InSites is a quarterly newsletter that highlights the personalities and projects of the Waste Management Research and Education Institute (WMREI) of The University of Tennessee. WMREI is an affiliate of the EERC.
WMREI was created in 1985 as a state-funded Center of Excellence. Research areas include solid-, hazardous-, and nuclear-waste management; waste minimization; and pollution prevention.
Biotechnology is the focal point of the institute's technical research, while issues involving public attitudes and federal/state policies related to waste-management issues are the primary concerns of the institute's policy research.
For additional information about InSites, or to be added to our mailing list, please write InSites, WMREI, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, call 865-974-1156, or fax 865-974-1838. Or, if you prefer, e-mail Constance Griffith cbgriffith@utk.edu.
Table of Contents
Water,
Water Everywhere -- But Not For Long By
David Brill Middle
East Meets West By
Janice S. Clifford CEB
Wins Second Research Award from Dow Murky
WATERS By Elise LeQuire Driving
toward Tomorrow By Janice S. Clifford Staff
Citings
Water, Water Everywhere-But not for Long
The Southeast, a region endowed with hydrological riches, is beginning to experience user conflicts that cross political jurisdictions. A UT researcher believes that now is the time to still the waters.
By David Brill
It's safe to assume that Benjamin Franklin didn't have southeastern water supply in mind when he coined the now famous aphorism "an ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure." But water experts paraphrased Franklin frequently in citing justification for the Southeast Water Supply Roundtable, held November 8-10 in Peachtree City, a suburb south of Atlanta.
"There is a perception that this is a water-rich region, but the dramatic growth our area is experiencing in cities like Atlanta is intensifying competition for limited water resources," says David Feldman, roundtable organizer and a senior research scientist with the University of Tennessee's (UT) Energy, Environment and Resources Center (EERC).
EERC, an affiliate of UT's Waste Management Research and Education Institute, organized the event with assistance from Stewart, Wright & Associates, a consulting firm based in Knoxville. Roundtable sponsors included UT, Appalachian Regional Commission, Southern States Energy Board, Tennessee Valley Authority, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Region IV, U.S. Forest Service, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
Feldman and co-organizers set out several overarching goals for the three-day meeting: to educate participants about effective strategies for meeting future water challenges, to motivate participants to return to their states and communities and begin the process of applying these strategies, and to develop a charter for long-term dialogue-including an action plan with prioritized strategies.
Feldman envisions the roundtable as an ongoing forum devoted to gathering and spreading information pertaining to water issues facing the Southeast. He also expects the roundtable to help guide policymakers, water users, and regulators in carrying out the strategies identified at the meeting.
(For information on other water-related issues facing the Southeast, see "Murky Waters," in this issue of InSites.)
Water is Life
Water is the lifeblood of the Southeast, and for other regions as well, providing the basis for agriculture, energy production, industry, recreation, transportation, and a diversity of flora and fauna. The region's water supply is also a finite and threatened resource, says Feldman, and growing conflicts make it difficult to protect water quality while maintaining economic development.
"One of the primary goals of the roundtable is to find ways to anticipate impending problems before they arise and before they become so contentious that they may be difficult to address in a rational and detached perspective," Feldman says. "We can avert problems now much easier and at less cost than we can solve them later."
More than 100 participants, drawn from industry; state, federal, and local government; and citizen and environmental groups articulated a series of strategies for addressing the region's current and future water problems. The strategies explored a number of themes, including conservation, education, planning, conflict resolution, and data gathering and assessment. Participants then identified impediments to implementation of these strategies as well as mechanisms and processes that might overcome those obstacles.
For instance, to promote water conservation, the group called for:
Development and adoption of rate structures for water that promote reduced usage.
Use of water audits to determine consumption levels among various users.
Provision of reliable, user-friendly, and economical conservation devices, among them, low-flow appliances used by business, industry, agriculture, and residents.
Retention of water via wetlands, devices that trap and store storm water, and agricultural water harvesting (a process that stores flood waters for later use).
