Energy, Environment and Resources Center

Jack Barkenbus, Executive Director

Center For Clean Products and Clean Technologies

Gary A. Davis, Director

Office of Communications and Publications

David Brill, Director

Center for Geography and Environmental Education

Rosalyn McKeown-Ice, Director

Oak Ridge Technology Research and Development Program

Sheila Webster, Director

Systems Development Institute

Donald Alvic, Director

Pro-Dialogue

Mary R. English and David L. Feldman, Directors

Water Resources Research Center

Tim Gangaware, Associate Director

_______________

Highlights and Initiatives is written and edited by Constance Griffith <cbgriffith@utk.edu>.

For more information call Gail Farris at 865-974-4251 or write to EERC, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134.

Visit our Web site at: http://eerc.ra.utk.edu/

APPOINTMENTS. Executive Director Jack Barkenbus recently named Research
Associate Jack Geibig to the post of acting director for EERC’s Center for Clean
Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT) and Senior Research Associate Catherine

Wilt as CCPCT’s director of policy. The CCPCT, established in 1992 through a grant
from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, focuses on the processes used to make
products, designing cleaner products and technologies that minimize pollution.
EERC is pleased to announce its membership in the United States Green Building
Council (USGBC). David Doane, EERC energy research director, and Jonathan
Overly, EERC research associate and director of the East Tennessee Clean Fuels
Coalition, now serve on the board of directors for the East Tennessee Chapter of the
USGBC. Doane has also recently been named vice-chair, and Overly serves as
treasurer, of the local chapter. Each chapter helps local businesses and organizations
become more environmentally responsible and energy efficient.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS. In March, Catherine Wilt was invited to serve on the
U.S. delegation to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) expert’s workshop on extended producer responsibility (EPR). The two-day
meeting was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. OECD’s work on EPR helps governments
devise effective policies for addressing the problem of solid waste disposition.

PUBLICATIONS. Research Leader Mary English, Research Scientist Jean
Peretz, and Melissa Manderschied, a former graduate research assistant (Urban and
Regional Planning), recently published “Building Communities while Building Plans,” in
Public Administration Quarterly 26(4) 2003.

Faculty Associate Bruce E. Tonn (Urban and Regional Planning), Research
Associate Susan M. Schexnayder, Jean H. Peretz, Sujit Das (Oak Ridge National
Laboratory), and Greg Waidley, former graduate research assistant (Urban and
Regional Planning), published “An Assessment of Waste Issues Associated with the
Production of New, Lightweight, Fuel Efficient Vehicles,” in Journal of Cleaner
Production 11(7) 2003.

PRESENTATION. Kim Davis, assistant director of EERC’s Waste Management
Research and Education Institute, recently presented “The Use of Power in the
Translation of Science to Environmental Action: A Case Study of a Brownfield Redevelopment Gone Awry” at the Mid-South Sociological Association’s 29th Annual Meeting in Baton Rouge, Lousiana. Davis presented preliminary results of her examination of the 2001 redevelopment of Knoxville’s Coster Shop (a Tennessee Superfund site).

Nothin’ but Blue Skies

After winning DOE Clean Cities designation for the East Tennessee region, the EERC-based East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition is putting a plan into action that will help clear Tennessee’s air. BY CHRIS WOHLWEND

A PLAN SUBMITTED by the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition (ETCFC) recently qualified the East Tennessee region to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Clean Cities Program. The designation, according to ETCFC Executive Director Jonathan Overly, means that the coalition “can now apply for a pocket of funds that is available only to designated coalitions."

The Clean Cities Program is an outgrowth of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The program’s objectives are to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, and enhance local economic activity. It supports public-private partnerships that deploy alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) and build supporting infrastructure. Nationwide, 83 organizations have received the DOE designation since 1993.

ETCFC members include the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Knoxville Area Transportation system (better known as KAT), Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the State Energy Program, two propane distributors, five environmental organizations, one car dealership, and the cities of Knoxville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville, among others.

East Tennessee’s designation fills a geographic hole in the program, according to Overly, who is also a research associate with UT’s Energy, Environment and Resources Center, and David Dunagan, program manager for DOE’s Southeast regional office in Atlanta. “The southeast has been behind the rest of the nation, but we’re rapidly catching up,” says Dunagan. “East Tennessee is central to our plan to form clean-fuel corridors along the Interstates.”

Cynthia Oliphant, director of the energy division of the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development, agrees. The designation, she says, is “a positive step for Tennessee and a strong addition to the national Clean Cities initiative. It gives alternative fuel use, and subsequently air quality and energy security, a boost statewide.”

Of the five alternative fuels currently in use—natural gas, biodiesel, propane, ethanol, and electricity—only ethanol and biodiesel are renewable. Ethanol can be made from potatoes, scrap wood, and other biomass materials, though in the United States it is primarily made from corn. Biodiesel is typically made from waste cooking oils or virgin oils made from vegetables such as soybeans. Though natural gas, propane, and electricity are not renewable, they are produced domestically and burn much cleaner than gasoline.

East Tennessee organizations already using AFVs include KAT, Chattanooga Area Regional Transit Authority, the cities of Sevierville and Gatlinburg, ORNL, KUB, AmeriGas Propane, and Schwan’s Fine Foods. Typically, problems for such fleets include limited refueling facilities, increased fuel costs, and limited range. The coalition is seeking funds from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program to install a public biodiesel station at Walker Springs Road off I-40/75. Another ETCFC proposal is seeking funds from Tennessee’s State Energy Program to install additional biodiesel filling points in Blount, Cocke, Knox, and Loudon counties.!

For more information, write to Jonathan Overly, ETCFC, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134; call 865 974-3625, or email jgoverly@utk.edu. Visit the ETCFC Web site at www.etcfc.org.