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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Cost Benefit Analysis for Sustainable Energy Building Upgrades at Safety Rest Areas and Travel Information Centers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2427793</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) manages 47 Class I Safety Rest Areas (SRAs) and Travel Information Centers (TICs) throughout the State of Minnesota. Many of these SRA and TIC buildings are equipped with outdated/inefficient mechanical and electrical systems. Therefore, the implementation of cost-effective sustainable energy building upgrades for these SRAs and TICs holds the potential to achieve multiple benefits. These upgrades would not only result in reduced energy consumption and lower energy bills but also decreased maintenance and operation costs for these facilities. Additionally, they would play a crucial role in minimizing the associated greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of this project is to develop a Decision Support Tool (DST) that enables to automatically conduct a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis for all 47 SRAs and TICs and to assess the feasibility of implementing energy-efficient building upgrades at each facility. Ultimately, this tool will allow MnDOT to prioritize investment levels among these facilities based on their individual potential for improvement.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 13 Sep 2024 17:06:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2427793</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Evaluation of Renewable Sources to Power MDT- Owned Buildings and Facilities</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2016355</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Montana is a large state with large potential for the development of renewable energy. MDT has an obligation to the taxpayers to make responsible choices in the investment of resources. Implementing renewable projects can reduce agency operational costs, and those cost reductions can be allocated to other essential agency activities. There are tangible economic benefits associated with renewable resources. Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are an efficient source of energy. The PV systems contain no moving parts, are silent, very durable and reliable, and are low maintenance. Wind turbines are increasingly common. Heat pumps are becoming more efficient in cold temperature environments. 

The proposed study includes the following: (1) Evaluate the cost effectiveness for MDT to invest in renewable energy sources to offset MDT energy use and to increase efficiency. (2) Evaluate MDT identified facilities, buildings and rest areas with highest renewable energy generation potential. (3) Determine electrical and heating loads from historical data sets. (4) Determine the renewable source that has the highest likelihood for success at the buildings, but also rank all renewable resources considered based on lifecycle and economics. Each financial analysis shall include all potential grants or rebate programs. (5) If the evaluation determines a technology that is not PV related is the most economically efficient system, propose a design for a MDT specified office/maintenance building and rest area in collaboration with MDT.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2022 13:14:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2016355</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Green Mobility in Texas: Comparative Environmental Impacts and Lifecycle Cost Analysis of Hybrid, Electric, and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1948653</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Compared to gasoline/diesel cars and battery electric cars (BECs), hydrogen fuel cell cars (HFCCs) are relatively new. Two main advantages of HFCCs over electric vehicles are no special requirements for heavy battery and long charging time. There is no HFCC in Texas; thus, exploring the use of electricity or hydrogen produced from renewable energies for personal cars and mitigating vehicle emissions is critical for sustaining a long-term decarburization strategy for megacities like Houston and Dallas under different energy scenarios. The proposed project would address this critical gap and develop environmental impacts and cost assessments for hybrid cars, BECs, and HFCCs in Texas under several possible energy scenarios from now to 2040 using some tools of lifecycle assessment (LCA) and lifecycle cost analysis (LCCA). The carbon footprint of BECs and HFCCs will be determined with respect to the transport, logistics, and supply chain sectors. A new lifecycle cost model for BECs and HFCCs will be designed with the consideration of some uncertainties of renewable resources and vehicle demands. Faculty working on this research will integrate LCA as an important focus area for all senior and graduate-level civil and environmental engineering courses. These students will also be introduced to the techniques of well-to-wheel analysis and production cost evaluation for renewable energy-powered vehicles.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 May 2022 05:57:10 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1948653</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Potential Use of Renewable Diesel for Transportation in Texas and its Environmental Impacts under Uncertainties Caused by COVID-19</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1904909</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Compared to biodiesel, renewable diesel is a relatively new biofuel that can also be used for diesel vehicles. Some advantages of renewable diesel over biodiesel are no special requirements for the vehicle, cold startup, and fuel storage. There is no renewable diesel plant in Texas, and no action is being considered on renewable diesel application for Texas’ transportation. The proposed project would address this critical gap and develop environmental life cycle and cost assessments to produce renewable diesel in Texas and its local applications in transportation. A novel and key component of this work would be the development of a decision-making tool that would help determine where the renewable diesel processing plant should be built. Life cycle emissions of renewable diesel used for short-haul and long-haul trucking in Texas will be evaluated with the GREET model, a life cycle assessment (LCA) tool. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) of renewable diesel production in Texas will also be carried out with the consideration for some uncertainties of seasonal bioresource availability, transportation, and fuel production. The decision-making tool developed in this study would help the biofuel industry to make the decision on the development of renewable diesel in Texas. Faculty working on this research will integrate LCA as an important focus area for all senior and graduate-level civil and environmental engineering courses. These students will also be introduced to the techniques of well-to-wheel analysis and production cost evaluation for renewable fuels.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2022 13:45:28 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1904909</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>SPR-4509: A Strategic Assessment of Needs and Opportunities for Wider Adoption of Electric Vehicles in Indiana</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1723539</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The project will investigate the challenges and opportunities associated with the provision of appropriate infrastructure to support electric vehicle (EV) operations and develop a strategic plan for Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) that involves new business opportunities by developing EV charging stations and related infrastructure systems and technologies that are synergistic with EV operations, including connected and autonomous vehicles, and shared transportation.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2020 12:53:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1723539</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Electric Vehicle &amp; Alternative Fuels Technical Assistance Program 
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1371014</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objective of this research project is to administer a Pooled Fund to accelerate and promote the use of alternative vehicle and fuel technologies.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2015 16:20:26 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1371014</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Oil Extraction from Non-Food Oilseeds for Renewable Fuel Production</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1368944</link>
      <description><![CDATA[No summary provided.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2015 15:46:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1368944</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Oil Extraction from Oilseeds for Renewable Aviation Fuel Production</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1368942</link>
