Ian Graham - Business Consultant
Talk Title: GeoThermal Energy
September 12, 2024
Ian is a former banking IT technology and business consultant, who retired from BMO Financial Group in 2016.
Prior to BMO he had many previous roles: as an educational technology consultant at the University of Toronto; an Internet business consultant/advisor (back when this was a thing); a technical book writer (Web and Internet application design); an unsuccessful startup founder; and as a physics researcher in condensed matter theory (he has a PhD in physics from McGill University).
Ian is currently the Board Chair of Academics without Borders (HYPERLINK "https://awb-usf.org/"https://awb-usf.org), a Canadian nonprofit that helps universities in low and middle income countries improve their institutional capacity, particularly in teaching, learning and research. He also works part-time with the Cascade Institute (HYPERLINK "https://cascadeinstitute.org/"https://cascadeinstitute.org), a Canadian research centre that "addresses urgent and entangled global problems." His initial focus there was on geothermal energy systems (from whence comes the work discussed in today's talk).
The past decade has seen an emerging shift in electrical power production towards renewable 'green' technologies such as solar and wind. But there are many other renewable energy options - including geothermal, which leverages thermal energy from deep inside the earth.
Ian Graham gave us an interesting presentation on geothermal energy. He described what geothermal energy is; how it can be used, how it can be accessed, along with the problems, challenges, costs, technologies for extraction and use, and usability issues.
He described where geothermal energy can be accessed relatively cost-effectively, geological factors, drilling and distribution issues, and possible future developments.
His presentation was clear, concise, and was well illustrated with slides. He fielded many interesting and pertinent questions from the members throughout his presentation.
He was introduced by Alan Woolfrey and thanked by Paul Moore.
He was a shining example of what we hope for in having a speaker at our general meetings: hearing more about an aspect of the world and life and what its all about, in a clear, informative and entertaining manner.
Paul Moore