Nickholas Themelis, director of the Earth Engineering Center, was invited by Columbia University to visit SERC Chile, where he met with several researchers to share his experience with converting waste into energy.

Rodrigo Palma, director of SERC Chile, welcomed Nickholas Themelis, lecturer and director of Columbia University’s Earth Engineering Center, on September 2.

A delegation from the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness, consisting of its director, Gonzalo Rivas, and Jaime Álvarez, met with the researcher, who has extensive experience in converting waste into energy. Also present were José Manuel Robles, Dean of the Engineering Faculty at Universidad del Desarrollo; Alex Godoy, who oversees environmental issues at the same university; Professor Svetlana Ushak, a researcher in SERC’s Research Line 4; and Gisele Feldman, a consultant at the Columbia Global Center for Latin America.

Feldman did not hesitate to emphasize the importance of Themelis’s visit for the development of energy issues in our country.

“This meeting is crucial to ensuring that all centers establish connections with one another, in order to create a joint initiative covering all aspects of renewable energy and sustainable waste management,” she said.

Regarding Chile's potential to develop this issue, the consultant stated that:

“We’re getting there. Globally, 20% of landfills are starting to recycle. This figure is lower here, but we have the available space, infrastructure, professionals, and climate needed to implement it. It is very helpful to learn more about the waste-to-energy methodology used by Nickholas Themelis, since in Chile we only recycle waste to turn it into a new product; however, being able to convert it into energy is something completely new and interesting for us.”

During lunch, the participants discussed the nature of their respective roles and explored opportunities for future partnerships.