The Hydrogen Engineering Research Consortium at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science is partnering with the Los Angeles Mayor's office, as well as a broad spectrum of Los Angeles city offices and officials, to host the first-ever Southern California Emerging Waste Technologies Forum on July 27.

The forum will examine the issue of municipal solid waste and the growing need to convert waste into renewable energy, clean fuels, chemicals or other useful products, and will be held at UCLA's Covel Commons Ballroom.

Collaborating on the event are UCLA Engineering, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office, City Councilman Greig Smith, state Sen. Richard Alarcon, Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez, the city Bureau of Sanitation and Environmental Affairs Department, and the county Department of Public Works, among others.

The first of its kind in Southern California, the event brings together government officials, academics, environmentalists, regulators and industry professionals to examine the current status of solid waste statewide, regionally and locally. Overviews of the various technologies will be presented, as well as practical applications.

The event will begin at 9 a.m. with a welcome and overview from UCLA Engineering and elected city officials.

The day continues with a morning panel that explores conversion technologies: what they are, how they work and where they might fit into our existing waste-management infrastructure.

A midday panel features representatives from state and local government, the community, academia and the private sector discussing their experiences and the latest developments regarding conversion technologies.

The final afternoon panel will feature a roundtable discussion that will include stakeholders representing the community, the environmental and environmental justice movements, academia, and industry at the state, regional and local level; the discussion will
focus on the challenges and opportunities for emerging waste technologies in the city of Los Angeles.

The city and county of Los Angeles are pursuing separate tracks for the development of conversion facilities. The county has already identified several sites for collocation with existing transfer stations and/or material-recovery facilities to build a demonstration facility. The city Bureau of Sanitation is now in the second phase of a contract to locate a conversion facility within the city by 2010.

The Los Angeles City Council also has approved the RENEW LA plan (Recovering Energy, Natural Resources and Economic Benefit from Waste for Los Angeles), authored by Councilman Greig Smith, which proposes the creation of an environmental-industrial sector centered around waste-resource recovery. The plan calls for conversion facilities in all six city waste sheds in order to reduce dependence on landfills, vehicle emissions and traffic congestion, and to contribute up to one-third of the city's 20 percent renewable energy by 2025.

The Hydrogen Engineering Research Consortium, headquartered at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, seeks to conduct research, build partnerships between industrial and academic resources, and conduct public outreach activities that will accelerate the realization of a "hydrogen economy."

With the climbing price of gasoline and ever-increasing pollution, alternative transportation solutions that also benefit our environment are needed. As a sustainable energy solution, hydrogen-based transportation promises significant reductions in air emissions of toxic substances.

Established in 1945, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science offers 28 academic and professional degree programs. The school has a number of initiatives focusing on alternative energy, including the Hydrogen Engineering Research Consortium and the Smart Energy Laboratory, and boasts experts in hydrogen fuel, the development of affordable plastic solar cells, and wind power, among other areas.

Ranked among the top 10 engineering schools at public universities nationwide, the school is home to six multimillion-dollar interdisciplinary research centers in space exploration, wireless sensor systems, nanotechnology, nanomanufacturing and nanoelectronics, all funded by federal and private agencies. For more information, visit http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/.

The July 27 Southern California Emerging Waste Technologies Forum is modeled after a similar conference held in Sacramento in spring 2006 and hosted by the California Integrated Waste Management Board. A full agenda for the day and RSVP information can be found online at http://herc.ucla.edu/Agenda-SCeWTF.html.

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