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Dr. Alan Fung

Alan Fung
Associate Professor
BSc, BEng, MASc, PhD, PEng, FCSME
EPH-340
416-979-5000 ext. 554917

Areas of Academic Interest

Building simulation

Energy efficiency, conservation and management

Renewable energies

Building integrated energy systems

Hybrid energy systems

Building HVAC systems and control

Net-zero energy buildings and communities

Adaptive, predictive and transactive control of building and community energy system

Education

Year University Degree
2003 Dalhousie University PhD
1992 Technical University of Nova Scotia MASc
1989 Technical University of Nova Scotia BEng
1988 Dalhousie University BSc

Selected Courses

Course Code Course
ME8114 Energy Management
MEC 850 Environmental Impact of Thermal Systems
MEC 309 Basic Thermodynamics

Spotlight

"You don’t usually feel electricity, but when you do, you get shocked," says Alan Fung. He learned that lesson the hard way as an adolescent, when a few shocks steered him away from electrical engineering. Instead, he went on to explore his fascination with mechanics. And yet, Fung still found himself researching energy throughout his career.

What started out with a government-funded initiative in clean coal technology has evolved into today's passion for innovative applications of renewable energy, such as sewage-based hybrid systems that can heat and cool large buildings by harnessing the flow of wastewater. Fung's work within the net-zero energy landscape is allowing buildings and communities to locally generate enough energy to fulfil annual consumption needs, while his use of AI machine learning helps tune energy usage on a real-time basis. The technology has the potential to lessen the strain on local utility grids, reduce energy costs for homeowners and, most notably, achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within the building sector. In a world where climate change advocates are calling for a carbon-neutral future, AI just might be the key to solving our CO2 problem.

Alan Fung

"We are developing all of these technologies not just for today but also for the future."

  • Governor General Gold Medal
  • CMHC Excellence in Education Award
  • Mitacs Professor Award for Exceptional Leadership
  • Champion of Diversity Award
  • Ghajarkhosravi, Mahssa, Huang, Yirong, Fung, Alan S., Kumar, Rakesh, and Straka, Vera. “Energy Benchmarking Analysis of Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURBs) in Toronto, Canada.” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 27, 2020, 100981.
  • Kerme, Esa Dube, and Fung, Alan S. “Heat Transfer Simulation, Analysis and Performance Study of Single U-tube Borehole Heat Exchanger.” Renewable Energy, vol. 145, 2020, pp. 1430-1448.
  • Akan, M. M., Fung, Alan S., and Kumar, Rakesh. “Process Energy Analysis and Saving Opportunities in Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) in Ontario, Canada.” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 233, 2019, pp. 43-55.
  • Murphy, Adreon Raymond, and Fung, Alan S. “Techno-economic Study of an Energy Sharing Network Comprised of a Data Centre and Multi-Unit Residential Buildings for Cold Climate.” Energy and Buildings, vol. 186, 2019, pp. 261-275.
  • Amirirad, Afarin, Kumar, Rakesh, Fung, Alan S., and Leong, Wey H. “Experimental and Simulation Studies on Air Source Heat Pump Water Heater for Year-round Applications in Canada.” Energy and Buildings, vol. 165, 2018, pp. 141-149.
  • Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSES)
  • Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
  • Member and student branch faculty advisor, American Society for Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
  • Member and fellow, Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME)
  • Former board member, member and treasurer International Building Performance Simulation Association of Canada (IBPSA-Canada) 
  • Member, Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO)
  • Member, Engineers Nova Scotia (ENS)