Looking to the future
By Kevin Delaney, STLE President | TLT President's Report February 2026
STLE is supporting the future of the industry through the NextGen Fund as well as forward-thinking special reports.
I would like to report that STLE’s NextGen Fund has raised over $12,000 in the 2025-2026 fiscal year so far. The NextGen Fund supports the next generation of tribology and lubrication professionals through scholarships, award programs, travel grants and more, and the STLE community proved its support of its future leaders this past holiday season. We would like to thank all who have contributed and encourage others to do so. It is a way of giving back to the society that does so much for us. For more information or to make your tax-deductible donation, visit
www.stle.org/donate.
Moving to the topic of STLE benefits, we have recently released a new digital special report: Sustainable Lubricants: A Stewardship-Driven Approach to Effective Outcomes. STLE offers special reports to inform readers about a complex issue, stay competitive in the industry, provide expert insight on the latest developments and offer educational content. The newest report discusses how continuing improvements in lubricants and their applications have made sustainable formulations more accessible and more affordable. Customer requirements, regulatory restrictions, long-term performance benefits and cost incentives can motivate sustainability measures, even when the main focus is not on the environmental benefits. You can download your own free copy at
www.stle.org/sustainablelubricants.
I think we can all agree that working toward sustainability is a good thing in both our professional and personal lives. My father was way ahead of the game on this one. In our house, if you left a room, and the light was on, and no one else was in there, you were obligated to turn it off—regardless of whether you intended to return a short time later. Of course, at that time, the word sustainability was rarely, if ever, used in this context. Dad’s goal was saving money—saving energy just happened. Perhaps now it is the other way around: working toward sustainability ultimately saves money. Maybe it sometimes takes time to see this effect. It may seem like a burden to comply with corporate and governmental sustainability goals, but in the end, perhaps we can all benefit from being less wasteful.
I hope Sustainable Lubricants: A Stewardship-Driven Approach to Effective Outcomes gives you some new insights to benefit from recent improvements in sustainable lubricants. Be sure to tell your colleagues to download their own copy—it’s free for both members and nonmembers.
Kevin Delaney is global sales director for the Petroleum Group at Vanderbilt Chemicals, LLC, based in Norwalk, Conn. You can reach him at kdelaney@vanderbiltchemicals.com.