It was during his undergrad years in Edinburgh that Oliver Fernie set his sights on finding solutions to the global warming crisis. Growing up in the town of Glenrothes, Scotland, a few kilometres inland from St. Andrews, summers had begun to feel considerably warmer than when he was growing up. Winters as well were becoming less and less snowy.
Fernie recalls asking himself: “Can I do something to make it less bad? What’s the biggest difference I could make? If I have one punch to throw at this problem, where would I throw it for maximum impact? I’ve got one life and one career I could spend on this.”
He sought the advice of his engineering professor at Edinburgh Napier University, Stathis Tingas. Tingas had met McGill’s Jeff Bergthorson at a conference, and recommended Fernie look into his research.
“I looked up ‘Jeff Bergthorson Metal Fuels McGill’ and I thought that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Fernie said. After an email exchange and a quick chat, Fernie applied. “I was jumping in the air when I got in,” he said.
Fernie admits it took more than a moment to adjust to his new life at McGill. Having come from a family whose members did not attend university, he said it was a bit of a shock at the beginning, but very quickly smoothed out.
“I’ve made incredible connections here,” Fernie said. “Everyone has been extremely welcoming.”
His experience in high school may have also influenced his initial sense of displacement. He attended Glenwood High School, which for several years ranked near the bottom of Scotland’s 364 secondary schools. But he credits his physics teacher, Mr. Davidson, with encouraging his aptitude for science. Even more important was the sense he gave Fernie that he was actually recognized as a student: “A lot of teachers, you know, they don’t really see you, but he really saw me.”
With these and other stories in the background, Fernie came to McGill to pursue his interests while making an important contribution and earning a master’s degree, which he completed earlier this year.
“Scotland is a rich country in many ways, but I find it is very lacking in opportunities for advancement. You can make yourself a decent living and just stay at your station and that’s it. They say America is the land of opportunity. I think it’s actually Canada,” Fernie said.
At McGill, Fernie would go on to co-found Hydral Energy with Jocelyn Blanchet, Médéric Chalifour and Bergthorson, a startup focused on using aluminum as a recyclable, carbon-free fuel for storing and releasing renewable energy. The team has already won a $25,000 Discover prize from the McGill Innovation Fund.
The startup is developing a reactor that generates hydrogen and heat on demand using only aluminum and water. The produced hydrogen and heat can then be used for electricity generation, heating, or motive power.
Aluminum offers a compact, safe and low-cost medium for storing renewable energy over indefinite periods of time. This is particularly important because although wind and solar are good sources of renewable energy, this energy needs to be stored; while batteries and hydrogen are effective at short-term energy storage, they are costly for long-duration and seasonal storage applications.
Fernie is now working full time on Hydral Energy. In July, his team had a booth at the renowned Startupfest event.
It all comes back to his desire to deal with the climate change crisis head on: “You might forget about climate change, but it hasn’t forgotten about you,” he said, underlining both the severity of the issue and his commitment to solving it. But there is another angle to his story, another motivation that drives the young man from Scotland.
“I want to become a Canadian,” he declared.