International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Defence scientist working on collaborative green energy research projects

February 7, 2023 - Defence Stories

The United Nations declared February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in 2016 to encourage gender equality in science. This year, the international campaign is focusing on the role of women in advancing sustainable development goals including affordable and clean energy.

That’s familiar territory for Dr. Gisele Amow, a defence scientist with the Department of National Defence (DND)’s science and technology organization, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).

Dr. Amow leads multiple research projects that target greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions for DND and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) assets. This includes four collaborative research projects, funded by DRDC and the Greening Government Fund, which provides project funding to federal government departments and agencies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their operations.

• The Advanced Microgrids towards Arctic Zero Emissions (AMAZE) project aims to reduce GHGs at defence buildings in Canada’s Arctic including North Warning Sites. The project is examining multiple innovative solutions to reduce fuel dependency and conserve energy, which has a multiplying effect as it also reduces the amount of fuel that needs to be flown into the Arctic. The AMAZE project collaborators include DND’s Infrastructure and Environment group and Materiel group, North Warning System Office, Natural Resources Canada CanmetENERGY and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).
• DND’s Low Emissions Aircraft Platforms (LEAP) project is assessing the feasibility of applying hybrid electric, electric and hydrogen propulsion technologies to the Royal Canadian Air Force National Safety and Security air fleet and Transport Canada administrative air fleet. The LEAP project team includes the Royal Canadian Air Force, DND’s Materiel group and the NRC’s Aerospace Research Centre.
• The Ship Platform Exploitation of Energy Data (SPEED) initiative will provide a better understanding of how energy is used by Royal Canadian Navy ships in their different operational tasks. The energy-use data is being used to develop ship energy models that simulate electrical, heating and cooling loads, as well as the overall vessel energy consumption during different uses. The SPEED project team includes DND’s Materiel group, the Royal Canadian Navy, Natural Resources Canada and the NRC’s Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering Research Centre.
• The Naval Electric Ship Technologies (NEST) project is assessing the feasibility of hybrid and/or all‐electric solutions for Royal Canadian Navy ships. The goal is to reduce GHG‐emissions from ship platforms and operations toward 2050 net‐zero targets while ensuring operational capability is maintained. The NEST project involves the same collaborators as the SPEED initiative.

“Science and technology is key to helping DND/CAF to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency of operations and integrate clean energy solutions into existing platforms while ensuring operational capability is maintained,” Dr. Amow says. “Given the broad complexities of military platforms and operations, particularly in view of a changing climate, science and technology approaches must encompass a broad range of expertise and collaboration to ensure project objectives are met.”

Dr. Amow works in the power and energy group at DRDC Atlantic Research Centre, which provides advice in the domain of supplying power and energy across a wide range of defence applications, including soldier systems, fixed infrastructure, deployed camps, Arctic and naval platforms, energy storage, modelling and simulation and energy storage, and renewable energy technologies.

Research into energy, security and climate change supports building leaner capabilities able to deploy rapidly across multiple domains in response to global trends under the Institution strategic focus area of the Defence and Security Science and Technology program. It supports DND’s Defence Energy and Environment Strategy.

Related links

• Greening Government Fund
• Defence Energy and Environment Strategy
• Defence Research and Development Canada
• International Day of Women and Girls in Science (you are now leaving the Government of Canada website)
• Institution strategic focus area in the Defence and Security Science and Technology program
• Advanced Microgrids towards Arctic Zero Emissions (AMAZE) project
• National Research Council Canada