CANMET Energy Technology Centre-Varennes (CETC-Varennes) designs and implements technological solutions, and disseminates knowledge in order to produce and use energy in ways that are more efficient and sustainable, to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and to improve innovation capabilities of targeted sectors of the Canadian economy.
CETC-Varennes assists businesses and organizations to improve their competitive position and meet their energy-efficiency and environmental goals. The Centre serves a broadly based clientele, including energy and manufacturing industries, consulting engineers and public utilities.
The Centre also serves technology users and the manufacturers that commercialize them. It has clients in most industries, particularly the pulp and paper, textile, wood processing, chemical, heating and ventilation, refrigeration and alternative energy source sectors.
The Centre's areas of activity are industry, buildings and renewable energy. The Centre also develops and implements process integration methods that help reduce energy and water consumption and effluent releases in industrial processes. In addition, the Centre develops industrial drying technologies and provides industrial users with information to help them improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their drying operations. CETC-Varennes' work in the building sector is firstly intelligent buildings. The areas of application are a better operation of the electromechanical systems in the commercial, institutional and government buildings. The Centre also develops refrigeration technologies and ensures their transfer in order to increase the energy efficiency of systems and reduce the environmental impact of refrigerants. Its target clients for these applications are arenas and supermarkets. In the field of renewable energy, activities are focused on developing and deploying tools for assessing the potential and cost of various options. The CETC-Varennes is also responsible for the Canadian program for developing and deploying solar energy technologies (photovoltaics).
Fee Structure
Fees are normally charged for the services and technologies. Contact the Centre for details on their fee structure.
Inquiries
The service providers will endeavour to provide a timely response to all inquiries.
CETC-Varennes concentrates its activities in the following areas:
Industrial System Optimization
The purpose of this program is to develop and disseminate methodologies, tools and technologies that aim at optimizing industrial processes through the optimal use of resources, mainly energy, water and hydrogen that will contribute to:
These activities aim at enhancing the energy performance of existing equipment, such as dryers, or the optimization of energy, water, or hydrogen consumption over an entire industrial site through the use of process integration techniques such as pinch and exergy analysis. The main activities that are ongoing or in development include:
Undertaking this program requires the collaboration of multiple partners, including universities, research centres, consultants and manufacturers that work with the more energy-intensive industrial sectors in Canada.
Areas of Expertise
Refrigeration Technologies
The Refrigeration Technologies group studies and examines advanced refrigeration and air conditioning technologies. It targets supermarkets, arenas and curling rinks. The group focuses on:
Areas of Expertise
Intelligent Buildings
In this area, our research team is applying modern control techniques as well as artificial intelligence tools to solve the problem of properly commissioning and recommissioning of the electromechanical systems of commercial-size and institutional buildings. The whole spectrum of problems is covered, from fault detection and diagnosis at the HVAC components level (i.e. chillers) to optimized operation of the whole building. Enabling tools such as a computer-based BES (Building Emulator System) have been put together to help building operators and control systems manufacturers speed up the solution to their development, optimization and operator training problems.
Areas of Expertise
Renewable Energy
The Renewable Energy Team stimulates the adoption of renewable energy technologies so they become a preferred option in terms of reliability, affordability and environmental friendliness. The team's mandate is threefold: support the development and use of photovoltaic (PV) energy in Canada, facilitate renewable energy capacity-building, and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The chief objective of the PV program is to help develop and apply photovoltaic solar energy technologies in Canadian and foreign markets. The goal of the Renewable Energy Capacity-Building Program is to promote renewable energy systems in Canada and abroad by building the industry's capacities to implement projects successfully. The program's three components are: creating knowledge, transferring knowledge and providing project implementation support. One tool developed by the Centre is the RETScreen renewable energy project analysis software, which is available free of charge on the Internet. The software is used to assess energy production, the life cycle cost and GHG emission reductions for various renewable energy technologies.
Areas of Expertise
New Brunswick Contact(s):
See National Contact.