      <description><![CDATA[No summary provided.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2015 15:42:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1368942</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Renewable Hydrocarbon Fuels from Catalytic Pyrolysis of Lignocellulosic Biomass</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1367885</link>
      <description><![CDATA[No summary provided.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2015 15:06:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1367885</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Sustainable Technology Laboratory</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1367875</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Sustainable Technologies Laboratory in BEE Department was started by the research team leader with a vision to develop environmentally benign and sustainable bioprocess technologies for processing renewable bioresources.  Utilizing a combination of startup funds and grants, the laboratory was equipped with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen (CHN) Elemental analyzer, water baths, fermenters, photobioreactors, 1200 L algae pond and other miscellaneous equipment.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:44:31 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1367875</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Online Demonstration and Measurement of Renewable Energy Technologies</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1363832</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project will create a real-time energy monitoring tool to measure and report the impacts of renewable energy projects throughout Pennsylvania. Monitoring equipment will be installed at selected sites, resulting in measurements of petroleum savings, energy use, cost savings, and CO&amp;#8322; emissions avoided. This information will be provided to the public on an intuitive and informational web site that is designed to grow over time to include information from a large number of projects in the region. The system will be a valuable teaching tool for extension educators, providing a platform for renewable energy education to farmers, institutional managers, homeowners, and K-12 students, among others. Educational program material will be developed to utilize this resource and maximize its usefulness. It will also serve to showcase the region's efforts towards improving the energy sustainability of the northeast. The measured data will also be stored and made available for investigations into the implementation-scale performance of renewable energy systems. Alternative and renewable energy has become an area of great interest and importance in the northeast, largely as a result of increasing energy prices and concerns for the energy security of the nation. Many new and established renewable energy technologies have the potential to play an important part in the state's energy economy. However, there is a general lack of knowledge about actual performance of such systems, and people are naturally cautious about committing to new technologies that are unproven or unconventional. A great need exists to provide clear, unbiased, real-world measurements of renewable energy systems in such a way that allows people to understand the actual benefits and drawbacks of these systems.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2015 01:00:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1363832</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Online Courses on Biorenewable Resources and on Engineering Sustainability</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1363816</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The two courses to be developed will directly impact the Biobased Products and Bioenergy graduate certificate program at Kansas State University. The core course will provide a coordinated interdisciplinary overview of the field. The course on engineering sustainability will quantitatively address the sustainability issues necessary for informed engineering decisions. These courses and the graduate certificate program as a whole will have significant value to industrial practitioners. Online delivery will be particularly valuable for those individuals who are not located near a college or university. With the mix of these two courses and the coursework at Kansas State University already available via distance education, the potential exists for individuals to complete the graduate certificate through the Division of Continuing Education. Thus, all of the opportunities above would be available to the entire South Central Sun Grant region. In addition to the courses that will be developed, the outcomes will also be communicated at a national professional conference. Publication of at least three papers, one on each course as well as part of a graduate capstone course, are anticipated in engineering education journals.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2015 01:00:39 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1363816</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Techno-Economic Analyses of Large-Scale Electric Vehicle Systems</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1353341</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project has developed computer models to evaluate the techno economic implications of a large-scale electrified transportation sector. The model factors include developing a network of EVs and the electric grid, developing the infrastructure for EV charging, integrating the transportation and power systems into the urban setting, studying the impact of distributed energy storage and determining the economic impact of increased renewable energy and EVs on the electricity grid. The current research focuses upon several innovative aspects of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging and grid feedback. Results are presented in four papers. Results show that energy storage and reactive power supplied by EVs through V2G operation can be coordinated to provide voltage support, thus reducing the need of grid reinforcement and active power curtailment and in turn improving EV charging capacity of the overall system. An optimization and control framework is needed to manage energy storage while using the remaining capacity of V2G to generate reactive power and cooperatively perform voltage control. The resilience analyses of power grid with a high level of renewable and EV penetration has been investigated. To present this result, a resiliency index was used that will capture the total loads which cannot be supplied under line removal due to extreme weather conditions. Using this index, a control strategy based on line switching is proposed to minimize the total load shedding and to guarantee the power delivery to critical loads due to line outages. This project and its V2G results have a very broad scope and implications.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2015 01:00:36 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1353341</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Effect of Electric Vehicles on Power System Expansion and Operation</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1353340</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project examined the effects of electric vehicles (EVs) on Hawaii’s electricity systems and their operation and expansion. The tasks include four interrelated parts: (1) benchmarking an open-source power system planning model previously developed by University of Hawaii researchers against an industry-standard production cost model; (2) evaluating the benefits of scheduling EV charging at optimal times each day; (3) calculating the technical requirements and costs of electric grid infrastructure to serve different types of vehicle fleets; and (4) estimating battery duty cycles for grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid applications.  ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2015 01:00:36 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1353340</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Development and Field Testing of a Highly Sensitive Mercaptans Instrument</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1261697</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The main objectives of this research project are to develop and field test a new, portable low-cost instrument to measure hydrogen sulfites and mercaptans, routinely encountered in liquid propane, natural gas, renewable natural gas, biogas, landfill gas and other gases. The instrument will allow detection and measurement of such compounds at the parts per billion level addressing a long-standing need for a technology that can replace the human nose for leak detection. The instrument will also be capable of detecting trace constituents in renewable gas.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 10 Sep 2013 01:00:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1261697</guid>
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