Background

Against the backdrop of growing global demand for energy and new energy legislation, AIChE and its members launched a series of initiatives that apply chemical engineering expertise to help develop solutions to energy problems.  In 2005 alone, the Annual and Spring Meeting attendees witnessed a surge in the number and variety of papers devoted to energy.  CEP published a series of articles on the critical issues surrounding energy.  Operating councils heightened their plans to focus on chemical engineers roles in energy.  It was clear that strategies are required to ensure that chemical engineers play a central, if not preeminent role in advancing energy research and development. 

To help guide this endeavor, the AIChE Board of Directors organized its Commission on Energy Challenge as an assembly of industry and academic experts and consultants representing a broad portfolio of energy technologies as well as business and research interests.  The nine-person commission’s report can be found here.

The work of this commission is being carried forward by the newly formed Energy Advisory Board, which consists of: Dale Keairns, Chair, SAIC and 2008 AIChE President; Bond Calloway, Savanah River National Laboratory and Chair of AIChE’s Research and New Technology Committee; John Chen, 2006 AIChE President; Scott Fogler, Univ. of Michigan and 2009 AIChE President; Haroon S. Kheshgi, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.; Darlene Schuster, Director of AIChE’s Institute for Sustainability (IfS); Subhas Sikdar, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chair of the IfS Managing Board; and AIChE Executive Director June Wispelwey.

The Energy Advisory Board met recently to establish near-term goals and objectives. Initially, in 2009–2010, the Board will focus on:

• AIChE’s Energy Strategy and Strategic Plan
• Education projects aimed at undergraduates and K–12 students
• Speakers for AIChE’s Speakers Bureau that is currently being assembled
• Energy-related programming at AIChE national and annual meetings
• Communication (through the website and a newsletter)
• Outreach (e.g., partnering with others to inform the public and public policy).

In the near future, the Energy Advisory Board will solicit broader input from AIChE committees, divisions, and forums so that AIChE’s energy efforts can become a sustainable initiative across the organization.