Engineering with a Purpose

From the Arctic to Zambia, Sudbury to Sweden, Tim Christie’s (MIE 0T1 + PEY) passion for making the world just a bit better has taken him to some of the earth’s hottest and coldest climates and into its depths.

After graduating from U of T, Christie ran Environment Canada’s High Arctic Air Chemistry Observatory in Alert, Nunavut, for a year.

“I wanted to further our understanding of climate change,” Christie said. “As the world’s most northerly settlement, Alert is far away from pollution sources and an ideal location to study the northern hemisphere’s background pollution levels.”

Next, Christie headed to Zambia to work with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as a logistician. He set up and ran cholera treatment centres and a water treatment and distribution system there. He also designed and built a new rural HIV treatment clinic.

After Africa, Christie spent a year working at the Neutrino Observatory in Sudbury, Ontario, one of the world’s foremost low background radiation research labs.

In August 2006, Christie went to Stockholm to pursue a master’s in sustainable energy engineering - a topic he had already shown commitment to by powering his car with recycled chip-truck grease (when not riding his bicycle). A year later, Christie completed his coursework at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology.

He’s now working for GreenSaver in Toronto while completing his thesis. GreenSaver performs energy audits and retrofit services. He has initiated the nonprofit’s pilot program to make energy efficiency retrofits more cost-effective.

“Many homeowners spend on aesthetic improvements, rather than better insulation, because its value is not recognized when the house is sold. A certification system would help correct this market failure,” Christie explained. He also manages the Greening Sacred Spaces program, to make local churches and temples more energy-efficient.

Though his engineering career may seem eclectic, Christie is driven by single sense
of purpose.

“Engineers can be credited with many of society’s great advancements, but those advances came with an environmental price. I’d like to understand the problems we’ve contributed to, and work to provide sustainable solutions to them.”