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Volpe Center Highlights - November/December 2000

Human and Natural Environment

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade | National Security

Protect and enhance communities and the natural environment affected by transportation.

Volpe Helps Coast Guard Improve Trash Management (USCG)

The U.S. Coast Guard's environmental program focuses on improving mission effectiveness and on reducing adverse environmental impacts of the Coast Guard Cutter fleet. Recently, the Volpe Center engineered and installed a solid waste trash pulper for shipboard use on two classes of Cutter ships. The pulper is capable of processing food wastes, paper, cardboard, glass, and metal cans, and will improve trash management processing at sea in compliance with the International Maritime Organization Marine Pollution Act.

Mr. Mark Gentile and Mr. Bob Pray both of the Technology Applications and Deployment Division and Mr. Bill Halloran of the Environmental Engineering Division completed the various stages of the feasibility study, an Environmental Impact Assessment, and an engineering design package. A prototype pulper was installed onboard the 270-foot Cutter Tampa, located in Portsmouth, Virginia. Final testing was completed on September 4, 2000.

Celebrating Energy Awareness Month

In October, the Volpe Center's Management Systems Office and the Facilities Management Division joined forces to promote Energy Awareness Month at the Volpe Center. The Department of Energy created Energy Awareness Month to foster greater public understanding and awareness of energy sources and how they can be used wisely and effectively, and the importance of energy to the economic prosperity and future of America.

In observation of Energy Awareness Month, energy conservation posters were placed on bulletin boards throughout the Volpe Center, and a table was set up in the lobby of the main building with calendars, stickers, bookmarks, and magnets. A VolpeNet News Flash announced the month-long celebration, and an article in the Volpe Voice, an in-house publication, explained the different energy conservation efforts at the Center.

In 1997, Johnson Controls completed a comprehensive energy analysis of the Volpe Center's physical facility and implemented six conservation measures. These measures led to significant utility costs savings at the Center. Under an innovative alternative financing arrangement of the Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) program, which was authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, Johnson Controls paid the upfront costs for implementing the energy conservation measures. In exchange, the Center pays Johnson Controls the majority of the cost savings resulting from the conservation measures each month during the 10-year contractual period. After the 10-year contractual period, the Center keeps all utility cost savings. The Center's Facilities Management Division was the first organization within the DOT to take advantage of the ESPC program.

Energy Users News recently recognized the Center's efforts in energy conservation by awarding the Center a Energy Users News 2000 Efficient Building Award in the retrofit category. Mr. Bill Sullivan of the Facilities Management Division accepted the award on behalf of the Center at an awards breakfast held in conjunction with the World Energy Engineering Congress in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 26, 2000.

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