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| News and Events: Technical Assistance, Incentives, and Funding Opportunities:
Upcoming Webinar: Resources and Guides:
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| UT, TDEC, and TVA Present Public Forum on Electric Mass Transit as an Option for Urban Mobility
With the emergence of electrified transit options and intelligent transportation system technologies, what are the costs, benefits, and barriers associated with these technologies that local governments, utilities, and transit agencies must consider and address? What best practices can be identified from electric mass transit and smart mobility case studies, and what can be done at the local, state, and federal levels to provide forward momentum in these areas? Are the visions of future transportation systems realistic and obtainable? Join the UT Baker Center, TDEC, and TVA for panel discussions regarding electric mass transit as an option for urban mobility on June 20-21, 2018 at the UT Baker Center in Knoxville. Additional event sponsors include TennSMART and the UT Center for Transportation Research. Panelists will present on a variety of topics, including: - Technology and Connectivity
- Smart Mobility Case Studies
- Visions and Groundtruthing
Additionally, a keynote address covering electric mass transit policy options and issues will be given by Caroline Choi, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Southern California Edison (SCE). Click here to view the full event agenda. If you have any questions about the event, please contact TDEC OEP's Communications Coordinator Shauna Basques at Shauna.Basques@tn.gov or 615-253-1947.
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| Alternative Fuel School Bus Workshop A growing number of school districts across the U.S. are shifting their fleets to run on alternative fuels to save money on fuel and maintenance and to promote cleaner air. Tennessee Clean Fuels (TCF), in partnership with Central States Bus Sales, will host an alternative fuel school bus workshop on July 25, 2018 at the James E. Ward Agriculture Center in Lebanon. This workshop will equip Tennessee school bus fleets with the knowledge they need to evaluate natural gas, propane, and electric school bus alternatives. Fleet managers, superintendents, and other school bus fleet decision-makers are encouraged to attend. Presenters from ROUSH CleanTech and Adomani Electric will talk about alternative fuel school buses and equipment currently on the market and will be on hand to answer any specific fuel or technology-related questions that school districts may have. Attendees will also be able to see alternative fueled buses in person during guided vehicle walk-arounds. Fleet administrators from the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) will also be present at the workshop to highlight their experiences with alternative fuel adoption. CMCSS is Tennessee’s largest alternative fuel school bus fleet. By July 2018, CMCSS is expected to have a total of 23 propane-school buses in operation. Additional speakers from TCF and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of Energy Programs will address upcoming funding opportunities to assist with the purchase of alternative fuel school buses. Visit U.S. DOE's Alternative Fuel Data Center to learn more about the alt fuels available to local school districts. To RSVP for this workshop, please click here. The workshop will be free for all attendees. Lunch will be provided. For questions about the workshop, please contact Alexa Voytek at alexa.voytek@tn.gov or 615-532-0238.
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| 100 Best Fleets Accepting Applications for the 2018 Green Fleets Awards
100 Best Fleets is a national fleet management recognition program designed to identify and reward peak performing fleet operations. Recently, 100 Best Fleets organizers have opened applications for the 2018 Green Fleet Awards, which recognize both government and commercial entities. The awards take into account fleet composition and diversity of fuels, fuel use and associated emissions, policy and planning in fleet management, fleet utilization, green fleet education, executive and employee involvement, and alternative fuel/fuel efficiency supportive programs. Applications are due July 20, 2018. Click here to read more about the awards.
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| 100% of Tennessee State Parks' Golf Cart Fleet Now Powered by Electricity
TDEC has officially transitioned all of its 650 golf carts at the nine Tennessee State Park (TSP) courses from gas to electric. The switch will result in an estimated savings of $80,000 per year and will prevent the release of approximately 350,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year. The first 222 electric carts used at TSP courses were originally procured in 1996 for use at Harrison Bay, Cumberland Mountain, and Tims Ford State Parks. A second batch of 218 gas-powered golf carts were exchanged for all-electric models at courses within Henry Horton, Montgomery Bell, and Fall Creek Falls State Parks in 2014. In 2017, the remaining 210 gas-powered carts in the State’s fleet were swapped for electric-powered carts at Pickwick Landing, Paris Landing, and Warriors’ Path State Parks. Harrison Bay State Park near Chattanooga has gone one step further—gas-powered maintenance equipment has been swapped for electric where possible, excluding only two pieces of equipment, making it one of the only golf courses in the country to do so. Funding for the all-electric maintenance equipment at Harrison Bay was made possible by a Clean Tennessee Energy Grant through TDEC’s Office of Policy and Sustainable Practices. The 18-piece fleet includes greens and approach mowers, bunker rakes, greens rollers, and utility vehicles. For more information, visit https://tnstateparks.com/golf.
