ECCE 2009 Recap
Instilling Inspiration, Energy, and Education
The First Annual ECCE Sets the Precedence for Excellence
Washington, D.C. (September 28, 2009) The inaugural edition of the IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Expo (ECCE) opened with great success in San Jose, California, USA, September 20-24, 2009. In spectacular fashion, this historic ECCE met its mission of providing a forum for the exchange of information among practicing professionals in the energy conversion business; bringing together both users and researchers. This year’s conference included over 800 attendees from 40 countries, giving proof to the idea that sustainability is a local problem with global solutions.
Opening Plenary Session
The ECCE opened the conference with two inspiring and educating plenary lectures, setting a lofty yet pragmatic tone for the rest week.
By sharing his vision for an all electric automobile, Martin Eberhard, founder of TESLA Motors, injected energy and a can-do spirit to the gathered energy conversion experts. Tesla’s far ranging view of the complexity and promise of our energy future served as a rallying point for the attendees, daring them to think of the possible. Professor Dan Kammen, University of California, Berkeley set a balancing pragmatic tone for the conference. He gave attendees a sobering look at the facts, framing his discussion with the scientific and economic truths and calling particular attention to innovative and sustainable energy conversion solutions. Leaving inspired, energized, and hopeful, attendees jumped into the rest of the week’s activities with vigor and enthusiasm.
Technical Program
Featuring over 600 papers, divided into 88 oral presentation sessions and 16 poster presentation sessions, the 2009 Technical Program ranged in topic from green energy systems, energy efficiency and conservation, to transportation applications, industrial applications, as well as core technology issues. The sessions generated lively discussions and cogent interchange of technical knowledge; proving to be the crown jewel of the week’s program.
Leading experts in energy related technology, systems, and policy fields participated in three Rap Sessions, featuring hot button topics such as impact on society of The Smart Grid, Transportation Challenges, and Green Loads. The freeform format encouraged deep philosophical explorations of our energy future as well as provided the opportunity for blue sky thinking and identification of the challenges ahead.
Finally, over 200 attendees participated in the eight tutorials, developed by faculty to inform, educate, and challenge. The tutorials ranged from the practical to the seemingly fantastical, but all allowed the attendees to gain increasing knowledge in the fundamentals, application, and theory of energy conversion.
The 2009 Expo
25 exhibiting companies participated in the first annual expo; representing such areas as component suppliers that make the fundamental parts upon which the energy conversion industry is built upon, to software businesses which allow engineers to unleash their imagination and make the impossible possible.
Attendees engaged with the likes of 5S Components, Plexim, Inc., Ferroxcube USA, Inc., and Maxwell Technologies, Inc. With close to 20% of the 2010 Expo already re-booked before the week’s end, next year’s Expo will certainly continue to encourage technical dialog and the exchange of ideas important to the energy conversion community.
The ECCE organizers are following up the stellar inaugural edition of the conference with an even more ambitious program for ECCE 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, September 12 – 16! Please follow this burgeoning premier conference on our website https://www.ecce2010.org as we grow and expand our breadth. One of the many exciting development is the integration of the successful global conference on sustainable energy – IEEE Energy 2030 into the ECCE program.
ECCE provides a forum for the exchange of information among practicing professionals in the energy conversion business. ECCE emphasizes the need to bring together the users and researchers of energy conversion systems and sub systems through the technical papers and on the exposition in order to stimulate discussions and share ideas. The conference includes all technical aspects of the design, manufacture, application and marketing of devices, circuits, and systems related to electrical energy conversion technology. The driving philosophy and purpose of the new conference is to place the practicing engineering professionals alongside the leading edge researchers in electrical energy conversion together in a fresh environment and allow their natural intellectual curiosity pollinate with real world complexities and constraints in order to create an ethos of applied innovation. The intent is to become greater than the summation of the two component programs; indeed, the organizers are aiming to present the ideal milieu for the energy conversion marketplace, in both technical content and networking opportunities.
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For more information about the ECCE, please visit us at https://www.ecce2010.org, or contact us at ecce@courtesyassoc.com or 202-973-8744.