Statewide "Smart Growth" conference set for Oct. 20th at Stevens
HOBOKEN, N.J. - As New Jersey grapples to find the means to achieve "smart growth," technology will play a key role in ensuring economic revitalization while protecting the environment. Experts in environmental technological innovation geared toward smart growth will participate in a forum at Stevens Institute of Technology on Monday, Oct. 20, to assist planners, municipal officials, developers and regulators who are planning for the future of the state. The conference's official title is "How Technology Can Help Put the Smart in New Jersey's Growth."
The one-day conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on the 4th floor of Stevens' Wesley J. Howe Center, one block east of 8th Street and Castle Point Terrace, in Hoboken. [Reporters are welcome to attend - please call Cass Bruton-Ward (info above) for media parking arrangements and a full agenda.]
The conference, which is sponsored by the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology (NJCAT), will focus on innovative technologies that address drinking water quality, stormwater runoff and remediation and redevelopment. This forum will bring together a diverse mix of environmental experts and stakeholders from the public and private sectors to broaden and deepen technical knowledge and discuss the developing regulations that affect new environmental technologies. For information about NJCAT, go to njcat.org .
"Changes in regulations and technology will dramatically affect the way development occurs in New Jersey," said Rhea Weinberg Brekke, executive director of NJCAT. "This conference offers critical information for those who will be impacted by New Jersey's smart growth initiative."
The conference's plenary session (9:30 to 10:15 a.m.) will be moderated by Stevens Institute of Technology President Dr. Harold J. Raveche, who is Chairman of NJCAT. It includes remarks by panelists Barbara Lawrence, executive director of New Jersey Future, a non-profit organization focused upon smart growth; and Peter Reinhart, vice president of developer K. Hovnanian. The panel will discuss the key role technology can play in the implementation of the smart growth initiative.
Environmental technology presentations, moderated by Dr. George Korfiatis, Dean of Engineering at Stevens, will follow at 10:15 a.m.. A luncheon is scheduled for 12:30 p.m., followed by workgroups and group presentations. The wrap-up session on "Public and Private Sector Funding Alternatives for Innovative Environmental Technology Projects" begins at 4 p.m.
New Jersey Governor James McGreevey has made fighting sprawl and protecting water supply in the state a focus of his administration. Under the initiative, developers are encouraged to revitalize urban areas, while the state is preserving open space and proposing stricter water standards.
"The effective use of environmental technology can stimulate appropriate growth while protecting precious natural resources," said Brekke. "Through NJCAT's independent verification process, industry representatives have the opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness and viability of innovative technologies designed to tackle the pressing environmental problems of today."
Industry representatives will describe 10 technologies designed to address the challenge of remediation, particularly in urban environments; improving drinking water quality and reducing pollutants in stormwater runoff. Several of the technologies to be presented have been verified as effective through the stringent NJCAT process.
Working groups that will include private firms, environmental consultants, local and state government representatives, developers, scientists, engineers and researchers will address proposed and current regulations designed to improve the environment and how technology can help meet those heightened standards.
The drinking water workgroup will discuss the recently issued New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Policy Directive that requires the Water Supply Administration to propose a regulation to cut in half the maximum contaminant level for arsenic in drinking water from 10 micrograms per liter to 5 micrograms per liter, the most stringent standard in the country. The policy directive notes that NJCAT has verified a technology that can achieve this standard.
The stormwater workgroup will address developing standards that will require the use of higher level innovative technologies in new developments to substantially reduce non-point source pollution. The regulations under consideration by NJDEP would require a dramatic reduction in the total suspended solids that are in stormwater runoff, thereby improving water quality in the state.
The remediation workgroup will address the challenges of characterization, treatment and monitoring of pollutants in a variety of media, particularly in an urban environment.
NJCAT is a coalition of state and federal partners, and representatives from industry, academia and other stakeholders cooperating to break down barriers to the implementation of new environmental technologies through verification, education and cooperation. Through NJCAT'S Technology Verification Program, teams of academic and business professionals conduct a comprehensive evaluation of vendor specific performance claims, resulting in independent thrid party confirmation. Private firms can use the verification when demonstrating to potential clients and regulators the effectiveness of their technology in achieving specific standards.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870 and celebrating 140 Years of Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University TM , lives at the intersection of industry, academics and research. The University's students, faculty and partners leverage their collective real-world experience and culture of innovation, research and entrepreneurship to confront global challenges in engineering, science, systems and technology management.
Based in Hoboken, N.J. and with a location in Washington, D.C., Stevens offers baccalaureate, master’s, certificates and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences and management, in addition to baccalaureate degrees in business and liberal arts. Stevens has been recognized by both the US Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Excellence in the areas of systems engineering and port security research. The University has a total enrollment of more than 2,200 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students with almost 450 faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as strategic partnerships with industry leaders, governments and other universities around the world. Additional information may be obtained at www.stevens.edu and www.stevens.edu/press.
