Honda, in collaboration with UC Davis, has unveiled one of the most advanced, zero net energy smart homes in West Village on the UC Davis campus.

Working with the Western Cooling Efficiency Center, the Energy Efficiency Center, and the California Lighting Technology Center, Honda partnered with UC Davis research to showcase energy efficient technology in this home of the near future.

The March 25 grand opening of  the Honda Smart Home allowed the public and the media to see the home and learn about sustainable design, green building concepts, advanced energy technology, and efficient landscaping.

UC Davis Provost and Vice Chancellor Ralph Hexter, Honda Vice President Steve Center, and Honda Smart Home Project Manager Michael Koenig spoke at the event before “digitally” cutting the ribbon to officially inaugurate the home.  Additionally, the California Lighting and Technology Center’s Michael Siminovitch and Western Cooling Efficiency Center’s Jonathan Woolley provided excellent commentary on the energy efficient features of the nearly 2,000 square foot home to guests and media alike.

The Honda Smart Home will generate enough energy for daily living, electric vehicle charging, and, in collaboration with PG&E, provide power back to the grid on demand. Built with energy efficient design in mind, the Honda Smart Home will use less than half the energy of a similarly-sized home in the Davis region.

Print Media
• New York Times: Car Companies Take Expertise in Battery Power Beyond the Garage (March 25)
• Davis Enterprise: House of the (near) future from Honda, UCD (March 26)
• Sacramento Business Journal: Honda ‘house of the near future’ unveiled at UC Davis (March 26)
• Green Car Reports: Honda Opens Demonstration Smart Home, With Fit EV Electric Car in Garage (March 26)

Broadcast Media
• Channel 3 (KCRA): Solar-powered home fuels car (March 25)
• Channel 40 (KTXL): ‘Smart Home’ Built on UC Davis Campus (March 25)
• Capital Public Radio (KXJZ): Will Your Next House Produce More Energy Than It Consumes? (March 25)

Bloggers
• Christian Science Monitor: Honda unveils model house built to support electric car (March 26)
• Asahi Shimbun newspaper: Honda smart home plugs into hopes for zero carbon living, mobility (March 26)
• Phys.org: Honda smart home offers vision for zero carbon living (March 26)
• Jalopnik: This Is The Zero Carbon House That Honda Built (March 25)

Campus Promotion
• UC Davis Dateline: Honda showcases smart way to live, drive (March 25)
• UC Davis News Release: Honda Smart Home at UC Davis West Village offers vision for zero carbon living (March 25)

By Alston Lim • UC Davis 2014

Three UC Davis students were honored at the annual WTS-Sacramento Awards and Scholarship Dinner on Jan. 29, an event that recognizes women for their leadership and achievements in the transportation industry.

Alicia Halpern (second to left), Natalie Popovich (center) and Melissa Gjerde (right) each received a scholarship that celebrates the contributions each woman made to the study of transportation.

Popovich, a Transportation Technology and Policy (TTP) master’s student, received the 2013 Helene M. Overly Memorial Graduate Scholarship. The award honors women pursuing graduate studies in transportation and encourages them to further pursue a career in transportation.

Popovich studies the intersection of behavioral economics and transportation planning and is particularly interested in government decision-making about transportation infrastructure projects. Her adviser is professor Susan Handy.

Popovich said she is honored to receive the WTS recognition.

“This scholarship reinforced the notion to me that if you do work that you believe in, chances are other people also believe in it. The support of this scholarship is a constant reminder to pursue changes in the transportation sector that benefit those who don’t have the strongest voice,” said Popovich.

“This scholarship will give me the freedom to pursue personal research interests over the summer and allow me to travel to conferences and present my research to a broader audience.”

Popovich works for the City of Davis as an Active Transportation Program Specialist where she helps organize and edit the city’s new Beyond Platinum Bicycle Action Plan. She also manages the city’s Bicycle Friendly Business Program, through which she explained, “local businesses can apply for national recognition for their efforts in encouraging employees and patrons to bike to work and shop.”

Halpern, an undergraduate senior at UC Davis majoring in Environmental Policy Analysis & Planning, was the recipient of the 2013 Sharon D. Banks Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship, which awards women pursuing undergraduate studies in transportation. Halpern works as a student research aide at the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy, where she is interested in sustainable agriculture, ecosystem conservation, alternative transportation and community development.

