Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World

• Power to the people: How solar energy — cheap, plentiful and available everywhere — is poised to change the world

  As you may have heard, solar energy is having a moment. Thanks to several technological breakthroughs, it’s now the cheapest form of energy generation in most places on Earth. This past summer, for the first time ever, it became the EU’s main source of electricity, and many other parts of the world — Pakistan, Nigeria and most famously, China — are likewise in the midst of a solar boom of astonishing speed and scale. In this episode, experts weigh in on the social, political and economic implications of this revolutionary energy shift — and the complicated way that Canada fits into it all.Featured in this episode:Sara Hastings-Simon is an associate professor in the department of Earth, Energy and Environment and an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy. Her work focuses on understanding how low-carbon energy transitions happen within different sectors of the economy, constrained by existing infrastructure and business models, and how policy response can improve outcomes. She also hosts, alongside David Keith and Ed Whittingham, the live webinar and podcast Energy vs Climate.Mike Andrade is the chairman and CEO of Morgan Solar, a Toronto company whose products improve the performance of solar projects and the energy efficiency of buildings. A former executive at IBM and a founding member of Celestica, he’s also an investor and advisor to several other companies, a member of the Council of Canadian Innovators and a board member of the Next Generation Manufacturing Supercluster.Chris Caners is general manager at SolarShare, a renewable energy co-op in Ontario. He’s also a consultant who advises organizations on climate, energy efficiency and sustainability.Thomas Timmins leads the Canadian energy sector practice at Gowling WLG in Toronto. He specializes in helping clients navigate opportunities in the global energy transition.Deb Chachra is a professor of engineering at Olin College and the author of How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape our World. Further reading:• Seizing the moment of opportunity• Free electricity. Like, at no cost. For everyone. Now.• Pakistan’s solar boom• There’s a race to power the future. China is pulling away• What if Canada invested in solar energy?• The solar rushSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here. And below, find a transcript to “Power to the People.”  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a registered charity. MaRS supports startups and accelerates the adoption of high-impact solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. For more information, visit marsdd.com.

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• Solve for X S4 Trailer

  Get ready for Solve for X season four! Join journalist Manjula Selvarajah as she goes behind the hype and headlines to make sense of how new technologies are reshaping our world. This season we learn about the solar revolution, robot dexterity, a device that zaps forever chemicals and more. Subscribe and listen beginning November 27. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a registered charity. MaRS supports startups and accelerates the adoption of high-impact solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. For more information, visit marsdd.com. 

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• It’s different all over: Embracing the complexity of human biology

  By uncovering critical sex-based differences related to brain and metabolic health, researchers Gillian Einstein and Minna Woo are making the case that tailored interventions are key to improving health outcomes for women — and everyone else. Through their work exploring how conditions from Alzheimer’s to kidney disease can have varied effects depending on a patient’s sex, they underscore what the medical community as a whole can learn from experts in women’s health: Things aren’t as simple as we want to believe. In this bonus episode, recorded live on May 8, 2025, at the MaRS Impact Health Conference, Einstein and Woo discuss the complexity of biology, the challenges of funding and why they’re optimistic that things are changing.Featured in this episode:Gillian Einstein is the Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women’s Brain Health and Aging and a psychology professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. She’s also an adjunct scientist at Baycrest and Women’s College Hospitals, and an honorary doctor of medicine at Linköping University, Sweden. Her lab’s current focus is on estradiol loss as well as how stigma and immigration affect memory and cognition in diverse populations of women.Minna Woo is currently the director of the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre at the University of Toronto and recently completed a 10-year term as division director of endocrinology and metabolism at the Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network (UHN). She now holds the Ajmera Chair in Molecular Diabetes Research at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and is a clinician scientist and a staff endocrinologist providing diabetes and endocrine care at UHN. Her laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms that determine the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and related diseases. She has published more than 100 research articles and her research is internationally recognized as a member elect of the American Society of Clinical Investigation.Katherine Ward is an award-winning journalist currently working with Global News in Toronto. She joined the team in 2018 and has covered a wide range of stories taking her all over Ontario. This year, Ward was also part of an investigative team that exposed the prevalence of lead contamination in drinking water. “Tainted Water” went on to win a national award with Canada’s Radio Television Digital News Association.Further reading: • From body to brain: Understanding how sex and gender contribute to brain health as we age• More women get Alzheimer’s than men. It may not just be because they live longer• Sleep quality and the menstrual cycle• Breaking down sex and gender barriers in search of precision medicine• Canada accelerates diabetes researchSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here.  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a registered charity. MaRS supports startups and accelerates the adoption of high-impact solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. For more information, visit marsdd.com.

