Research
Understanding and shaping the energy transition
Canada, like the rest of the world, is responding to the threat of climate change by accelerating efforts to transform its energy systems to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Given the current dominance of fossil fuels in existing energy systems, this transformation requires both the construction of a significant new energy infrastructure, but also the contraction of current infrastructure at a pace and scale not seen before. As an energy exporting economy, Alberta and Canada will be impacted by this transition through both changes to the local energy system, but also changing global demand for energy, including the reversal of a 200+ year trend of increasing global demand for fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas.
The “mid transition” describes the period in this transition where both legacy fossil carbon-emitting systems and zero-carbon systems exist at sufficient scale to impose material constraints on each other. It is influenced by both the technical constraints of energy systems but also the societal context in which the transition is taking place. The impacts of these constraints represent a real risk to the successful decarbonization of the energy system, the preservation of high-quality energy services during the transition, and the ability for such a transition to preserve or improve equality.
Our work is focused on improving the analytical understanding of the mid-transition, and better integrating the societal context into energy system models through a transdisciplinary approach. It is motivated by the goal to enable an improved understanding of the mid-transition, to inform and improve policy design for deep decarbonization with a focus on Alberta and the broader Canadian economic challenge, with global relevance.
Publications
Peer reviewed publications
For the most up to date list of publications, see the google scholar record
Blue vs. Green: A comparative analysis of ammonia production and export in Western Canada and Australia; J Palandri, H Rahmanifard, D Layzell, S Hastings-Simon. Renewable Energy, 2025
Sufficiency of level 1 charging to meet electric vehicle charging requirements; A Fried, B Shaffer, S Hastings-Simon. Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, 2024.
Projecting demand for mineral-based critical materials in the energy transition for electricity; G Collins, CA Dahl, M Fleming, M Tanner, WC Martin, K Nadkarni, S Hastings-Simon, M Bazilian. Mineral Economics, 2024.
The mid-transition in the electricity sector: impacts of growing wind and solar electricity on generation costs and natural gas generation in Alberta; KME Pearson, S Hastings-Simon. Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, 2023.
Mission impossible: The influence of incumbent industries on mission-oriented innovation policy targeting carbon lock-in; S Hastings-Simon, E Tretter. The School of Public Policy Publications, 2023.
Alberta's Renewable Electricity Program: Design, results, and lessons learned; S Hastings-Simon, A Leach, B Shaffer, T Weis. Energy Policy 171, 113266, 2022.
Pipeline Availability Limits on the Feasibility of Global Coal-to-Gas Switching in the Power Sector; S Yang, S Hastings-Simon, AP Ravikumar. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022, 56, 20, 14734–14742.
Global liquefied natural gas expansion exceeds demand for coal-to-gas switching in Paris compliant pathways; S Yang, S Hastings-Simon, AP Ravikumar. Environmental Research Letters, 2022.
Designing the mid‐transition: A review of medium‐term challenges for coordinated decarbonization in the United States. E Grubert, S Hastings‐Simon Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, e768, 2022.
Industrial Policy in Alberta: Lessons from AOSTRA; SR Hastings-Simon. The School of Public Policy Publications, 2019.
Can the Oil and Gas Sector Enable Geothermal Technologies? Socio-Technical Opportunities and Complementarity Failures in Alberta, Canada; B Haley, A Leitch, SR Hastings-Simon, Energy Policy, 125, 384-395, 2019.
State preparation by optical pumping in erbium-doped solids using stimulated emission and spin mixing; B Lauritzen, SR Hastings-Simon, H De Riedmatten, M Afzelius, N Gisin, Physical Review A 78 (4), 043402, 2008.
Zeeman-level lifetimes in Er 3+: Y 2 SiO 5; SR Hastings-Simon, B Lauritzen, MU Staudt, JLM van Mechelen, C Simon, Hugues De Riedmatten, Mikael Afzelius, Nicolas Gisin, Physical Review B 78 (8), 085410, 2008.
Spectral hole-burning spectroscopy in Nd 3+:YVO4; SR Hastings-Simon, M Afzelius, J Minar, MU Staudt, B Lauritzen, H de Riedmatten, N Gisin, A Amari, A Walther, S Kröll, E Cavalli, M Bettinelli, Physics Review B 77 (12), 125111, 2008.
Interference of multimode photon echoes generated in spatially separated solid-state atomic ensembles; MU Staudt, M Afzelius, H De Riedmatten, SR Hastings-Simon, C Simon, R Ricken, H Suche, W Sohler, N Gisin, Physical review letters 99 (17), 173602, 2007.
Fidelity of an optical memory based on stimulated photon echoes; MU Staudt, SR Hastings-Simon, M Nilsson, M Afzelius, V Scarani, R Ricken, H Suche, W Sohler, W Tittel, Nicolas Gisin, Physical review letters 98 (11), 113601, 2007.
Controlled Stark shifts in Er 3+ doped crystalline and amorphous waveguides for quantum state storage; SR Hastings-Simon, MU Staudt, M Afzelius, P Baldi, D Jaccard, W Tittel, N Gisin, Optics communications 266 (2), 716-719, 2006.
Investigations of optical coherence properties in an erbium-doped silicate fiber for quantum state storage;MU Staudt, SR Hastings-Simon, M Afzelius, D Jaccard, W Tittel, N Gisin, Optics communications 266 (2), 720-726, 2006.
Ultrafast optical response of a high-reflectivity GaAs∕ AlAs Bragg mirror; SR Hastings, MJA de Dood, H Kim, W Marshall, HS Eisenberg, D Bouwmeester, Applied Physics Letters 86 (3), 031109, 2005.
Papers/projects in progress