Gjerde, also a student researcher at the UC Davis Policy Institute, received the 2013 Bimla G. Rhinehart Leadership Scholarship for demonstrating leadership skills, ability and interest in her undergraduate studies in transportation. She is a third-year Environmental Policy Analysis & Planning student with an emphasis in City and Regional Planning. She is interested in pursuing a career in regional transportation planning and hopes to someday promote more mixed use and multimodal transportation design in California.

Photo: Scholarship recipients Alicia Halpern (second to left), Natalie Popovich (center) and Melissa Gjerde (right) attend the 2013 annual WTS-Sacramento Awards and Scholarship Dinner with UC Davis professor of Environmental Science and Policy Susan Handy (left).  Photo Credit: Kyle Gayman, 2014

ITS-Davis Director Dan Sperling recounted the history of electric vehicle policy and offered a vision for the future in his keynote presentation to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 2014 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium on February 11. The symposium highlights the latest advances and developments in electric vehicle technologies and addresses the business decisions around technology development and implementation.

In his presentation, “Potholes and Promises on the Path to Vehicle Electrification,” Sperling began by stating, contrary to popular belief, the world is not running out of oil. The new energy revolution with unconventional oil and shale gas means that oil will likely be plentiful and relatively cheap for the foreseeable future. But that oil needs to stay in the ground if we want to decarbonize our economy and slow climate change. Climate change – not oil scarcity – increasingly will be the motivator for continued advancement of alternative fuels. The fuels of the future will likely include biofuels, hydrogen and electricity, he said.

Progress has been slow – and frustrating.

“So far we’re following a fuel du jour phenomenon, where politicians and the media jump from one alt fuel to another. They desire a single silver bullet solution. They hype the fuel du jour and are always disappointed,” he told the audience of industry leaders.

“If we believe that plug-in and fuel cell vehicles are necessary for large reductions in greenhouse gases, then we need policies and regulations that go beyond the national 54 mpg by 2025 requirement, because even it will not be enough to motivate large investments in zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) technologies,” said Sperling. Automakers are finding that it is cheaper in the near term to focus on incremental enhancements of conventional vehicles, including greater use of lightweight materials, enhanced combustion techniques, more efficient transmissions and so on. Those improvements are desirable, but California and eight other states have determined that it is important to accelerate investments in ZEV technology. They have adopted a ZEV Program, which provides a foundation for the introduction of plug-in and fuel cell cars, Sperling noted. Complementary policies, such as California’s cap-and-trade program, Low Carbon Fuel Standard and incentives for ZEVs and other alternative fuel vehicles are also key.

What will it cost society to transform our transportation system? The International Energy Agency and National Academies, as well as UC Davis NextSTEPS researchers Joan Ogden and Lew Fulton have arrived at similar findings. They estimate an investment ranging roughly from $50 billion to $200 billion – to cover the additional costs of plug-in electric and fuel cell cars and their charging and hydrogen fuel infrastructure – is needed for these alternatives to become competitive with petroleum-fueled vehicles. The break-even point could be before 2030 if production ramped up quickly.

Is this a lot of money or a little? Considering the United States will spend an estimated $15 trillion on vehicles and fuels between now and 2030, the investment is a small fraction, less than 1 percent of the expenditures, Sperling explained. These additional costs will need to be covered by some mix of industry, consumers and taxpayers. Taking into account fuel savings, the net benefits of this transition are likely to be strongly positive after 2030; the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates a net $50 trillion in global savings from vehicles, fuels and infrastructure through 2050 in its two-degree scenario.

In closing, Sperling addressed future fuels for heavy-duty trucks, suggesting they would eventually be powered by biofuels and fuel cells.

Photo: Daniel Sperling addresses the SAE 2014 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium on Feb. 11.  Courtesy photo.

The UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy and the Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways (NextSTEPS) program of the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis) hosted a forum in December 2013 as part of the California Climate Policy Modeling (CCPM) project.

Six of the models presented at the forum included “deep GHG reduction scenarios” that achieved either a reduction of 80% in GHG emissions by 2050 or cumulatively similar emission reductions.  These scenarios showed the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 8-52% below 1990 levels by 2030 through a combination of strategies that include energy efficiency, renewable energy and low-carbon transportation solutions.

