Global WtERT Council Inc. Announces Election of New President and Board Members
New York, August 8, 2023: Global WtERT Council Inc. Dba WtERT® announced that Prof. Qunxing Huang, Vice Dean, College of Energy Engineering of Zhejiang University (www.doe.zju.edu.cn) has been elected as new President of the scientific research organization as of the beginning of 2023. After heading WtERT since its inception in 2002 Prof. Themelis is pleased to pass on the torch to Prof. Huang who has published over one hundred papers on all aspects of thermal processing of wastes. “The Zhejiang University Waste-to-Energy laboratories and pilot plants are of the finest in the world” said Prof. Themelis, Founder and President Emeritus of WtERT.
Prof. Huang will also chair the Board of Directors of WtERT consisting of:
- Nickolas J. Themelis, founder of WtERT and of the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University (earth.engineering.columbia.edu).
- Marco Castaldi, Chair of WtERT-USA, hosted at City College of New York, and Director of the Earth Engineering Center of City College of New York (ccnyeec.org).
- Werner Bauer, President of WtERT Germany GmbH, developer of the Decision Support System (DSS), the WtERT depository of all technical information and news about sustainable waste management worldwide (www.wtert.net).
- M. Reda Kabbaj, co-Chair of WtERT-Canada, hosted at Concordia Institute for Water, Energy and Sustainable Systems (CIWESS), Concordia University in Montreal and Research Associate at the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University, (wtert.ca).
- Yuri Schmitke AB Tisi, President of WtERT-Brasil and of ABREN (abren.org.br).
Message of Prof. Huang, new President about his election:
“I am Qunxing Huang, a full professor of Zhejiang university and it’s my great honor and pleasure to continue the legend of WtERT started by prof. Themelis 20 years ago.
I was born in a typical Chinese small town and got my Ph.D from Zhejiang university located in the big Hangzhou city. From small town to metropolitan city, I deeply recognize the importance of clean and efficient treatment of solid waste to the health of local people. In the past 15 years since I became a faculty of energy engineering college, I have devoted myself to the development and implementation of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technology which, I believe, is the only industrial solution to the global massive solid waste problem.
After we first met in 2012, Prof. Themelis and I have experienced the tremendous expansion of WtE in China. Today over 922 plants are commercially operating and 255 million tons of solid waste are burned with energy recovery. The WtE story happening here could be a very successful example for many other countries.
Prof. Themelis has led WtERT to contribute hundreds of technical papers and theses on sustainable waste management. His contribution has changed many people’s opinion on waste incineration.
As the new President of WtERT, I will work hard with the new Board of Directors to fulfil the mission of WtERT to advance the technical and scientific knowledge about WtE, to enhance cooperation with other organizations and to support cities to establish a circular economy aiming at net-zero waste future.
I believe WtERT will become the most important global network to bring together engineers, scientists and managers from industry and academia to identify and advance the best available WtE technologies.
Let’s work together for our next generation and for a better world!”
About Global WtERT Council Inc. “WtERT®”
Founded in 2002, the Global Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council, WtERT®, is the foremost Non-for-Profit research association on Waste-to-Energy (WtE) worldwide, founded by the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University, It bring together engineers and scientists from industry, government and Universities from 26 countries across the globe to collaborate together to advance both the economic and environmental performance of Waste-to-Energy technologies and disseminate all research and findings to the general public. WtERT® is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit association (EIN: 45-3842166) that prides itself on being a unique Industry-academia consortium to advance Waste-to-Energy technologies. For more information about the organization, visit wtert.org.
