Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (Doors open @ 6:00 p.m.)

Ryerson University
George Vari Centre for Computing and Engineering
245 Church Street (Southeast corner of Church Street and Gould Street)
Toronto, Ontario   map
Room - ENG 101

IEEE Engineering & Human Environment Toronto Chapter

Light fare and drinks are included
$12 / $6 (IEEE Members) - free to IEEE Students and Life Members
Discount: $10 / $5 if you email RSVP to Doug Nix (use the above contact information) - all money "at the door"

This event will feature two speakers, three panelists and a moderator: Tom Rand, Paul Bedford, Tyler Hamilton, Bern Grush.

Tom Rand will speak about the next decade and power, renewable generation, personal generation (net zero homes), energy storage; smart grids, eCars, feed-in tariffs, business models; sustainability outlook over 10 and 20 years. Paul Bedford will talk about transportation in the GTHA - funding needs, coping with rising demand and the need for more infrastructure in preparation for an expanding population. Each speaker will have 30 minutes with Q+A. Following this, Tyler Hamilton will join our speakers in a panel moderated by Bern Grush. The panelists will take questions from the audience. But first they will be asked to consider whether the combination of power innovations (which are expected to produce highly distributed and self generated power), automotive innovations (which are expected to produce a shift from internal combustion engines to electric motors thereby diminishing the fuel tax), and the dire need for additional transportation infrastructure and funding will force us to rethink how we pay for our roads for sustainable mobility in the GTHA.

Tom Rand leads MaRS' role in the Canadian cleantech ecosystem supporting MaRS’ growing portfolio of cleantech ventures. Venture capitalist, entrepreneur, policy wonk, an Action Canada fellow and on several boards. Published (2010) "Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit: 10 Clean Technologies to Save Our World" (Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Biofuels, Hydropower, Ocean, Smart Buildings, Transportation, Efficiency and Conservation and the Energy Internet). An electrical engineer with a PhD in philosophy.

Paul Bedford, Adjunct Professor of City Planning at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. Urban Mentor with Paul Bedford & Associates in Toronto. Member of the Metrolinx Board of Directors, the Waterfront Toronto Urban Design Review Panel, the National Capital Commission Planning Advisory Committee in Ottawa. A Senior Associate of the Canadian Urban Institute. Planner Emeritus for the City of Toronto. A passionate advocate of transit and city building, especially in the GTHA.

Tyler Hamilton, author, journalist and researcher focused on energy issues. He writes a weekly clean energy and technology column for the Toronto Star, contributes regularly to MIT Technology Review, and is an adjunct professor in the faculty of environmental studies at York University. Hamilton's latest book is called Mad Like Tesla: Inventor Underdogs and Their Pursuit of Clean Energy, which will be published this summer by ECW Press.

Bern Grush - acceptability of satellite-based road-use metering methods. Innovations in GPS-based telematics for road-use metering (for tolling, insurance and parking and the connected vehicle), including scientific, technical, deployment, enforcement, international standards, social acceptance issues). A cybernetics engineer with a Masters in Systems Design Engineering from University of Waterloo. 300 articles, papers and blogs on virtually every aspect of network-wide or nation-wide road-use charging.