View the full technical brief here

The UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy is hosting four forum sessions from January to March that will bring together researchers, policy-makers, and stakeholders to discuss and explore the latest relevant research and real-world experience with implementation of SB 375 and related policies.

• Session 1: Sustainable Communities 101: Wednesday January 22nd, 2014, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• Session 2: Evaluating Effects and Evidence: Wednesday February 5th, 2014, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• Session 3: Improving the Models: Wednesday March 5th
• Session 4: Increasing Implementation Follow-through: Wednesday, March 19th

California’s transportation sector is an integral part of the state’s economy, enabling personal mobility and goods movement for millions of people. It also accounts for more than 38% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, with around 75% of these emissions coming from passenger autos and trucks.

The Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, Senate Bill 375 (SB 375) aims to help California reach its AB 32 greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions targets by creating incentives for smarter land use and transportation planning with the goal of enabling more sustainable communities. SB 375 provides a framework for regional planning agencies to integrate their transportation, land use, and housing  plans with performance targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions.

This has the potential to enable communities that provide better jobs-housing balance, multiple options for travel and agricultural and natural-land preservation.  However, realizing this potential requires an understanding of the strategies, costs, benefits and implementation challenges for sustainable community efforts across the state.

Policy forum speakers will address the role of SB 375 in meeting the state’s climate, environmental quality, public health, economic and community needs. The forum series will provide participants with information regarding the importance of reducing vehicle miles traveled (the ‘third leg of the stool’) and the necessity for smarter planning that integrates transportation and land use planning in order to be able to successfully reduce greenhouse emissions.

For more information about the policy forum series, click here: http://policyinstitute.ucdavis.edu/informing-policy-3/policy-forum-series-2/sb-375/

 

Photo: Guests attend the first policy forum session on sustainable communities at the University of California Center in Sacramento on Jan. 22. Photo Credit: Nishant Seoni, UC Davis

ITS-Davis Director Dan Sperling is highlighted on a Japanese television program titled, “Our Blue Planet: Reaching Beyond Imagination,” which features him as a recipient of the 2013 Blue Planet Prize.

The program, which aired on Jan. 10 on NHK World TV in Japan, shows footage from the Oct. 2013 Blue Planet Prize award ceremony at the United Nations University in Tokyo, where Sperling highlighted in his acceptance speech the steps society needs to take to reach a sustainable transportation future.

“We need to reverse trends and patterns of the past one hundred years,” said Sperling. “It’s not easy, but with great effort, we can recover our healthy blue planet.”

The program proceeds to follow Sperling and the other award recipient, Taroh Matsuno of Japan, in their everyday work, and reveals how the two award winners and their research earned them this prestigious title in what is commonly known as the Nobel Prize for the environmental sciences.

In an interview appearing in the latter half of the program, Sperling shares how he was first inspired to study transportation systems as a young man and explains how he was able to push for new innovations in policy and technology through the institute he created here, ITS-Davis. Sperling concludes the program with a firm goal to “bring science and policy together in a better and more effective way” for the future in order to better understand and address our planet’s climate change.

View the complete TV program here.

Read more about the Blue Planet Prize and Oct. 2013 awards ceremony here.

 

Photo: Asahi Glass Foundation Chairman Tetsuji Tanaka presented the Blue Planet Prize to Dan Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. Oct. 30, 2013. Photo by Takao Tsushima — Asahi Glass Foundation

UC Davis researchers have released the third in a series of periodic progress reports on California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). “Status Review of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, January 2014 Issue” finds that in 2013 the LCFS played a stronger role in incentivizing the use of biofuels from a variety of sources, including corn oil, canola, and biodiesel and renewable diesel from waste. It also finds slight increases in the use of electricity for transportation under the program, and that fuel suppliers in the program have generated excess credits.

Adopted by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) in 2009, the LCFS requires transportation fuel providers such as oil companies and refiners to gradually reduce the carbon intensity of their fuel by at least 10 percent by 2020. The state began implementing the rule in 2011.

The status review is authored by UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis) research engineer Sonia Yeh and assistant project scientist Julie Witcover.

“One of the values of this periodic series of reports is that we can analyze trends over time,” says Yeh.

