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Science Meets Service
By David Brill
“Many, if not most of the projects we take on, pose a direct benefit to the public and to private-sector firms through improved efficiency, protection of human and environmental health, and sensible resource use,” says EERC Executive Director Jack Barkenbus. EERC researchers have restored degraded urban waterways, devised native landscapes that beautify manufacturing facilities while reducing environmental impacts, It has evaluated “smart-growth” planning processes that balance economic development with historical and environmental preservation, instructed college educators on techniques central to education for sustainable development, and explored technology and policy options for boosting adoption of alternative-fuel vehicles. EERC’s current projects help industry improve energy efficiency, guide manufacturers to cleaner and greener production processes, and to train Tennessee builders and developers to control sediment and erosion on construction sites.
All business owners recognize that waste—whether it comes in the form of discarded parts and materials or squandered energy—places a drain on the bottom line. But few are equipped with the skills necessary to examine a facility’s major energy-consuming systems and formulate strategies for increasing efficiency. That’s where EERC’s team of energy assessors comes in. Trained in energy-efficiency strategies and equipped with software that models energy systems and identifies inefficiencies, EERC’s energy assessors have examined facilities—ranging from large manufacturing plants to state-run prisons—worldwide. The software system, developed by EERC Senior Research Associate Greg Harrell, integrates the physics of energy with economics and demonstrates in dollars and cents the cost of wasted energy. Harrell has performed energy assessments for more than 15 major industrial clients, including major aluminum and steel producers, the largest petroleum refining companies, many chemical production facilities, and NASA. His work has led him to 19 countries and 30 states. Harrell serves as a lead member of energy management teams for several major corporations. Assessments conducted by one of these teams have identified, in two years, more than $50 million annually in potential energy savings. Harrell’s EERC associate, Jonathan Overly, has performed energy assessments for several state agencies, industrial operations, and prisons in Tennessee. According to Overly, most of the energy savings result from conservation systems that target lighting, heating, and air-conditioning. EERC’s David Doane, a certified energy manager and EERC’s director of energy research, provides energy assessments through the Tennessee State Building Energy Management Program. Energy efficiency at state parks is one current area of Doane’s focus. He is also advocating energy efficiency at institutions of higher education in Tennessee under the auspices of Rebuild America, a program of the U.S. Department of Energy.
EERC’s Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT) also collaborates with industry. But instead of focusing exclusively on wasted energy, CCPCT helps industries adopt cleaner alternatives to chemicals and production processes that pose risk to human health and the environment. Often, environmentally preferable chemical and process alternatives are cheaper to use and equally as effective as the harmful products and processes they replace. And by voluntarily converting to these cleaner chemicals, manufacturers can remain in compliance with environmental regulations. Since its founding in 1992 through a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, CCPCT has collaborated with the electronics, printing, dry-cleaning, upholstered furniture and bedding, and automotive industries helping them evaluate alternative substances and technologies. Much of this work involves use of two powerful analytical tools. Cleaner Technologies Substitutes Assessments (CTSA) compare chemicals currently in use with environmentally preferable alternatives. CCPCT frequently works in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment Program. “Businesses are finding that they can cut costs and improve competitiveness if they consider environmental issues up front as they design products and processes,” says CCPCT researcher Lori Kincaid. “Design for the Environment Program projects try to bring all stakeholders to the table so that both community and business concerns can be addressed.” CCPCT also employs life-cycle analysis (LCA) to assist manufacturers in identifying environmental impacts associated with various aspects of a product’s manufacture, use, and disposal. An LCA involves looking at a product’s life cycle-spanning raw materials acquisition, manufacture, use, and recycling or discard—and assessing energy use, emissions, and effluents associated with each phase of the product’s life. One life-cycle design project teamed CCPCT with auto manufacturer Saturn Corporation and the EPA in a partnership aimed at reducing the life-cycle environmental impacts of automobiles. The two-year project examined ways to help auto designers factor environmental impacts into their overall design decisions when they begin to sculpt the cars of tomorrow. With the click of a computer mouse, CCPCT software allows car designers to identify and compare the environmental impacts associated with use of various materials. “The idea,” says Barkenbus, “is to design pollution out.”
New road-building projects and the development of large subdivisions and industrial parks are encroaching on the Southeast’s forests and fields, and the soil and debris draining from construction sites during heavy rains is causing havoc in the region’s aquatic ecosystems. In fact, a look at Tennessee’s list of polluted streams, rivers, and lakes points to sedimentation as the leading cause of water-quality impairment. In response, Tim Gangaware, assistant director of EERC’s Water Resources Research Center (WRRC), and John Buchanan, an assistant professor in UT’s biosystems engineering, worked with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to develop a certification training course on erosion prevention and sediment control for the construction industry. The course builds on the Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook developed by WRRC and targets everyone involved in land-disturbing activities—including developers and contractors, engineers, those drafting and reviewing stormwater plans, and inspection and enforcement personnel. Since its introduction in 2001, more than 1,800 people have received certification through the program. “Our energy audits, support of cleaner production processes, and efforts to control erosion reflect EERC’s commitment to applying science and technologies in ways that improve the environment, economic competitiveness, and quality of life,” says Barkenbus. “At heart, we are very much a collection of creative, community-focused problem solvers.” |
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