Education the Keystone
Among impediments to these strategies, the group cited the absence of a perceived sense of urgency in a region known to be water rich, the lack of political will and public awareness, a dearth of information clearly demonstrating the region's water-related problems, the presence of lobbying efforts against water conservation, and the lack of mechanisms to support interjurisdictional cooperation.
To overcome these barriers, the group recommended, among other measures, using education to build bottom-up support for conservation efforts, building coalitions among agencies and citizens to generate support for conservation initiatives, and establishing links to political leaders and enhancing their awareness of the need for conservation.
Series of Steps
The roundtable built on the results of "Southeast Water Resources: Management and Supply," a symposium held in Chattanooga in August of 1998. The event, also organized by EERC, drew 180 regional water specialists and others (See "Protecting the Southeast's Liquid Assets," InSites, Vol. 6, No. 4) who discussed population growth, interstate conflicts over allocation, competition between urban and rural users, threats to instream quality caused by water withdrawals, and the interrelationship between water quality and quantity. (For information on individual case studies and other symposium presentations, see "Talking on Water," InSites, Vol. 6, No. 4.)
In September, roundtable organizers convened a meeting of high-level decision makers and scientists to discuss the region's current and future water-supply issues.
This "core group" was asked to analyze problems, issues, and concerns; discuss strategies for addressing them; identify regional or interjurisdictional mechanisms or institutions for facilitating strategy development; and identify who should be responsible for implementing the strategies. The outcomes from this meeting were used to frame the discussions at the November roundtable.
The Long Haul
Feldman regards the roundtable as a success but also recognizes that the meeting, along with the 1998 symposium, represents the early stages of a long-term process.
"While various individuals, groups, and institutions are addressing aspects of the water problems facing our region, we need a single entity to promote a comprehensive, integrated framework for managing those problems," says Feldman. "This roundtable will provide a permanent forum for governmental and nongovernmental decision makers to identify the region's high-priority needs, suggest specific actions for addressing them, and assign and coordinate the roles all must play in carrying them out."
As scientists, policymakers, and concerned citizens develop responses to the Southeast's water woes, they might take to heart another of Benjamin Franklin's sayings-one that directly addresses the theme of water supply.
"When the well's dry," Franklin wrote, "we know the worth of water."
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For more information or for a copy of the report on the roundtable proceedings contact: David Feldman, EERC, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, or call 865-974-4251.
The semiarid Persian Gulf and the verdant hills of East Tennessee differ significantly in climate and culture, but environmental microbiologists are finding ways to bridge the gap.
By Janice S. Clifford
A Middle Eastern researcher recently found hope for addressing some of his country's environmental woes through the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's (UTK) Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB). In a two-week research mission, Abdul Hashem, a professor of microbiology from King Saud University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, examined CEB's research into the use of microorganisms to degrade pollutants in soil and water.
Because the Gulf region is rich in mineral and natural resources-chiefly oil-Hashem is primarily interested in the use of microorganisms that are capable of detecting and cleaning up pollutants such as petroleum and heavy metals. Part of what drew Hashem to CEB was the center's research into engineered treatment organisms and bioluminescent microbes. (See "Critters on a Chip," InSites, Vol. 5, No. 4 and "Science Meets Sludge," InSites, Vol. 6, No. 3).
Gaining information on biotechnology is not the only reason for Hashem's visit to the United States. He also hopes to establish a collaborative research program between his home university and UTK. CEB Director Gary Sayler also supports this effort. "Collaboration with King Saud University would be a great opportunity for UTK and CEB to gain not only a more global perspective for its research program and technologies, but access to a pool of well-educated students for graduate training in environmental science and biotechnology," says Sayler.
Like UTK, King Saud University-with a total enrollment of more than 25,000 students-is a primary research institute. Hashem says a collaborative exchange program would encourage development of new applications of biotechnology while targeting pollution in the Gulf region.
Collaborative Bent
Hashem admired not only the level of CEB's science but the degree of collaboration among UTK's various colleges, government organizations, and private industries. For example, in one such effort, CEB worked closely with the Institute of Agriculture-which comprises the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Agricultural Extension Service-to evaluate how a soil's microbial communities are affected by crops and manure (See "Fields of Dreams," InSites, Vol. 7, No. 3).
