Membership Category
- Regular
Institution
- Université de Montréal - UdeM
Discipline(s)
- Physics
Expertises
- Numerical simulation methods
- Materials Science
- Molecular dynamics and simulation methods at the atomic level
- Energy resources
- Protein folding: thermodynamics
- Models and trajectories
- Biophysics and medical physics
- Scientific policies
- Nanostructured materials: fabrication and characterization
- Science and society
- Statistical mechanics
- Climate change policies
Biography
Normand Mousseau is Professor of Physics and Scientific Director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montréal. He holds a PhD from Michigan State University and has worked as a post-doctoral researcher at Oxford University in England and at the Université de Montréal. He was Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio University before joining the Université de Montréal in 2001. He held a Chair of Excellence from the NanoSciences Foundation from 2009 to 2012, and was a researcher or visiting professor at Delft Polytechnic in the Netherlands, Utrecht Universiteit, CEA, CNRS, Shanghai Fudan University and Université Pierre et Marie Curie. He was Scientific Director of Calcul Québec, Quebec's high-performance computing cluster, from 2010 to 2013.
The numerical methods he has developed, many of which are based on activation and relaxation techniques, are used worldwide to study the kinetics of complex materials. With his group and foreign collaborators, he continues to develop the new ART and ART kinetic methods.
A world-renowned researcher in complex materials and biophysics, with over 200 scientific papers to his credit, he also has a great passion for popularizing science. From September 2011 to April 2017, he produced and hosted "La Grande Équation" on Radio Ville-Marie, a scientific knowledge show available on iTunes U and online. He has published several mainstream books at the interface between science and society, including "How to get rid of type 2 diabetes without surgery or drugs", "Winning the climate war. Twelve myths to debunk" and "Pandemic. Quand la raison tombe malade", all published by Éditions du Boréal.
Since 2005, he has been closely following the issue of energy and natural resources. In addition to his many media appearances, he has published several books on the subject with MultiMondes, including "Au bout du pétrole, tout ce que vous devez savoir sur la crise énergétique", in 2008, and "La révolution des gaz de schiste", in 2010. His latest book, "Le défi des ressources minières" was published in autumn 2012. In 2013, he co-chaired the Commission sur les enjeux énergétiques du Québec, whose report, "Maîtriser notre avenir énergétique, pour le bénéfice économique, environnemental et social de tous", was made public at the end of February 2014.
Scientific Director of the Trottier Energy Institute since 2016, he helped create the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices and the Transition Accelerator. He also co-directs the Energy Modeling Initiative.
Affiliated research axes
Change and Transition Management
Planning Optimization
Resource and Product Maximization
Policy levers
Projects funded by the RRECQ
Analysis and optimization of networking and energy co-product recovery opportunities in Bécancour’s industrial park and port
Description
Bécancour’s industrial park and port are home to 11 industrial enterprises and more than 15 service companies. Collectively, they use a number of energy sources for their industrial processes and heating. Some also generate energy locally as a main product or co-product. It is possible to decarbonize this energy consumption through various circular economy strategies, including process optimization and the local reuse of waste heat, as well as the establishment of local energy co-product exchanges and joint infrastructures for co-product sharing.
Rooted in industrial ecology, the strategy involves the identification and implementation of industrial synergies within a park, territory or region to spark a culture of industrial by-product recovery, collaboration and resource sharing within industrial symbioses. The technical and economic analysis and eventual optimization of the options to implement the opportunities require a more comprehensive view of the networking possibilities for local stakeholders and a more local perspective to ensure stakeholders’ long-term participation. In the case of industrial synergies involving pooling or joint investments, the participation of all stakeholders is required.
The overarching objective is two-fold. The first is scientific and relates to the development of a mixed integer linear programming model to optimize the opportunities for synergies and industrial networking within an industrial park. The second is practical and relates to the realization of a technical and economic study of the opportunities to decarbonize the energy sources used in Bécancour’s industrial park and port.
Themes
- Eco-efficiency
- Economic feasibility
- Energy
- Industrial ecology
- Optimization