SyracuseCoE 13th Annual Symposium to Address Urban Reinvention

SyracuseCoE—New York State’s Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems—will host its 13th Annual Symposium at the Oncenter Complex in downtown Syracuse. This year’s SyracuseCoE Symposium addresses “Urban Reinvention and Resilience,” including presentations on innovations to improve energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality in buildings, construction materials management, urban stormwater management using green infrastructure and community resilience through district energy systems.

The 2013 SyracuseCoE Symposium includes two full days of presentations, sessions and workshops designed to engage a wide audience, including industry practitioners, state and local officials, university faculty and students, and citizens. Three sessions are open to the public at no cost:

• Panel discussion by New York State’s newest energy leaders: Three new leaders of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Energy Team—Richard Kauffman, chairman of energy and finance and chairman of NYSERDA; John Rhodes, president and CEO of NYSERDA; and Audrey Zibelman, chair of the New York State Public Service Commission—will hold a panel discussion on Oct. 21 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. The panelists will address financial, regulatory and programmatic strategies to advance clean, reliable and resilient energy infrastructure across New York State.

• Presentation by Bob Perciasepe, deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): The EPA’s second-highest official will address “The nexus of cities and the national sustainability agenda” on Oct. 21 from 5-5:45 p.m.

• “Earning the Green Dividend”: Joe Cortright, an internationally known expert on regional economic analysis, will address the potential of America’s cities to reap an annual $31 billion “green dividend” by creating places where citizens can drive less than they do now. Cortright’s presentation will be made during the symposium’s closing session on Oct. 22 from 4-5:15 p.m.

“We welcome the high-level participation of federal and state government in the SyracuseCoE Symposium this year,” says Sherburne B. Abbott, vice president for Sustainability Initiatives and University Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at Syracuse University. “These government leaders are shaping policies and programs that will enable symposium attendees to connect their work to statewide and national priorities and opportunities.”

Registrants for the full symposium program will attend a broad range of additional presentations, sessions and workshops, many of which provide opportunities to earn continuing education credits for architects, green building professionals and engineers.

“Our symposium program features presentations on cutting-edge advances that will enable reinvention of urban areas to improve resilience,” says Ed Bogucz, executive director of SyracuseCoE. “Topics address our key collaborative initiatives, including improving energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality in buildings, accelerating jobs and innovations in advanced manufacturing of thermal and environmental controls, and supporting green infrastructure.”

Symposium sessions include:

• Workshops on industrial heat recovery and district energy systems: A series of four workshops on Oct. 21 and 22 will address energy and market opportunities for industrial heat recovery and district systems for community energy use. Three workshops will address topics relating to heat recovery at individual sites and the potential to create enhanced environmental, reliability and economic solutions by combining the energy needs of industry and neighboring community. The fourth workshop will focus on smart-grid innovations for municipal electric utilities.

• Sessions on accelerating innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace: A series of three sessions on Oct. 21 will address key stages of the innovation cycle. One session will address working with universities on industry-driven projects. The second session will feature a “pitchfest” on specific opportunities to license intellectual property currently available at SyracuseCoE partner institutions. Silda Wall Spitzer, principal at the private equity firm New World Capital, will chair the third session, which will address opportunities to accelerate the market for innovations that improve energy efficiency in building retrofits.

• Course on LEAN strategies for construction materials management: A half-day course on Oct. 21 will teach LEAN principles to reduce waste in all forms, with emphasis on construction materials management—a comprehensive approach to reduce and eliminate physical waste from construction and demolition activities from landfill or incineration by waste reduction, reuse, recycling and conversion technologies. The course is designed for construction crews, project managers, designers and planners.

• Networking reception and student poster session: More than 50 students from seven institutions will present posters on research projects during a networking reception for attendees on Oct. 21 from 5-7 p.m. The students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs at Syracuse University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Clarkson University, Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, City University of New York and Universidad Metropolitana (San Juan, Puerto Rico).

• Plenary presentation on long-term ecological research in Central Arizona: Nancy Grimm, director of the Long-Term Ecological Research Program focused on Central Arizona and Phoenix, will give a plenary presentation on Oct. 22.

• Presentations on innovations in environmental and energy systems: Thirty-six presentations on Oct. 22 provide the latest results on advances in research, development, demonstration and commercialization. Presentations are organized in sessions that address topics that include energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, alternative energy technologies, urban resilience, tailoring the urban landscape, the human element in urban ecosystems, data collection and application, green infrastructure and bioretention.

SyracuseCoE’s 13th annual symposium is sponsored by NYSERDA, the New York Power Authority, National Grid, Lutron Electronics, Hitachi Consulting, Johnson Controls, King+King and others.

For more information, including the full program and registration, visit http://symposium.syracusecoe.org.