In a more recent initiative, UTK's Environment, Natural Resources, and Species Preservation (ENSP) focus group is forming partnerships within the university and with such organizations as the Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) to support environmental sustainability through research and policy.
"An example of one such partnership is the UTK/ORNL collaboration that resulted in obtaining EPA permission for the world's first field testing of genetically modified microorganisms for use in bioremediation," Sayler says.
Hashem and his colleagues recognize that all sectors must combine forces if they are to effectively combat environmental and human health risks. The Gulf region has lacked such a collaborative drive, says Hashem, "which makes progress in solving our environmental problems slow and difficult."
As a first step toward addressing environmental concerns through collaboration, the Gulf region will host an international Doha-Qatar Conference in 2001 to examine water-security problems stemming from petroleum production, sewage treatment, and mining. If solutions are not forthcoming, the arid to semiarid region faces severe water shortages within the next 20 to 25 years.
Saudi Arabia, already dependent on desalination for much of its drinking water, faces critical water shortages from further domestic, industrial, and agricultural pollution of its water supply. The technology to address and remediate such pollution must come from countries such as the United States and organizations like CEB, Hashem says, because of the Gulf's out-of-date technology and negligible collaborative efforts.
Beating the Heat
While Hashem and his colleagues regard bioremediation as an attractive alternative to more conventional cleanup technologies, the Gulf region poses challenges not typically addressed in CEB's bioremediation research. For example, the region's arid climate and elevated temperatures may alter or negate the effectiveness of many of CEB's beneficial microorganisms, while the migration of pollutants and soil permeability present other unique challenges.
Sayler believes the unique natural history of the Gulf region, though it presents significant challenges, offers an opportunity for his students and researchers to develop heat-resistant microbes, thus expanding the center's biotechnological arsenal. Discovering how the environment will affect CEB's current collection of microorganisms is of particular importance to a collaboration, Sayler says.
Unique Field Experience
Through collaborative exchange, Saudi Arabia will benefit from an influx of modern technologies and ideas in bioremediation. CEB students, on the other hand, will gain a natural laboratory that displays a distinctive combination of temperature, soil composition, aridity, and pollution.
Although Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region face unique environmental concerns, research by CEB and King Saud University stands to benefit other areas of the world as well. Causes of pollution are seldom confined to a single source, and efforts to correct such problems will be most effective if they, too, as Professor Hashem proposes, are resolved through many minds focused on one problem.
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For more information contact Gary Sayler, CEB, The University of Tennessee,676 Dabney Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996-1605, or call 865-974-8080.
CEB Wins Second Research Award from Dow
This past June, Gary Sayler, who directs the University of Tennessee's Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB), received a $25,000 grant from the Dow Chemical Company Foundation to support the CEB's work in human health and environmental sciences.
This marks the second consecutive year Sayler and CEB have received a research award from the Dow foundation.
CEB received the funds from the foundation's SPHERE (Supporting Public Health and Environmental Research Efforts) program, which aims to foster understanding within the nonindustrial community of the many health and environmental issues facing the chemical industry.
"There's a clear link between work we do here at CEB and the foundation's mission. Both organizations are interested in learning about the fate and effects of synthetic chemicals in the environment," says Sayler.
The Dow Foundation's SPHERE program recognizes nonindustrial research institutions that are conducting leading-edge research in health, safety, and the environment. The foundation was created in 1979 to fund science programs at secondary schools; in 1996 its mission was broadened to include science, engineering, and business programs at universities. Dow Chemical Company supplies chemicals, plastics, energy and agricultural products, consumer goods, and environmental services worldwide.
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Laws on the books are failing to control damage to Tennessee's waterways, and research suggests that construction practices are among the main culprits
By Elise LeQuire
Urban runoff, industrial and municipal discharges, and contamination from chemical spills, septic tanks, and mining pose serious threats to the health of Tennessee's waterways. But habitat modification is the major source of pollution, accounting for about 25 percent of all river impairment, according to a 1998 report by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).
