AIChE Greens the Annual Meeting

Alessandra Carreon

Alessandra (Ale) Carreon is a licensed chemical engineer and LEED accredited professional (AP) with a professional background in environmental consulting and engineering. She currently works with Ford Motor Company's Global Supply Chain Sustainability Conflict Minerals team to support public disclosure of conflict minerals within the company's supply chain. Ale graduated with a BS in chemical engineering with a focus in environmental engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 2007. Ale earned her MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in 2014 and is pursuing her passion for eco-preneurship and social enterprise in southeast Michigan.

Ale served as chair and past chair of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) Emerging Professional National Committee (EPNC) in 2012 and 2013, respectively. She is a member of the USGBC Detroit Regional Chapter (DRC) Board and works with the Emerging Professionals (EP) Committee to grow Detroit's local green economy. Ale and the DRC EPs organized the first-ever Detroit Better Block project in 2012 and 2013 and developed the Detroit Green Map. She is also an elected director (2011-2013) and Programming Chair (2013-2015) for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) national Environmental Division. Ale co-founded her neighborhood association's sustainability committee in Detroit, where she serves on the board as well.

AIChE's Environmental Division and Institute for Sustainability (IfS) have developed a series of sustainability goals for the 2012 Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh by forming a Green Task Force. These goals are designed to minimize generated waste as well as energy and water consumption resulting from Annual Meeting activities; doing so will also reduce incurred costs. AIChE commits to minimizing the environmental impact of the Annual Meeting through on-site outreach and awareness initiatives, responsible purchasing, reduced resource consumption (including energy and water) and landfill diversion.

Greener Actions, Greener Building

All Annual Meeting attendees will be encouraged to participate in AIChE's sustainability goals by taking individual sustainable actions, such as appropriate food ordering, using on-site recycling and composting receptacles, using local transportation options, and using the online and electronic resources for conference planning and meeting agendas to minimize paper waste. The Gold LEED Certified David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh (click to enlarge) The City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Convention Center are both ideal hosts to ensure a sustainable meeting. The Convention Center in particular is truly a green leader in its field. Read the complete environmental commitment statement at the website for AIChE's Sustainable Meeting Initiative here.

What else can AIChE do to green our meetings?

Images: Leaf, epSos.de; Pittsburgh convention center glindsay65

Comments

Submitted by Arjun Gopalratnam (not verified) on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 11:18

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Thanks for posting about this, Ale. I can't wait to see the changes in the conference!