During a visit from a government and business delegation from Belgium, Newfoundland and Labrador signed a memorandum of understanding with the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
“Newfoundland and Labrador is on the frontier of a new global industry,” said Kieran Hanley, econext‘s CEO. “We have the clean energy resources to help our European allies decarbonize their economies, and agreements like this one help facilitate that trade relationship.”
Hon. Andrew Parsons (Minister of Industry, Energy, and Technology) and Mr. Tom Hautekiet (Chief Business Development and Transition Officer – POAB). Image courtesy of the Embassy of Belgium in Canada.
“There are six wind-to-hydrogen developments being pursued in our province totaling over 23GW,” said Hanley. “These projects are significant on a global scale and will position Newfoundland and Labrador as an international leader in hydrogen production.”
Hanley said that coordination is required between jurisdictions that can supply clean energy and those that will be customers for it. “Relationships like the one that we are seeing develop here are important for success.”
More information on NL’s clean energy industry can be found here.
econext is a not-for-profit association with a mission to accelerate clean growth in Newfoundland and Labrador by: stimulating research, development, and innovation; preparing its workforce for a greening economy; and acting as a catalyst for climate change action within its industries, businesses, and communities.
econext has been working for over 30 years on behalf of its members across many sectors to support environmentally sustainable economic development. More information can be found at https://econext.ca.
econext is calling for expressions of interest from graduate students and postdocs conducting relevant research that would be of interest to attendees of the econext’s 2024 Conference.
Participants will present their projects via posters. Please submit by email to Jenny Mallard, Green Career Development Coordinator with econext, at jenny@econext.ca. The deadline for submissions is Friday October 11th at 3:00 PM.
Between September 20-22, 2024, the third econext Clean Growth Ideathon took place at Memorial University’s St. John’s campus, challenging over 70 students to create the best solution for utilizing Newfoundland and Labrador’s organic waste to generate clean energy.
“We are seeing new opportunities emerge in our province for finding value in our organic waste streams,” said Alex Rumbolt, econext’s Business Sustainability Lead. “What we are sending to our landfills actually has value in helping support of energy systems. Our challenge to MUN students this weekend was to come up with the best, most promising idea to achieve this.”
The students, from various disciplines and levels of university education, formed 16 teams. Each team worked to develop their ideas and pitch them to a panel of expert judges. The students participated in workshop events throughout the weekend, in addition to ongoing mentorship opportunities to help teams build their ideas from the ground up. The top three teams earned a combined $6,000 in prizes for their innovative solutions.
“The energy and innovation displayed by the 70 plus students who attended the econext ideathon exceeded all expectations.” said Chelsea Linfield, Special Projects Coordinator with econext. “This next generation of leaders and thinkers gives us great hope for the future of our province, and we’re excited to see the impact they will have on the clean growth industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
First Place Winners
The first-place prize, sponsored by Hatch, was awarded to Team Chemisphere (William Church, Abdelrahman Mohamed, Mohammed Furqan and Farhan Turjo) who pitched utilizing waste water separation to produce both clean water and biogas capable of powering homes.
Second Place Winners
The second-place prize went to Team BiogeNL (Jake Clarke, Ethan Clarke,Ted Etchegary and Andrew Harris) who presented the idea of using small installable anaerobic digesters to collect organic food waste from residential and commercial locations to generate biogas.
Third-Place Winners
The third-place prize was presented to CleaNL (Asif Patel, Shuvas Khanal, Rajalakshmi Madhusudanan Nair and Mohammad Fahim Inteser Alam) who proposed using targeted collection zones to gather food waste from large commercial operations to process into biogas.
In addition to the first place prize sponsor, econext would like to thank its opening ceremonies sponsor, Entr part of Aker Solutions, and meal sponsors, takeCHARGE and the Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union.
The econext Ideathon was made possible through partnership with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable, and with support from the Government of Canada.
If you are interested in partnering on a future event, please contact Chelsea Linfield at chelsea@econext.ca or Alex Rumbolt at alex@econext.ca.
econext is an association that accelerates clean growth in Newfoundland and Labrador and works on behalf of over 200 members to foster environmentally sustainable economic development. More information can be found at https://econext.ca.
The Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization bringing together some of Canada’s largest companies and leading post-secondary institutions. Since 2015, BHER has worked to harness the strengths of Canada’s business and post-secondary education sectors to build opportunities for young Canadians, boost innovation and drive collaboration. Learn more at www.bher.ca. Visit our WIL Hub for ways to explore, invest in and create quality WIL opportunities.
ST. JOHN’S, NL – With support from the Department of Industry, Energy and Technology (IET), econext is facilitating the participation of businesses from Newfoundland and Labrador in the WindEnergy Hamburg conference and exhibition.
“There is over 23GW of wind-to-hydrogen production being pursued in Newfoundland and Labrador,” says Abbie Hodder, econext‘s Chief Operating Officer and Director for International Business. “This is attracting significant global interest to our province and presents enormous opportunity for our businesses to build new international partnerships.”
Many of the participating businesses are availing of matchmaking services which help them find those opportunities through a schedule of pre-qualified meetings.
“Newfoundland and Labrador is on the front lines of the world’s emerging hydrogen industry,” says Hodder. “Our clean electricity grid, availability of land and water, proximity to Europe, existing port infrastructure, and a ready supply chain and workforce that is accustomed to supporting mega projects – collectively have positioned us to be an international leader in this space.” This is the reason, said Hodder, behind close collaboration with countries like Germany whereas a Declaration of Intent was signed between Newfoundland and Labrador and the City of Hamburg in 2022 which shortly followed a visit from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Stephenville in 2022.
econext is partnering with Marine Renewables Canada on the trade mission. WindEnergy Hamburg is also an event which presents opportunities for SMEs in Atlantic Canada with oceans-based expertise to explore applications in the international offshore wind energy industry.
“Canadian businesses have strong capabilities in offshore wind, after decades of experience working in oil and gas and marine sectors that translate well to directly support offshore wind energy development,” said Amanda White, Operations Director at Marine Renewables Canada. “While Canada is in the early stages of establishing an offshore wind market, attending WindEnergy Hamburg presents an invaluable opportunity for Marine Renewables Canada and econext, along with our trade mission delegates, to gather information, make connections and hear lessons learned that can help accelerate the development of Canada’s clean energy sector.”
WindEnergy Hamburg is a world-class global trade fair dedicated to the growing wind energy sector. The event attracts more than 1,400 exhibitors showcasing the latest advancements and innovations in the wind energy industry. It also draws a diverse and international audience, with more than 35,000 attendees from over 100 countries. WindEnergy Hamburg is an optimal event for networking, getting market intelligence on the global wind sector, and identifying new business opportunities.
IET contributed $44,250 to support econext’s trade mission to WindEnergy Hamburg. More details about WindEnergy Hamburg can be found here.
econext is a not-for-profit association with a mission to accelerate clean growth in NL. econext has been working for over 30 years on behalf of its members across many sectors to support environmentally sustainable economic development. econext is a driver for clean growth innovation in the province, a coordinator of green workforce development, and a catalyst for net zero by 2050 planning within NL’s communities and industries. More information can be found at https://econext.ca.
Join us for econext’s 2024 Pre-Conference Social, in partnership with KBRS!
This in-person event will take place on Tuesday October 29th, 2024 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM at SláinteWhiskey and Wine, located at 115 Duckworth Street in St. John’s.
Connect with fellow professionals in the industry and enjoy a fun-filled evening of networking, drinks, and snacks. This is a great opportunity to mingle with fellow Conference attendees, expand your professional network, and catch up with the econext team.
Admission to this event is included with a registration to the 2024 econext Conference. We kindly ask that Conference attendees register as well – it only takes a minute!
Be sure to RSVP by 2:00 PM on Tuesday October 22nd. If you have any questions regarding the social, please contact Colin Heffernan via e-mail at heffernan@econext.ca, or by phone at (709) 979-0423.
Don’t miss out on this exciting event! Register now and secure your spot.
Waterford Energy Services Inc. (WESI) is a renewable and non-renewable energy consulting company whose objective is to assist clients achieve their objectives incident free. Safety, efficiency, reliability, lifestyle balance and protecting the environment is foremost in all that we do. Since our company’s inception in 2003, the focus has been to be recognized as a world leader in the design, planning and construction of petroleum wells as well as their associated systems.