Indeed, rapid development is converting agricultural lands to commercial, industrial, and residential uses and having a profound effect on watersheds in four counties in eastern Tennessee.
"Agricultural changes have wiped out many small stream headwaters, and construction adds to the problem," says Jack Ranney, a senior research scientist at the University of Tennessee's (UT) Energy, Environment and Resources Center (EERC). Ranney recently completed a preliminary assessment of the damage to small stream riparian habitat from construction practices that are poorly regulated and difficult to enforce. He is presenting the results of his research to UT's Waste Management Research and Education Institute and TDEC. Several environmental groups and communities are eagerly awaiting the publication of his findings.
Ranney has documented serious adverse impacts at more than half of 56 new construction sites along development corridors in four counties-Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Sevier.
"A staggering 51 percent of erosion control devices displayed advanced disrepair or were ineffective," he says. The majority of the affected sites were being converted from rural to commercial use.
Poor sediment control and destruction of riparian habitat result in damage to already stressed ecosystems. Moreover, as bulldozers prepare the land for construction, stormwater runoff erodes stream banks, and sedimentation clogs waterways. Destruction of vegetation and alteration of stream flow affect the entire ecosystem; dramatically alter the movement of squirrels, skunks, and other wildlife; and leave a reduced and dissected stream corridor system, Ranney says.
In one particularly bad example, a construction site was left unstabilized for months, and sediment was draining directly into a cave opening.
"If there was a cave ecosystem down there, it's long gone," Ranney says.
Who's in Charge?
A number of federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have specific regulatory powers over endangered species, wetlands, and waterways that provide electric power and flood control. But Tennessee's Water Quality Control Act of 1977 specifies that "the waters of Tennessee are the property of the state and are held in public trust for the use of the people of the state" (Tennessee Code Annotated 693102). As a consequence, the state's Division of Water Pollution Control regulates construction activities that affect the quality of Tennessee waters.
"TDEC has jurisdiction if a site will disturb more than five acres, but it's illegal even for sites of less than five acres to discharge sediment into state waters," says TDEC biologist Jonathon Burr. TDEC issues National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for stormwater discharges associated with construction activities.
Siltation and suspended solids account for 38 percent of all river impairment in the state, according to TDEC's 1998 report on the status of water quality. "Sediment is a pollutant," Burr says, because it limits the amount of light in waterways, which interferes with photosynthesis and reproduction of aquatic life. Sediment also makes it difficult for fish to find their prey.
Trouble Upstream
Water quality has improved dramatically in the rivers of Tennessee in the past 15 years. In 1984, for instance, only 50 percent of the state's streams and rivers were suitable for uses designated by the 1997 federal Clean Water Act, including navigation, irrigation, recreation, and support of fish and aquatic life. By 1998, that figure had risen to 72 percent. But initial cleanup efforts focused primarily on larger waterways and pointsource discharges from municipal and industrial sources. Ranney's research sheds valuable light on the lesser known impacts of development on wet-weather conveyances, small streams, and wetlands.
"Small streams and riparian drains represent 50 percent of the lineal area of watersheds," Ranney says, "so what goes on there has a huge impact on the entire watershed." Ranney has documented numerous serious violations of NPDES regulations on the 56 sites he has assessed. These violations include sediment runoff from improperly installed siltation fences, destruction of riparian areas, lack of filtration fences, no buffer zone, and sediment fences in disrepair. This is occurring as riparian corridors are becoming choked with invasive pest plants such as privet.
Some of the worst impacts were observed in Sevier County, where development is occurring in the Little Pigeon River floodplain. Overall, 30 percent of these sites had no sediment control, and riparian areas were completely destroyed in two-thirds of the sites.
"It really doesn't need to be that bad," Ranney says.
In fact, there were notable exceptions to the rampant instances of poor erosion control. Ranney cites one project in Blount County that was 85 to 90 percent effective at limiting sediment runoff during construction of an expansion of Heritage High School. Kurt Kilburn, project manager at H + M Construction Company in Jacksonville, Tennessee, which is responsible for installation of erosion-control devices for the project, says the state is trying to be stricter in terms of sediment control and reducing the amount of silt that invades neighboring properties. In planning erosion control, the contractor works from drawings by civil engineers that show where barriers, silt fences, and hay bales need to be placed on the construction site.
