|
|
|  |
2015 Sustainable Transportation Award Winners |
| TDEC Sustainable Transportation Award Ceremony and Forum
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation recognized the outstanding efforts made by Tennessee governments, businesses, industries, public and private institutions of higher learning, and utilities to reduce transportation-related energy and emissions at the inaugural Sustainable Transportation Awards and Forum on May 7th in Memphis, Tennessee.
The event featured a variety of panel discussions with awardees, a presentation on local sustainable transportation initiatives by Memphis and Shelby County Office of Sustainability Administrator John Zeanah, a presentation on FedEx’s sustainable transportation practices by Managing Director of Global Environmental Management Karen Ellis, and an award luncheon, with opening remarks by Memphis Mayor AC Wharton, Shelby County Director of Legislative Affairs Paul Young, and TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau.
The Sustainable Transportation Awards and Forum will recur annually each May, in conjunction with Clean Air Month. TDEC’s Office of Energy Programs and Office of Sustainable Practices will announce the location and date for next year’s Forum in the coming months.
| |
|  | CNG vehicle at the Memphis rally stop. Photo by East TN Clean Fuels. |
| CNG Rally Across Tennessee
The Tennessee Gas Association (TGA) hosted the 2015 TGA Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Across Tennessee Rally during the week of May 18-22, with stops in Memphis, Trenton, Nashville, Athens and Sevier County. This five stop tour visited public natural gas refueling stations along Tennessee’s CNG highway, serving to educate the public about the benefits of natural gas as a vehicle fuel. On May 19th, the Gibson County Utility District natural gas refueling station held its grand opening ceremony in Trenton. This refueling station served as the second stop on the CNG Across Tennessee Rally. The Trenton “green” station utilizes a Kohler gas generator to produce power for the station from natural gas and Andalay solar panels to keep the station off the grid. “Our public CNG infrastructure is one of our state’s best kept secrets,” said Lynette DiMeola, Executive Director of the Tennessee Gas Association. “This statewide effort serves to promote this growing industry and inform the public that a natural gas vehicle, fleet or semi-truck can drive across the state of Tennessee refueling with domestic natural gas as vehicle fuel.”
| |
|  |
Ribbon cutting for the grand opening of the Gibson County Energy Complex. | |
| | |
| SEEA Clean Power Plan Resource Series
Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) is releasing a series of papers that deliver targeted information and resources for southeastern stakeholders exploring the role of energy efficiency as a compliance strategy for EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan and other environmental regulations. Resource papers cover a number of topics related to the potential inclusion of energy efficiency in compliance plans that were identified by southeastern stakeholders during the public comment process. Content developed under the project is generated through targeted outreach and discussions with key regional stakeholders and national experts, surveys of state comments on the CPP proposal, and other resources and input provided by EPA, state agencies, and other relevant sources. In addition to the paper series, SEEA maintains a southeastern-focused 111(d) web portal, which includes the following resources: - A compendium of key themes and takeaways from southeastern stakeholder comments;
- A regularly updated listing of regionally relevant comments;
- A regional Clean Power Plan primer;
- A listing of relevant Clean Power Plan-related news from the Southeast and beyond;
- A collection of external tools and resources;
- A state-by-state activity tracker; and
- State-specific fact sheets.
| |
| UT-ORNL Governor's Chair for High Performance Energy Practices
Philip Enquist, partner in charge of urban design and planning and leader of the City Design Practice at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, was named the 16th University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for High Performance Energy Practices in Urban Environments. Funded by the state of Tennessee and ORNL, the Governor's Chair program attracts top researchers to broaden and enhance the unique research partnership that exists between the state's flagship university and the nation's largest multi-program laboratory. Philip Enquist and a select research team will utilize ORNL's Building Technologies Research and Integration Center, which aims to push new energy-efficient building products to the market.
| |
|
|
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
| |
| Tennessee Announces Rebates for Buyers, Lessees of Qualifying Electric Vehicles
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of Energy Programs announced on May 21, 2015 that it will offer a two-tiered rebate on qualifying electric vehicles that are purchased or leased and registered in the State of Tennessee.
Electric vehicle dealerships will be responsible for providing the rebate to consumers after such funds are received from the State. The State will rebate $2,500 on zero-emission battery electric vehicles and $1,500 on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles sold or leased (with a three-year minimum lease term) by a Tennessee dealership to Tennessee residents, after a claim is filed by the dealership.
For the purposes of this rebate, battery electric vehicles are defined as fully electric, zero-emission vehicles that have an on-board electrical energy storage device that can be recharged from an external source of electricity. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have zero-emission vehicle range capability and an onboard electrical energy storage device that can be recharged from an external source of electricity. In general, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can be driven using electricity, gasoline or both.
There is currently $682,500 available for this second iteration of the electric vehicle rebate program. The rebate program will go into effect for vehicle purchases or leases made after June 15, 2015. Rebates will be dispersed on a first-come, first-served basis, and the program will remain active until funds are exhausted.
