eco-TEA Standards Newsletter 2

1. Upcoming eco-TEA Standards Proposal Webinar – Nov 26 11am EST

We’ll be giving the talk “Maximizing Our Impact: A call for the standardization of techno-economic analyses for sustainable energy systems design research”, which will be similar to the talks given on the lecture tour. The webinar will be November 26 at 11am EST (Toronto/New York time). It will be a part of the AIChE’s CAST Division Webinar series organized by Prof. John Hedengren at BYU. If you missed one of our lecture stops, or have colleagues that would want to see it, please let them know.

JOIN THE WEBINAR : https://byu.zoom.us/j/629428268

A recorded version will be made available soon after the talk.

Abstract: One of the largest engineering challenges of our time is finding technical solutions that permit the use of our energy resources in a sustainable way. To achieve meaningful and positive change, new energy systems must adhere to the triple bottom line of sustainability; new technical solutions must be economically, socio-politically, and environmentally sustainable, such that they can be rapidly adopted and accepted. The engineering literature is full of many technical proposals for new energy systems, but it is challenging to objectively look at them all, see through the hype, and decide which are the best and most promising technologies in which to invest our research and development dollars. That is why we are calling for energy systems researchers to change how they conduct techno-economic analyses through a new standardization framework such that we can much more rapidly understand how each study fits into the bigger picture. In this talk, a call for the development of a new ISO standard will be presented, including the nature of the standard, its potential uses and impacts, and how you can get involved in its development. With this new standard, companies, governments, and researchers will be able to most effectively direct our research, development, capitalization, financing, and investment efforts to make the wisest decisions about how to develop our energy systems across North America and the rest of world.

2. Lecture Tour

The lecture tour continues! So far, we’ve made 10 stops:

  • AIChE National Meeting, Orlando, USA
  • Candian Chemical Engineering Conference, Halifax, Canada
  • University of British Columbia, Canada
  • West Virginia University, USA
  • NETL Pittsburgh, USA
  • Eastman Chemical (Virtual), USA
  • Hatch Corp, Mississauga, USA
  • FOCAPD, Colorado, USA
  • University of Connecticut, USA
  • University of Calgary, USA

See PSEcommunity.org/standards for the schedule as it develops.

3. New Work Item Proposal

The next phase is to create a new work item proposal, which will be submitted to the appropriate ISO technical committee, working together with the Standards Council of Canada. We have identified Technical Committee 207 (Environmental Management) and Technical Committee 332 (Sustainable Finance) as the recipients, likely through a joint working group. We’ll provide more updates soon as it develops on how to a part of the proposal process.

4. Support Letters

If you haven’t yet, please send me your support letters for the project, which will accompany the new work item proposal. You can download a template here: https://psecommunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/LTR_Letter-of-Support_EXAMPLE_v0_2019-07-08.docx

Thanks!

Thomas A. Adams II

CSChE Systems & Control Division Chair
McMaster University, Chemical Engineering