The success of sediment control, however, depends to a certain extent on the expertise of the earth movers. "The grading contractor is the expert, but there is little training for equipment operators," Kilburn says. "We have to rely on the reputation of the grading contractors." Observing best-management practices is more expensive in the short run, but cheaper in the long term, according to Kilburn.
"It's better to spend a little on the front end of a project to avoid lawsuits or state fines," he says.
To developers, existing regulations may seem burdensome. But Ranney says a new approach is needed to these regulations, an approach that is ecologically grounded rather than based on strictly physical, chemical, and engineering solutions to sediment control.
"Biological reasons for regulations frequently become lost in the process of fulfilling minimum engineering requirements," he says. More regulation is not likely to remedy the situation, however, especially since TDEC can't keep up with current violations. In the entire 17-county region of eastern Tennessee, only three employees respond to some 300 complaints about erosion and physical alterations each year.
Though fines for violations of NPDES regulations can run as high as $10,000, this is just a drop in the bucket for some large contractors. For enforcement to be more effective, it has to be quicker and more financially devastating, Burr says.
Moreover, the enforcement system was originally set up for point-source pollution, not nonpoint source pollution. "It's very hard to regulate at the local level. We need new methods and new weapons to address these issues," Burr says.
One strong weapon is education. TDEC works closely with contractors who apply for a permit. The goal is to find economically and ecologically sound solutions to site development. "We give free technical advice and have a brochure available," Burr says. The brochure, the Riparian Restoration and Streamside Erosion Control Handbook, outlines ecologically sound approaches to understanding stream dynamics, maintaining and restoring riparian zones, stabilizing stream banks, and using native vegetation and bioengineering to control erosion and provide wildlife habitat.
A Day Late
Ranney's research has produced disturbing results in terms of the amount of damage to streams and riparian habitat from construction activities. The Knox County sites alone lost more than two-thirds of the riparian habitat in the observed construction corridors, an area amounting to more than a million square feet. In the other three counties, nearly three-fourths of the habitat was destroyed along wet-weather conveyances-streams small enough to jump across-and larger streams. Damage included siltation, scouring within riparian vegetation or stream channels, and obvious destruction of habitat.
Clearly, development is outpacing the ability of the state to enforce violations. Ranney's research has suggested several new policy directions. State and local authorities, along with concerned citizens, need to work together to improve the quality of Tennessee's stream headwaters and riparian habitat and prevent further, irreversible, damage. For example, policymakers should consider the following recommendations:
Boosting citizen awareness may be the best weapon against further destruction of streams, wetlands, and riparian habitat. Burr says it would behoove the counties of Tennessee to designate one person at the local level to shut violators down. If citizens understand that they are paying the costs of violations, they will be more likely to support local enforcement efforts.
"Every scrap of sediment that leaves the site affects the taxpayer," Ranney says. "It clogs ditches and culverts and causes bank erosion. The taxpayer pays for cleaning up the mess."
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For more information contact Jack Ranney, EERC, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, or call 865-974-3938.
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Next-generation automobiles boast new materials and hybrid power sources. But does "new" mean better for the environment? UT researchers say, "Maybe."
By Janice S. Clifford
At the 6th Annual Environmental Vehicles and Alternative Fuels Conference in Michigan in June 1998, Thomas Gross, deputy assistant secretary for transportation technologies for the U.S. Department of Energy, addressed some of the world's top automotive engineers. He estimated that, by 2050, there would be approximately 4.5 billion vehicles on the road worldwide (compared to some 670 million vehicles on the road today).
Gross explained that, "while those numbers might be exciting to car makers, they also pose serious problems for the environment and for the world's economy." He went on to describe these problems as "the coming storm," which will require a continuing partnership between government and industry. One notable example of such collaboration is the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program, a collaborative venture involving the federal government (seven agencies and 19 federal laboratories) and several car manufacturers (DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and General Motors).