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• Cold comfort: How to keep cool without destroying the planet

  The hotter it gets outside, the more we use air conditioning, and the more we use air conditioning, the hotter it gets. AC units and refrigeration combined adds up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But how can we solve this cooling paradox? Building on last episode’s conversation with the UN’s global chief heat officer, host Manjula Selvarajah meets the experts harnessing novel innovations to keep cities and people cool — from massive infrastructure projects using ice-cold lake water to microscopic solutions to get rid of that sticky, sweltering humidity. David MacMillan is a manager in the City of Toronto’s Environment, Climate and Forestry division. He and his team are focused on planning for low-carbon development and energy systems, which includes implementing the Toronto Green Standard, which aims for net-zero new buildings by 2028, and renewable energy programs such as SolarTO and Wastewater Energy.  Cameron Leitch is the director of solutions and innovations at Enwave Energy Corporation, which oversees the largest deep lake water cooling (DLWC) project in the world. Pulling near-freezing water from the depths of Lake Ontario, this massive infrastructure system provides alternative cooling to more than 100 buildings in downtown Toronto, including arenas, condos, offices, data centres and hospitals — a clean energy initiative that has been recognized by the United Nations. Evelyn Allen is the co-founder of Evercloak, a Waterloo-based company that has developed graphene oxide membranes that helps to dehumidify air before it reaches AC and HVAC units, significantly reducing the energy and refrigerants needed to cool a space. The company is currently part of the Mission from MaRS: Better Buildings Adoption Accelerator program. Daniel A. Barber is a professor of architecture and the environment at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Barber’s research and work focuses on how changing temperatures have altered our built environment, and how architects can help adapt to the climate crisis. At architecture symposium Biennale Venice, his interactive installation, “Terms and Conditions,” allowed participants to experience the stifling effects of the waste heat that air conditioning units produce. Further reading: Air conditioning poses a climate conundrumToronto company using lake water to cool buildings expands systemToronto is home to the world’s largest lake-powered cooling system. Here’s how it works.Air conditioners fuel the climate crisis. Can nature help?How to build an AC that will get the world through hotter summersA rebuke to Modernism: the Venice Architecture Biennale imagines new ways of building to cope with climate changeSubscribe to Solve for X: Innovations to Change the World here.. Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a registered charity. MaRS supports startups and accelerates the adoption of high-impact solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. For more information, visit marsdd.com.

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• Heat warning: Are we ready for a hotter climate?

  Extreme heat waves are anything but normal, but they’re quickly becoming the new reality. The 10 hottest years on record have all happened in the last decade. And because temperatures in urban centres can be 10 to 15 degrees Celsius higher than surrounding areas, cities can be dangerous places to be when the mercury rises — particularly for the elderly, those with pre-exisiting health conditions as well as poorer populations who lack access to air conditioning. “Heat has a way of going through the city and finding those who are the weakest,” says Eleni Myrivili, the United Nations’ global heat officer. “It’s a very unfair climate condition.” In this episode, we explore the growing risk posed by heat and what could help us adapt to a hotter world. Eleni Myrivili is the United Nation’s first-ever global chief heat officer. An anthropologist by training, Myrivili understands how heat waves discriminate against older, less-wealthy and under-served demographics. Before being named to her UN post in 2022, Myrivili was Athens’ heat officer, where she coordinated the capital’s response to heat waves and helped renovate an ancient Roman aqueduct to bring water into the city.Further reading: What will it take to save our cities from a scorching futureEarth’s 10 hottest years on record are the last 10Extreme heat is deadlier than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combinedHeat inequality ‘causing thousands of unreported deaths in poor countries’The heat crisis is a housing crisisAncient civilizations countered extreme heat. Here’s what cities borrow from historyToronto's getting hotter. Experts say a chief heat officer could help the city adaptArchitects turning to India’s lattice-building designs to keep buildings cool without air conditioning How India’s lattice buildings cool without air conditioningAthen’s answer to a water supply crunch: an ancient aqueduct  Solve for X is brought to you by MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a registered charity. MaRS supports startups and accelerates the adoption of high-impact solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. For more information, visit marsdd.com.

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