BlackboardFSU to host 'Symposium on Smart Mobility - Part I Opportunities for Electrified Transportation in Florida'
Founder and CEO, Citizens for Affordable Energy
Policymakers at the local, state and national levels continue to address myriad transportation issues. Developing transportation options using sustainable energy will involve collaboration among many disciplines to solve intractable problems. The energy needs and financial condition of the state and country, the emergence of the electric vehicle market, and complicating factors associated with the investment in high-speed rail are converging to make transportation a challenging topic for government and industry alike. Transportation is a complex evolving infrastructure with many diverse constituencies.
As policymakers and the public deliberate transportation, energy and sustainability issues, The Florida State University's Institute for Energy Systems, Economics and Sustainability (IESES) will bring together experts from around the country to share their informed views on the opportunities and challenges associated with electrified transportation.
The Symposium on Smart Mobility, Part I: Opportunities for Electrified Transportation in Florida will be held:
Wednesday, April 28
1:00 to 6:00 PM
Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center
555 West Pensacola Street
Tallahassee, Florida
The keynote speaker for the symposium is John Hofmeister, the founder and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Citizens for Affordable Energy. Hofmeister also is the former president of Shell Oil Co. in Houston. The not-for-profit Citizens for Affordable Energy is a membership association that promotes sound U.S. energy security solutions ranging from affordable energy supplies to efficiency improvements, essential infrastructure, sustainable environmental policies and public education. He will speak on "Transportation: Reality and Aspiration."
(Hofmeister also will speak that evening at The Florida State University as part of the Origins '10: Celebrating the Birth & Life of Beginnings science lecture series. The topic of his lecture will be "Toward A New Beginning in the Quest to Solve America's Energy Dilemma." Visit www.origins.fsu.edu/2010/schedule/hofmeister.shtml for more information.)
Following Hofmeister's keynote address at the afternoon symposium, experts from various fields, including engineering, economics, law and urban planning, will convene in a pair of panels to discuss the scientific and policy challenges that Florida and the nation will face as they work to invest in and implement new transportation technologies. The specific topics for the panel discussions are as follows:
- Science Panel: A strong expectation exists that electric vehicles will replace internal-combustion vehicles in the future. There are many good reasons for this expectation, including a desire to reduce carbon dioxide and to prepare for the depletion of fossil fuels. However, many technical challenges must be overcome. These challenges cross the disciplines of material science, chemistry, drive-train design and human behavior. This panel will offer insight on some of the more significant scientific challenges and pragmatic expectations for their solutions.
- Policy Panel: This panel will address the legal, policy and behavioral challenges that new transportation technologies face as they are implemented in Florida and elsewhere. The panel begins with a discussion of issues related to emissions regulations and the balance of federal and state power in transportation policy. It continues with an exploration of the role of biofuel regulations in promoting new technologies. Then the interrelationship between transportation policy and user behavior in the adoption of new technologies and alternative modes of travel is explored. Finally, the prospects for successfully linking transportation and land use in local and regional settings are examined. Throughout, the panelists will identify the primary legal and policy obstacles that Florida will face as it pursues these new transportation technologies and looks to invest in alternative transport modes.
Symposium attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions of both groups of panelists immediately following their discussions, as well as in a concluding plenary session. A reception with the panelists, featuring hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar, will be held immediately following the plenary session.
Members of the public are invited to attend the symposium; visit www.ieses.fsu.edu to register online.
Parking for the event is free and available on the first floor of the parking garage located adjacent to the Turnbull Conference Center. (A parking attendant will be stationed at the entrance behind the conference center on West St. Augustine Street to direct attendees to available parking.)
In addition to IESES, the Symposium on Smart Mobility-Part I: Opportunities for Electrified Transportation in Florida is sponsored by the Florida State University Office of Research; the Environmental and Land Use Law Program at the College of Law; and the department of Urban and Regional Planning and the Tallahassee Democrat.