The PNGV's primary goals are to produce clean, highly fuel-efficient automobiles. As a part of this initiative, both Ford and DaimlerChrysler have introduced concept vehicles: Ford's P2000 and DaimlerChrysler's ESX2. Both are diesel-electric hybrids.
Because the two vehicles are not yet realities, the researchers assumed that their power trains would function by running primarily on diesel and using electric power during times when greater power is needed. Electric batteries are not charged externally. Instead, they rely mostly on the vehicles' regenerative systems during operation. The electrical system would typically operate the automobile's heating and cooling systems.
Crisis and Opportunity
The University of Tennessee's Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT) treats the coming storm in the transportation industry as less of a crisis and more of an opportunity. CCPCT's projects traditionally seek to assist federal, state, and private organizations, such as the PNGV, in their efforts to evaluate the performance, economic viability, and environmental benefits of cleaner products and technologies.
CCPCT projects have as their goal the prevention of environmental and human health burdens through the design of cleaner manufacturing processes and the reuse of materials. CCPCT researchers Rajive Dhingra and Jonathan Overly recently completed a life-cycle evaluation of Ford's and DaimlerChrysler's diesel-electric hybrid vehicles as part of research being conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the PNGV's initiative.
CCPCT researchers use a combination of life-cycle assessments (LCAs), cleaner technologies substitutes assessments (CTSAs), and demonstrations to critique the environmental performance of a wide range of products and processes. LCAs evaluate the effects of a product throughout its life cycle in terms of its energy and resource use and impacts on air, soil, and water quality. These assessments examine products and processes throughout all life-cycle stages, including extraction and materials processing, manufacturing, product use, and disposal or recycling. In this case, the researchers' focus fell on diesel-electric cars.
Clean Machines?
The evaluation of Ford's P2000 and Chrysler's ESX2 compared the two diesel-electric hybrid vehicles to a generic American-made 1994 vehicle in the same class as the Ford Taurus and the Chrysler Concorde. Dhingra and Overly examined the energy consumed, solid waste generated, and air emissions produced by the two hybrid cars during extraction and materials processing; manufacturing; use, including fuel production; and disposal, recycling, and/or reuse. For this evaluation, the study defined the life of a vehicle as 120,000 miles of service.
Although there was an increase in energy use in the extraction-and-materials-processing stage for the hybrid automobiles, the researchers found that, compared with a typical gasoline-powered American-made automobile, the hybrid vehicles could potentially achieve a 55-percent reduction in energy use over the life of the vehicle. This reduction was due mainly to higher fuel efficiency. The increase in energy use during the extraction-and-materials-processing stage was primarily due to the use of newer materials, which were found to be more energy intensive than conventional materials.
The hybrid vehicles produced fewer overall carbon-based emissions and were more fuel-efficient, but they also generated more solid waste than the comparison vehicle because of the use of new materials that are either more difficult to produce or dispose of. Dhingra and Overly point out that, if the manufacturing process used materials with higher recycled content, energy savings would be greater, and solid waste could be reduced.
The researchers found that the hybrid vehicles could reduce contributions to global climate change because they emit smaller amounts of certain greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane, than do conventional automobiles. However, emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, which potentially are more readily harmful to humans, would likely increase due to the use of a diesel-based engine. "We do not regard this as an equitable trade-off environmentally," says Dhingra. "Though greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, the increases in nitrogen oxides and particulate matter need to be addressed before it can be concluded that these new cars outperform conventional cars in terms of environmental emissions."
Potential increases in certain air emissions and solid waste are not the only environmental issues associated with the production and use of diesel-electric hybrids. "Increased use of diesel engines and fuel will pose a potential increase in water and soil pollution and the costs associated with their cleanup," says Wayne Clifford, a geologist with Tennessee's Department of Environment and Conservation.
Although gasoline spills are more likely than diesel spills to migrate into groundwater, gasoline is easier to clean up in-situ from both soil and water. Diesel, which is heavier, less volatile, and less mobile than gasoline, tends to stay in the soil. Diesel spills saturate the soil at the site of the spill and accumulate there. According to Clifford, it is difficult to treat soil contaminated by diesel in situ."In fact," he says,"soils contaminated with diesel fuels are most often excavated and disposed of at a permitted facility."