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| 2019 TRB Annual Meeting: Call for Papers Now Open
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting will take place in Washington, D.C. from January 13-17. The meeting covers transportation issues in all fields and will feature 5,000 presentations across more than 800 panel sessions. More than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world are expected to attend.
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| TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, INCENTIVES, AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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| U.S. DOT Announces BUILD Transportation Discretionary Grants Program
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently announced $1.5 billion in funding under the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Discretionary Grants program, formerly known as TIGER. BUILD Transportation grants may fund investments in surface transportation infrastructure and are to be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant local or regional impact. BUILD funding can support roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, or intermodal transportation. Eligible Applicants for BUILD are State, local and tribal governments, including U.S. territories, transit agencies, port authorities, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and other political subdivisions of State or local governments. Previously recorded webinars, which provide greater detail on the grant application process, information for rural and tribal applicants, and information on how to prepare a benefit cost analysis for a BUILD application, may be accessed here. Applications are due July 19, 2018. Click here to read more.
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| How to Build a Successful Mobility as a Service Story
TRB will conduct a webinar on June 18, 2018 from 1:00 – 2:30 PM EST that discusses practical applications of Mobility as a Service (MaaS), taken from European case studies. MaaS is defined as a shift away from personally-owned modes of transportation and toward shared-use multimodal mobility. This mobility is enabled by combining transportation services from public and private transportation providers through a unified smartphone app that creates and manages the trip, which users can pay for with a single account. Presenters will describe successful MaaS case studies from Denmark and Finland and will explain how a MaaS ecosystem works. They will also explore a pilot MaaS program being conducted by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). This webinar will explore how MaaS can meet passenger needs, how MaaS can integrate public and private transportation, and how MaaS can connect a variety of transportation options through one mobile app. A certificate for 1.5 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) will be provided to Professional Engineers (PEs) who register and attend the webinar as an individual. A certificate for 1.5 Certification Maintenance Credits will be similarly provided to certified planners who register and attend the webinar. Click here for more information.
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| How Bikeshares can Impact Underserved Communities
The National Center for Sustainable Transportation at the University of California at Davis has released a report that assesses bikeshare station locations exhibiting a high potential for service to underserved communities. This report identifies priority areas for bikeshare investment based on 1) current infrastructure and the potential for increased job or essential service access; 2) considerations for the siting of bikeshare stations and investment in bike infrastructure to better assist underserved populations; and 3) estimations on the potential for improved job and social services access via bike‐to‐transit options. Click here to read the report.
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| How Governments are Spurring the Electric Vehicle Industry
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) has released a report that provides a detailed assessment of light-duty electric vehicle sales and manufacturing, including the associated battery production and its suppliers. This report investigates the status of major electric vehicle markets through 2017 and identifies policy opportunities for accelerating the transition to electric vehicles. The report finds that policy is the underlying driver for electric vehicle growth around the world and that markets with the highest electric vehicle uptake also have the richest portfolios of support actions to break down electric vehicle barriers and develop the market. Click here to read the report.
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| Plug-in Electric Vehicle Impacts Report
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) published a report on the impacts of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in the United States from 2010-2017. The report found that PEVs have offset 600 million gallons of gasoline in the U.S. through 2017. The report also found that over 23 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity has been placed in vehicles, and that 98% of this capacity is still on the road, assuming typical scrappage rates. The report can be found here.
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| Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 36
The Transportation Energy Data Book (TEDB) is a compendium of data on transportation with an emphasis on energy, emissions, and alternative fuels. The TEDB is produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for U.S. DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office. Designed for use as a desktop reference, the TEDB was first published in 1976 and has continued to today. TEDB provides statistics and data on a variety of transportation, vehicle class, and alternative fuel activities and can be accessed on ORNL’s website. In April 2018, 57 tables and figures from within the TEDB were updated. Another update is planned for August 2018. Click here to review the changes.
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