The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), through its technical entity the Institute for Sustainability (IfS) and in cooperation with other AIChE entities, establishes a Climate Solutions Community — a global collaboration that brings together the expertise of a diversity of engineers and scientists to help industry and society address and manage the effects of climate change. AIChE’s board of directors approved the formation of the Climate Solutions Community in October 2018. Tom Rehm, a process safety specialist and chair of AIChE’s South Texas (Houston) Section, will lead the community in its formative stages.
In discussing the new community, Rehm notes that chemical engineers’ versatility and formidable problem-solving skills make them well-suited to help address many of the world’s foremost challenges, including climate change. “It is incumbent on AIChE and its member stakeholders to apply their unique insights and technical abilities to identify viable solutions to mitigate, adapt, and become resilient to the effects of climate change,” says Rehm. He adds that a key task assigned to the Climate Solutions Community’s steering committee is to develop a portfolio of technical and government policy solutions necessary to address both industrial and societal challenges related to climate.
Members of the steering committee include Sunil Hangal (Environmental Compliance Assurance Management), chair of the environmental division’s climate change subcommittee; Dale Keairns (Deloitte Consulting), 2008 AIChE president and chair of the Center for Energy Initiatives; Dan Lambert (Savannah River National Laboratory), a past chair of AIChE’s nuclear engineering division; Christopher Pope, member of the Societal Impact Operating Council; Mary Ellen Ternes (Earth & Water Law, LLC), chair of the public affairs and information committee’s climate change task force; and Neil Yeoman (Koch-Glitsch, retired), past AIChE director and a founder of the separations division, and virtual local section. Darlene Schuster, AIChE’s chief of technical operations, membership, and business development, is working with the steering committee to launch the new community.
Engineers and industrial scientists from across disciplines are invited to participate in the Climate Solutions Community. Areas of work will include mitigation of carbon footprints in electrical power generation and distribution, hydrocarbon processing, transportation, and urban areas; adaptation; and resiliency.
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