e.e.r.c.: Highlights and Initiatives: April 1999

	Energy, Environment and Resources Center The University of Tennessee Highlights and Initiatives
APRIL 1999 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 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/	Projects. Through the Saturn Land-use Project, EERC Research Scientist Jack Ranney and Research Associate Karen Lorino are devising ways to manage land surrounding Saturn Corp.’s buildings, roads, parking lots, and agricultural fields. In partnership with Saturn’s advisory group and grounds maintenance contractor, the team has established ecological landscaping and widened stream-side buffers to provide better habitat for native wildlife. The project aims to reduce Saturn’s grounds maintenance costs while improving aesthetics and environmental conditions. Jack Ranney and Graduate Research Assistant Laura Wilks are coordinating a Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) project that examines the effects of development on streams and riparian habitat. The project has inventoried on- and off-site effects of development. In addition, researchers have recorded the type, condition, and adequacy of stormwater and sediment/erosion-control features at sites in Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Sevier counties. The study will identify opportunities to help developers make decisions that will improve small stream and riparian sustainability. Meetings. In April, EERC’s Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT) hosted representatives from Saturn Corp., General Motors Corp. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In a meeting designed to illustrate the power and value of CCPCT’s Life-Cycle Design Toolkit, CCPCT Director Gary Davis presented an overview of the toolkit, Research Scientist Mary Swanson explained the impact assessment part of the toolkit, and Research Associate Jonathan Overly demonstrated how life-cycle assessment practitioners and designers would use the toolkit. Other CCPCT staff contributed to the dialogue as well. Typically, industry has addressed cost and performance concerns; CCPCT’s toolkit, which analyzes and compares processes used throughout a product’s life cycle, adds an environmental dimension to the equation. Publications. Research Leader Mary English wrote a chapter in the recently released book Better Environmental Decisions: Strategies for Governments, Businesses, and Communities (Island Press, 1999), which is based on her work with the National Center for Environmental Decision-making Research. English’s chapter, "Environmental Decision Making by Organizations: Choosing the Right Tools," provides an assessment of information gathering and analysis tools and emphasizes the importance of choosing such tools based on the nature of an issue and its social context. The book integrates findings from multiple perspectives and seeks to identify fundamental barriers to—and workable solutions for—environmental decisions. Research Scientist David Feldman, Senior Research Assistant Ruth Anne Hanahan of EERC’s Water Resources Research Center, and independent consultant Dev Joslin coauthored How Policy Makers and the Public Use Risk Information in Environmental Decisions, a report prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Assessments and the Joint Institute for Energy and Environment. The report examines how the character of risk information and the roles and responsibilities of information-users may affect the use of such information. The authors uncover lessons that confirm some claims—and challenge others—made in the risk communication and risk management literature.

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Energy, Environment and Resources Center

The University of Tennessee

Highlights and Initiatives

APRIL 1999

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

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/

Projects. Through the Saturn Land-use Project, EERC Research Scientist Jack Ranney and Research Associate Karen Lorino are devising ways to manage land surrounding Saturn Corp.’s buildings, roads, parking lots, and agricultural fields. In partnership with Saturn’s advisory group and grounds maintenance contractor, the team has established ecological landscaping and widened stream-side buffers to provide better habitat for native wildlife. The project aims to reduce Saturn’s grounds maintenance costs while improving aesthetics and environmental conditions.

Jack Ranney and Graduate Research Assistant Laura Wilks are coordinating a Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) project that examines the effects of development on streams and riparian habitat. The project has inventoried on- and off-site effects of development. In addition, researchers have recorded the type, condition, and adequacy of stormwater and sediment/erosion-control features at sites in Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Sevier counties. The study will identify opportunities to help developers make decisions that will improve small stream and riparian sustainability.

Meetings. In April, EERC’s Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT) hosted representatives from Saturn Corp., General Motors Corp. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In a meeting designed to illustrate the power and value of CCPCT’s Life-Cycle Design Toolkit, CCPCT Director Gary Davis presented an overview of the toolkit, Research Scientist Mary Swanson explained the impact assessment part of the toolkit, and Research Associate Jonathan Overly demonstrated how life-cycle assessment practitioners and designers would use the toolkit. Other CCPCT staff contributed to the dialogue as well. Typically, industry has addressed cost and performance concerns; CCPCT’s toolkit, which analyzes and compares processes used throughout a product’s life cycle, adds an environmental dimension to the equation.

Publications. Research Leader Mary English wrote a chapter in the recently released book Better Environmental Decisions: Strategies for Governments, Businesses, and Communities (Island Press, 1999), which is based on her work with the National Center for Environmental Decision-making Research. English’s chapter, "Environmental Decision Making by Organizations: Choosing the Right Tools," provides an assessment of information gathering and analysis tools and emphasizes the importance of choosing such tools based on the nature of an issue and its social context. The book integrates findings from multiple perspectives and seeks to identify fundamental barriers to—and workable solutions for—environmental decisions.

Research Scientist David Feldman, Senior Research Assistant Ruth Anne Hanahan of EERC’s Water Resources Research Center, and independent consultant Dev Joslin coauthored How Policy Makers and the Public Use Risk Information in Environmental Decisions, a report prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Assessments and the Joint Institute for Energy and Environment. The report examines how the character of risk information and the roles and responsibilities of information-users may affect the use of such information. The authors uncover lessons that confirm some claims—and challenge others—made in the risk communication and risk management literature.

The EERC conducts analytical, unbiased, and multidisciplinary research designed to promote real-world solutions to problems in the fields of energy, environment, technology, and economic development.

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