Among the findings in this status review are the following:

• Fuel suppliers in the program generated excess LCFS credits, beyond what was required, in every quarter since the program was initiated.
• While overall biofuel volume remained relatively constant since 2011, the contribution to LCFS credits of ethanol made primarily from corn or grain mixes decreased, while biodiesel and renewable diesel credits increased dramatically in 2013.
• An increasing share and volume of biofuel LCFS credits came from the use of waste-based fuels, which garnered higher premiums from the LCFS than from the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) in late 2013 due to their low LCFS carbon intensity ratings, higher LCFS credit prices and declining premiums from the RFS2.
• Ethanol made from sugarcane or molasses contributed to a total of 5 percent of biofuel volume between 2011 and the first six months of 2013. In the same period, soy biodiesel contributed 0.3 percent of biofuel volume.
• Reported electricity use for transportation increased almost four-fold from 2011 through the first half of 2013.
• LCFS credit prices have increased since 2012, rising to about $80/credit in October and November 2013, and ending 2013 at about $50/credit in December.

Like the previous status reviews, published in Spring 2013 and November 2012, this data-rich report on LCFS compliance, fuel use, and credit markets includes a special topic. This issue’s special topic summarizes the results of an October 2013 UC Davis paper that examines ARB’s LCFS cost-containment proposals. It finds that cost-containment mechanisms, such as a cap on credit prices, may play an important role in limiting high credit prices and program costs, thereby safeguarding the LCFS credit market and the LCFS program itself.

The status report is funded through a research contract with ARB and the ITS-Davis NextSTEPS research program.

Read the full paper at: http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/research/publications/publication-detail/?pub_id=2008

 

Photo: ITS-Davis research engineer Sonia Yeh presents findings at the ITS-Davis Board of Advisors meeting in November 2013. Photo Credit: Sylvia Wright, UC Davis

ITS-Davis researcher Lew Fulton, co-director of the NextSTEPS research program, addressed sustainability experts and national delegates from around the globe at a recent conference hosted by the United Nations in New York.

Fulton was one of two panelists who presented during the General Assembly Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development on Jan. 7.

Fulton urged country delegates to consider the creation of a transportation sustainability goal as part of their 2015 development agenda. He stressed that transport is an enabler of most economic and social activities around the world, but suffers from environmental and other external costs that will mount to an estimated $50 Trillion through 2030 if not addressed.

“Transport is a very large sector that deserves to have a sustainable development goal,” said Fulton. “It is not only about people, but also moving goods, which of course is critical in development and critical for our well-being.”

For the full presentation, view here

Researchers, faculty and students from the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis) took the spotlight at the 93rd annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting in Washington, D.C., Jan. 12-16.

More than 70 UC Davis representatives attended TRB this year to present their latest findings and interact with colleagues at the top transportation research institutes from around the world.

This year, Dan Sperling, ITS-Davis founding director and professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy, was appointed the 2014 Vice Chair of the Executive Committee. Sperling will serve a one-year term beginning January 16 in preparation for becoming chairman the following year. He has served on 13 National Research Council committees, was founding chair of the TRB committee on Alternative Transportation Fuels, and first chair of the TRB committee on sustainable transportation.

UC Davis participants presented their world-class research on topics as diverse as low carbon fuels, congestion pricing, air quality impacts of freight transportation, sustainable pavement, eco-driving and access to transportation in low-income communities.

The 5-day conference also included a series of committee meetings, six of which were led by UC Davis researchers.

• Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies Committee
  Caroline Jane Rodier, presiding officer
  January 13, 1:30-5:30 p.m. 
• International Aspects of Transportation Energy Subcommittee, ADC70(1)
  Lewis M. Fulton, presiding officer
  January 13, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
• Chemical, Mechanical, and Asphalt Stabilization Committee
  David Jones, presiding officer
  January 14, 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
• Accelerated Pavement Testing International Conferences Subcommittee, AFD40(1)
  John Harvey, presiding officer
  January 14, 1:30-3:15 p.m.
• Mega-Regions Joint Subcommittee of ADA20
  Gian-Claudia Sciara, presiding officer
  January 14, 2013, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
• Animal-Vehicle Collisions Subcommittee, ANB20(2)
  Fraser Mark Shilling, presiding officer
  January 15, 10:15 a.m.-12 p.m.

Click here for a full schedule of ITS-Davis presentations

 

Photo: Dozens of top ITS-Davis scholars, seen here at the NextSTEPS symposium on Dec. 10, will present their research findings at the 2014 TRB conference. Photo credit: Dorian Toy, UC Davis 2014