Published on February 04, 2025
NAIT Applied Research partners with Lakeland College for a safer, stronger bison industry
We are experts in
Sensor Integration
From system/sensor integration, automation, and data acquisition
Did you know?
Bison are big business
~$90M CAD in exports in 2021
Bison, as a matter of best practice, are beasts best avoided. While the average mature cow weighs about 1,100 pounds, a bison bull approaches 2,000. Despite that mass, they’re fast, clocking in at nearly 50 kph when motivated. Caution and respect – at a distance – are key.
Just the same, bison are big business in Alberta. The province is home to almost half of Canada’s bison farms, and hosts 44% of the total massive, woolly headcount. With healthy animals and growing demand for the lean, nutritious meat, the venture can be profitable.
But how do you ensure the health and growth of an animal that you shouldn’t get too close to, and that will likely avoid you anyway, by wandering the far reaches of the range? The answer may lie in novel technology that has emerged from a partnership between Lakeland College and NAIT Applied Research.
Read the full article at TechLifeToday
NAIT Applied Research investigates new paths to forest reclamation
We are experts in
Land Reclamation
Reclaiming and Remediating land that has been affected by commercial activities
We work with industries
$1.5M in Support
From ConocoPhillips Canada to optimize methods of restoring land to its former state
What should a forest do?
In many cases in Alberta, the answer is that it should do everything it did before it supported industrial activities. That is, an intact forest should provide wildlife habitat, sequester carbon, purify water, and more. Once resource extraction is over, the Alberta Energy Regulator says it expects that companies have a plan to "return the land back to how it looked and how it was used (or similarly) before development took place," allowing it to resume its own natural, day-to-day operations.
Based in NAIT Applied Research's Centre for Boreal Research near Peace River, Dr. Amanda Schoonmaker is dedicated to ensuring the success of that reclamation process.
Read the full article at TechLifeToday
Indigenous communities lead local environmental monitoring projects with NAIT Applied Research’s help
We are experts in
Environmental Monitoring
Air, Soil, Water. Whatever our partners tell us they need
We work with communities
Over 35 Indigenous Nations
We walk with our Indigenous partners to help them answer their research questions
Growing up in Peavine Métis settlement, 56 kilometres north of High Prairie, Lynn Smith and her friends could drink directly from the crisp, clean streams and creeks that criss-crossed the boreal forest. “There was never an issue with it,” she says.
Three decades later, the picture has grown murky.
“Those same creeks and streams either don't exist or they're smelly or their colour is all wrong,” says Smith, now regional planning coordinator with the Peavine consultation department. Residents stick to tap water, processed by the technician at the local treatment plant. “He’s a miracle worker,” says Smith.
What has also changed over the years is Peavine’s economic circumstances. Mainly, the settlement sits on heavy oil deposits that have attracted industry. Like any development, extraction of oil changes the land. While Smith had seen and smelled as much, she’d had no way to quantify it – until she met a NAIT staff member at a public advisory meeting held in the community by a forestry company, sparking an idea for Smith.
“I guess that's where this whole project was born,” she says.
In partnership with researchers at NAIT Applied Research, a new project focused on land stewardship may prove essential in striking the balance between growth and sustainability.
Read the full article at TechLifeToday
NAIT Applied Research partners with startup to develop industrial batteries that use saltwater
We are experts in
Cleaner Energy
We work with our partners to improve processes and increase environmental sustainability
We helped develop AquaCell Energy's
Salt-water Flow Battery
A potential cheap and sustainable solution to energy storage with just water and salt
You’d be forgiven for walking into Keith Cleland’s space at NAIT’s Applied Research and having no idea what it is that he and his company, Aqua-Cell Energy, have built.
To the untrained eye, the device is an indecipherable collection of hoses, valves, gauges, small plastic tanks and, anchoring it all, what resembles an undersized gurney surfaced with a thick blue metal plate. A “high-voltage” sticker on it adds a sense of danger to mystery.
But that sticker also hints at the machine’s purpose. Since arriving at NAIT Applied Research around the middle of 2023, Aqua-Cell has been driven by primarily one goal: to harness the power of renewable energy. But just as its battery runs counter to expectations, the company intends to do that harnessing in a uniquely sustainable way.
Hence the hoses and tanks. Aqua-Cell’s battery – big enough to provide power at an industrial scale – runs on inexpensive, safe and readily available saltwater. That leads naturally into Aqua-Cell’s other, loftier goal.
“We would like to be a key part of the clean-energy transition,” says Cleland.
Read the full article at TechLifeToday
Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation to tackle the challenge of recycling drink pouches with NAIT Applied Research.
We are experts in
Circular Economies
We aim to reduce waste, create new products, and contribute to the economy
We work with industries
$300K of Support
From our Partner: Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corp.
In 2023, Albertans sipped their way through nearly 15 million small, single-serving drink containers made of a tricky mix of materials like aluminum, plastic, and paper. Recycling them alone can be challenging, but together, they pose a serious threat to the environment. The layers are tightly bonded, making separation and true recycling a challenge. For now, many of these pouches avoid the landfill by heading to incineration, but that’s hardly a sustainable solution.
This is where the Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation (ABCRC) and NAIT Applied Research collaboration comes in. Together, NAIT Applied Research and ABCRC are taking on the challenge by using cutting-edge research to crack the code of separating and recycling these stubborn materials. The goal? A game-changing solution that drives Alberta’s circular economy forward.
Read the full article at TechLifeToday
Research that delivers: 5 Applied Research Stories that made a positive change in 2024
A round-up of the top 5 stories from 2024 with NAIT Applied Research
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