The following vehicles are eligible to qualify for a rebate:
Battery electric vehicles (BEV) $2,500 Rebate - BMW i3 or i3 Rex
- Chevrolet Spark EV
- Fiat 500e
- Ford Focus Electric
- Honda Fit EV
- Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive
- Mitsubishi i-MiEV
- Nissan LEAF
- smartED and Electric Fortwo
- Tesla Model S
- Toyota RAV4 EV
- Volkswagen e-Golf
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) $1,500 Rebate - BMW i8
- Cadillac ELR
- Chevrolet Volt
- Ford CMAX Energi
- Ford Fusion Energi
- Honda Accord Plug-in
- Porsche 918 Spyder
- Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid
- Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid
- Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
For questions or more information, e-mail Alexa Voytek, Program Manager at TDEC’s Office of Energy Programs, at alexa.voytek@tn.gov or call (615) 532-0238.
| |
|
Solar Training and Education for Professionals
The U.S. DOE’s SunShot Initiative, launched in 2011, is a collaborative national effort that seeks to make unsubsidized solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of electricity by the end of the decade. This initiative recently released a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for $12 million under the Solar Training and Education for Professionals (STEP) program. This FOA seeks to address gaps in solar training and energy education by way of projects that do one of the following: Prior to submitting a full application for this opportunity, a brief, mandatory concept paper is due on June 26, 2015. Full applications are due on August 14, 2015. It is anticipated that average award amounts will range from $200,000 to $2 million, with anywhere from six to 60 awards. For Topics 1 and 2, there is no cost share required, though cost sharing is encouraged. For Topic 3, a 20% cost share is required. For more information, visit https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx?Search=DE-FOA-0001329&SearchType=.
| |
| Solar Bankability Data to Advance Transactions and Access
Despite unprecedented deployment levels in the past few years that resulted in 20 GW of cumulative solar electric capacity, solar system prices remain high because of inefficient business transactions including perceived high financial risks and complex grid integration procedures. Data illiquidity and information asymmetry increase the cost of these transactions and consequently drive the market towards higher prices and slower solar deployments. The cost of inefficient business transactions or “soft costs” represents the majority of today’s system prices.
In response to this, the U.S. DOE’s SunShot Initiative has released a FOA in the amount of $5 million for Solar Bankability Data to Advance Transactions and Access (SB-DATA). The funding program seeks project proposals that facilitate the growth and expansion of the solar industry by creating a data landscape for distributed solar, targeting “soft cost” reduction by increasing data accessibility and quality. The goal of the SB-DATA program is to support the creation and adoption of industry-led open data standards for rapid data exchange across the value chain (from origination to decommissioning). Prior to submitting a full application for this opportunity, a brief, mandatory concept paper is due on June 22, 2015. Full applications are due on July 31, 2015. It is anticipated that awards will range from $500,000 to $2,000,000, with a total of three to seven awards. The cost share is 50% of total project costs. For more information, visit https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx?Search=DE-FOA-0001319&SearchType=.
| |
| U.S. DOE Resources Help Measure Building Energy Benchmarking Policy & Program Effectiveness
The U.S. DOE has released two new resources to help stakeholders better assess building energy benchmarking policies and programs. The Benchmarking and Transparency Policy and Program Impact Evaluation Handbook provides a planning framework for jurisdictions to determine the energy and non-energy benefits of benchmarking and transparency policies. This handbook is a clear “how-to” guide and provides cost-effective, standardized analytic methods for determining gross and net energy reduction, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation, job creation and economic growth impacts.
| |
|
UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
| |
|
Governor's Environmental Stewardship Awards
The Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards program recognizes exceptional voluntary actions that improve or protect the environment and natural resources with projects or initiatives not required by law or regulation. Now in its 29th year, the GESAs cover nine categories: Building Green; Clean Air, Energy and Renewable Resources; Environmental Education and Outreach; Environmental Education and Outreach (school category); Land Use; Materials Management; Natural Heritage; and Sustainable Performance. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will host the awards ceremony on June 23, 2015 at the Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville. The ceremony is open to the media and all others by invitation only. For more information, visit http://www.tn.gov/environment/gov-awards.shtml.
| |
|
Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative's Southeast Regional Summit
| |
|
"Explore ORNL" Conference
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is hosting the “Explore ORNL” conference on July 14-15, 2015 to showcase ORNL’s capabilities and development of transportation technologies, materials characterization, high performance computing, neutron imaging, the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation and 3-D printing, among other topics. The event will include discussion panels to highlight companies collaborating with ORNL as well as tours of ORNL user facilities. To register for the event, visit https://utconferences.outreach.utk.edu/ei/getdemo.ei?id=412&s=_3ZK0VKETB&bulk=y.
| |
|
|
|
|
