Debate over clean-energy policy continues to drive industry leaders as they hope to gain a competitive advantage, but legislators have yet to fully agree on what success will look like in the long term.

A recent article in The New York Times, ”Energy Firms Find No Unity On Climate Bill,” reported that “energy producers, once united, are battling one another over policy decisions worth hundreds of billions of dollars” over the coming decades.

As the debate wages on in public arenas, at ASME we view the value of our Energy Grand Challenge (EGC) strategic initiative as a highly constructive effort to help shape the ongoing and critical global conversations on energy and to contribute technology solutions on matters related to energy. Raising ASME’s profile as an essential energy technology resource is one of several goals of this grand challenge.

The effort has taken on an enterprise approach, with coordination across all sectors. It is a multiyear plan that includes important initiatives and communications plans. The EGC cuts across ASME’s energy strategy and also the other two major strategic components: engineering workforce development, and global impact.

Partnerships and collaborative opportunities continue to open up to ASME because the three initiatives resonate with people throughout the world. For example, at a recent meeting in China — which consisted of several activities including a workshop on nuclear standards, an engineering education conference, and various meetings with ministries and government agencies, corporations, and associations — all three themes were central to the discussions.

As ASME’s annual Congress concludes this week, the commitment from our Board of Governors and other senior volunteers toward our strategic initiatives is unwavering. A special Town Hall Meeting on ASME’s Strategic Roadmap here in Orlando reinforced that commitment and also the direction that the organization is heading toward.

ASME will continue its leadership efforts as a focused, responsive, agile organization that serves its members and remains vital to the profession. This is why we revisit and restate ASME’s mission and vision, its core values, our strategic priorities in energy, global impact, and engineering workforce development, and the objectives of the enterprise Balanced Scorecard.

Thank you for all you do to contribute to the success of ASME.

— Thomas G. Loughlin, ASME Executive Director