Future Hurdles
According to Dhingra and Overly, the extraction and materials processing life-cycle stage presents the greatest challenge in reducing the environmental impacts associated with the hybrid cars.
In fact, because of the use of new, energy intensive lightweight materials-among them, titanium and magnesium-and increased use of aluminum, which is one of the most energy-intensive conventional materials, hybrid vehicles present the potential for significant increases in energy use, air emissions, and solid waste at the extraction and materials processing stage when compared with a conventional automobile.
These increases could be averted or reduced if manufacturers used materials with higher recycled content or used alternative materials that do not have such negative upstream environmental effects. Development of new technologies to recover and recycle materials at the end-of-life stage could also significantly reduce the amount of solid waste.
But reducing the cost of the new vehicles may be as critical to their success as reducing their environmental impacts, according to Dhingra and Overly. DaimlerChrysler estimates the current production cost of the ESX2 at $15,000 over a conventional vehicle, although this is down from the original cost overrun of $60,000.
"In general, hybrid-electric vehicles show promise as they increase overall energy efficiency," says Overly."However, certain problems associated with diesel-based power trains still need to be addressed before diesel-electric hybrid cars can prove their supremacy over conventional vehicles."
The CCPCT study shows that innovations produced by the PNGV program are on the right track. But it also suggests that there's still ample room for improvement in design and production of next-generation cars. Dhingra and Overly hope to continue their research into alternative fuels, advanced fuel-cell and battery technologies, and the use of composite carbon fibers in manufacturing.
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For more information contact Jonathan Overly or Rajive Dhingra, EERC, The University of Tennessee, 311 Conference Center Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-4134, or call 865-974-4251.
APPOINTMENTS.
Jack Barkenbus, executive director of the Energy, Environment and Resources Center (EERC), was recently appointed to head a UT committee on the environment. The panel will examine re-use and recycling, landscape ecology, transportation, energy efficiency, and procurement for ways to improve campus-wide sustainability. Among UT experts named to the committee are EERC Research Leader Mary English, who will craft environmental policy, and Senior Research Associate Catherine Wilt, past president of the National Recycling Coalition, who will head a task force on recycling.
Rosalyn McKeown-Ice, director of the EERC's Center for Geography and Environmental Education, has been appointed secretariat of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair at York University in Ontario, Canada. This program seeks to reorient teacher training globally to address sustainable development through the collaborative work of an international network of teacher education institutions. McKeown-Ice will coordinate the overall research program and publications of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair from her office at EERC.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS.
Maria Socolof, a senior research associate with EERC's Center for Clean Products and Clean Technology (CCPCT), and CCPCT Research Associate Jonathan Overly recently traveled to Japan to meet with nearly a dozen manufacturers of various components of cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal display (LCD) computer monitors. Socolof and Overly visited such companies as Sony, Sharp, and Hoshiden-Phillips and collected environmental life-cycle inventory data for CCPCT's ongoing Computer Display Project. In addition, the researchers demonstrated CCPCT's methods of life-cycle assessment and introduced the Life-Cycle Design Toolkit to companies interested in working with the center on life-cycle-based product studies.
WORKSHOPS.
EERC's Water Resources Research Center is co-sponsoring a series of Watershed Improvement Workshops for members of local watershed associations. The first workshop, held at Knoxville's Ijams Nature Center in July, surveyed state and federal water-resource improvement programs. In the second workshop, held recently at Brookhaven Farm in Seymour, Senior Research Scientist David Feldman defined the watershed concept and recommended strategies for protecting and improving area rivers; Graduate Research Assistant Jeff Duncan discussed types of pollution, their sources, and best management practices; and Associate Director Tim Gangaware explained how to conduct field inventories for watershed assessments.
CONFERENCES.
Jack Barkenbus and Mary English recently participated in Bringing the Pieces Together-A Conference on Growth Policy in Tennessee. The Nashville conference, hosted by UT's Institute for Public Service, was designed to help community leaders develop growth policy principles, partnerships, and plans that will serve community needs.
