standing column well in commercial and institutional buildings

Géothermie de Basse Température:

  • Graduate course that mixes notions of hydrogeology and geotherma

Geothermal and Hydrogeology Research Group

 

 

Concordia University

Sustainable Energy and Infrastructure Systems Engineering (SEISE) Lab:

  • Techno- economic feasibility analysis of geothermal systems

  • Environmental risk/impact assessment of borehole thermal energy storage (BTES)

  • Integration of geothermal energy into district heating systems

  • Reliability engineering for geothermal energy facilities management

  • Modeling, simulation, and optimization of hybrid renewable energy systems at building, district, and community scales

 

 

University of Waterloo

Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy

  • Tools for analyzing power flow of modern microgrids at various scales

  • Compressed air offers energy storage insights using steel cased wellbores or geostorage

  • Solutions for greener energy and potable water – distillation and compressed air storage

  • Integrating local community knowledge into transitions from fossil fuel to renewable energy systems

  • Geothermal energy systems for remote, isolated communities

  • Low grade heat scavenging, storage and utilization for power and district heating

  • New technology for massively reduced CO2 oil sands exploitation

  • Deep liquid and solid waste injection and energy harvesting

 

 

University of Manitoba

Geothermal Research Program

  • Focus thermal sustainability of shallow geothermal systems

  • Numerical analysis of thermal performance of unconventional geothermal systems

  • Geothermal systems for permafrost stabilization

  • Thermal, hydraulic, and (geo)chemical (THC) modeling to develop geothermal energy from evaporite formations

Earth Sciences Programs

 

 

Lakeland College

Geothermal and Geo-exchange Microcredential

Learn about geo-exchange and geothermal, and the integration of various systems for maximum energy efficiency. This microcredential includes 4 online courses and one optional hands-on lab. You could transfer up to 9 credits (3 courses) to the Sustainable Energy Technology program.

Courses:

  • RC 200 Basic Energy Principles - 8 weeks

  • RC 206 Geo Energy Exchange - Installation -  8 weeks

  • RC 322 Geo Energy Exchange - Design Principles - 8 weeks

  • QNRG 112 System Integration and Energy Exchange - 8 weeks

  • Optional QNRG 221 Operational Energy Exchange/Fusion training lab 

If you are looking to challenge the Earth Loop Technician certification exam, you can take additional preparation courses:

  • ELT Remediation (dates TBD)

  • ELT Maps (dates TBD)

  • ELT Regulations (dates TBD)