The company focuses on technically challenging and unique projects such as those in harsh environments (ice, extreme weather) or deep water. Since 2020, WESI has expanded their area of expertise into the renewables sector, specifically with respect to offshore wind (floating and fixed-bottom), Hydrogen as a marine and remote location fuel, and port infrastructure readiness with a focus on Atlantic Canadian ports – how they can assist ongoing US eastern seaboard offshore wind projects and how they can be ready for a future Canadian offshore renewables industry.
WESI also provides professional engineering personnel services within our energy sector on a global level. This would include operational support, field technicians, professional engineers, geologists and environmental/regulatory advisory services.
Maderra is a St. John’s, NL-owned and operated professional company with a comprehensive suite of services and solutions:
Engineering & Project Management
Recruitment & Staffing
Battery Energy Storage Solutions
Founded in 2007 by a team of local engineers, Maderra has a multi-discipline team offering a diverse set of Engineering, Design, and Technical Services across multiple sectors, including:
Utilities
Renewable-Clean Energy
Process Automation & Controls
Oil & Gas / Subsea
Industrial & Processing Facilities
Marine Infrastructure
Building Infrastructure
Since 2007 Maderra has completed over 1000 projects to over 100 Clients from a broad range of facilities and sectors.
International Education Newfoundland and Labrador (IENL) is industry association advancing international education in the Province. Since 2012, International Education Newfoundland and Labrador (IENL) has acted informally as the network for communication and activities on behalf of Newfoundland and Labrador’s international education and training sector.
The purpose of IENL is to support the international education activities of stakeholder institutions and organizations in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, providing a forum for members of the international education industry to engage in the exchange of information, to advance common goals, and to collaborate on international education and business development initiatives. IENL membership includes representation by the education sector in the province, both public and private, and at all levels, K-12, language, college and university.
econext staff Alex Rumbolt, Colin Heffernan, Audrey Parnell and Chelsea Linfield pictured from left to right with collected electronics.
September 4, 2024
In an effort to reduce waste, econext hosted an Electronics Recycling Day event in partnership with the Electronic Products Recycling Association (EPRA) and Computers for Schools (CFS) on August 29, 2024. The event, which saw active participation from econext members and the local community, culminated in the collection and proper disposal of 750 kilograms of end-of-life electronics. econext is thankful for the support of EPRA, Sobeys, Scotia Recycling and Computers in Schools in helping this event succeed.
This initiative underscores econext‘s commitment to environmental sustainability by tackling the growing issue of end-of-life electronics, which poses significant environmental hazards when not disposed of correctly. econext‘s members, who enthusiastically supported the event, brought in a wide array of obsolete electronics, from outdated monitors to old mobile devices, ensuring that these items did not end up in landfills.
A bin full of collected end-of-life electronics.
A Community Effort
“The goal of this event for econext is to divert end-of-life electronics from our landfills here in the province,” said Colin Heffernan, manager of Industry and Community Engagement at econext. “There is a wide range of electronics – Laptops, computers, TV’s, monitors, cords, and more – that can be collected, processed, and deconstructed so that useful components can be reused, or repurposed.”
The event highlighted the importance of responsible waste management, providing a convenient opportunity for individuals to dispose of their unwanted electronics. By properly recycling these materials, harmful substances are kept out of the environment, and valuable materials such as copper and gold can be reclaimed and reused.
As part of the partnership, and in recognition of econext‘s efforts in putting off this event, EPRA has committed to making a donation of $1000 to the Single Parents Association of NL on behalf of econext, Sobeys and Computers for Schools.
econext staff Colin Heffernan helping to collect end of life electronics.
What Can You Do With Your End-of-Life Electronics?
For those who missed the event, there are still plenty of ways to responsibly dispose of your electronics. Organizations like econext member Electronic Products Recycling Association offer drop-off locations across the country, ensuring that end-of-life electronics are handled in a safe, secure and environmentally responsible manner.
Additionally, initiatives such as Computers for Schools allow for the donation of old, but still functional, computers and peripherals. These items are refurbished and distributed to schools, libraries, and non-profits, extending their lifespan and reducing the amount of computers headed to landfills.
econext is an association that accelerates clean growth in Newfoundland and Labrador and works on behalf of over 200 members to foster environmentally sustainable economic development. More information can be found at https://econext.ca.
