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White House Official, Environmental Policy Analyst to Deliver Keynotes at Carbon Management Technology Conference in Orlando in February

WASHINGTON (28 December 2011) — Katharine Jacobs of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Robert Fri, visiting scholar at Resources for the Future, will deliver keynote addresses at the first Carbon Management Technology Conference, 7-9 February 2012 in Orlando, Fla.

Jacobs, assistant director, climate adaptation and assessment in the OSTP Environment and Energy Division, will discuss “Climate Change Adaptation in the United States” on Tuesday, 7 February. Fri, who has more than 35 years experience as an administrator and analyst of energy and environmental policy, will discuss “America’s Climate Choices” the next day.

The conference, sponsored by eight engineering societies, will bring together key stakeholders to share the latest technologies, strategies and systems related to the management and containment of carbon production. The technical program features more than 200 presentations on key topics such as business risks of carbon counting, innovative approaches to measuring IT system sustainability, research and development, and greenhouse gas quantification and measurement methods.

“Engineers from a wide range of engineering disciplines will share their perspectives on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to the risks of climate change,” said Haroon Kheshgi, conference chair and head of ExxonMobil’s global climate change science program.

Jim Howard, 2012 IEEE-USA president, is scheduled to be a panelist on the opening plenary session, “Leading Engineering Engagement in Carbon Management.” For more on the technical program, see http://www.carbonmgmt.org/pages/schedule/tech%20program/index.php.

For more information and to register, go to http://www.carbonmgmt.org/.

The Carbon Management Technology Conference is sponsored and organized by IEEE-USA, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and the Society of Petroleum Engineers. It is also supported in part by a grant from the United Engineering Foundation.

For sponsorship and advertising opportunities, see http://www.carbonmgmt.org/pages/sponsorship/index.php.

 IEEE-USA Supports Inventors’ Rights in Brief before U.S. Supreme Court, Oral Arguments Heard Today

 WASHINGTON (9 January 2012) — A brief IEEE-USA filed in support of inventors’ rights was part of a case the U.S. Supreme Court heard today.

“The court reviewed inventors’ rights this morning and IEEE-USA was pleased to take the side of innovators and major technology companies,” said Chris Katopis, a Washington, D.C., intellectual property attorney and former U.S. Patent and Trade Office executive who wrote the amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief on behalf of IEEE-USA.

The question before the court in Kappos v. Hyatt is whether an inventor who has been denied a patent by the PTO may present new evidence that the person had but did not present in the original application. In a 6-2-1 appellate decision, the Federal Circuit ruled in November 2010 that the PTO must accept a petitioner’s new evidence.

In its brief – which has been paraphrased – IEEE-USA wrote:

IEEE-USA recognizes the important role of judicial review – namely preserving an inventor’s access to the courts – as established by Congress in the 1836 Patent Act, as a check on the PTO’s judgment, procedural regularity and patent quality. Today’s case raises crucial questions concerning the nature and scope of a civil action pursuant to the act and an inventor’s rights upon judicial review. The Patent Act provides a statutory basis for a disappointed patent applicant to introduce new evidence and to have the evidence reviewed de novo (anew) by a district court. Second, the case will help define the PTO director’s ultimate rule-making authority under the Administrative Procedure Act, especially concerning patent application examination processes and judicial review. This case deals with important substantive and procedural questions regarding inventors’ rights and patent law, areas of law important to U.S. IEEE members and the innovation ecosystem for scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and investors.

The IEEE-USA brief is accessible at http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/policy/2011/090611.pdf 

‘Electrons Don’t Come From Heaven,’ Speaker will Say at Carbon Management Technology Conference in Orlando

WASHINGTON (25 January 2012) — Heated discussions are underway concerning the impact of advanced electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and current hybrid EVs on energy efficiency and the environment. A panel of experts will examine these issues during the Carbon Management Technology Conference, 7-9 February 2012 in Orlando, Fla.

“My key point is to remind everyone that electrons don’t come from heaven,” said Dale Simbeck, vice president, technology of SFA Pacific. “I see that way too often in promoting electric vehicles.”

Simbeck will be joined by Drs. Veronika Rabl and Saifur Rahman in discussing “Issues in Assessing Electric and Hybrid Transportation,” on Wednesday 8 February from 1:30-3 p.m.

Simbeck was a lead author of the 2005 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report, “Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage: A Summary for Policymakers.” His presentation will include a look at the source energy needed to generate the electricity to power EVs and PHEVs.

Rabl is IEEE’s lead technical member of the Engineering Founder Societies Technology for Carbon Management Grand Challenge Initiative. Vice chair of the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee, she will talk about reasons for electrifying the transportation system, including decarbonization, oil displacement, increased energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

Rahman, an IEEE Fellow, is the Joseph Loring Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He plans to discuss the impact and challenges of large-scale EV penetration at the transmission and distribution level.

“If you were to add a million EVs today spread around the United States, no one would notice it at the transmission level,” Rahman said. “But if you put two EVs on a street on the same transformer, you’ve got a problem unless we can manage other loads — such as the electric water heater, clothes dryer, air conditioner and electric oven.”

The CMTC technical program will feature more than 200 presentations on key topics such as business risks of carbon counting, climate change effects on engineering design environments and integrating carbon management technologies into the power grid. See http://www.carbonmgmt.org/pages/schedule/tech%20program/index.php.

To register, go to http://www.carbonmgmt.org/.