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Congratulations to Fall 2021 NCST Dissertation Awardee, Vishnu Vijayakumar!
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UC Davis Ph.D. candidate, Vishnu Vijayakumar, was awarded an NCST Dissertation award in the Fall 2021 cycle. His dissertation work will help to address critical policy questions related to expanding renewable hydrogen infrastructure in California. Congratulations Vishnu! |
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Transportation technologies and new approaches to mobility are advancing so rapidly that it can be difficult for policy makers to frame incentives, regulations, and market signals to promote all three pillars of sustainability: equity, the environment, and the economy. This conference will address questions around how policy makers, the private sector, and others can work together to support transportation innovations in ways that promote sustainability and benefit all users of the transportation system — particularly in terms of public health, equity, and accessibility. |
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Sarah Rebolloso McCullough | Associate Director, Feminist Research Institute, University of California, Davis
C. Sequoia Erasmus | Associate Deputy Director, Equity, Engagement & Transportation Planning, California Transportation Commission
This webinar will assess equity work within transportation in California by analyzing the expert perspectives of transportation professionals who also identify as Black or of color. Key findings center on the distinction between "performative" equity work and "authentic" equity work. Performative equity work privileges the comfort and perspective of dominant groups, reinforces status quo, stays in the realm of rhetoric, and often results in superficial changes only. Authentic equity work centers the experience of Black people and people of color, embraces discomfort, transforms dominant culture, and results in measurable changes to the lives of those historically oppressed. Key recommendations include supporting action-oriented equity work, especially around resource allocation and redistribution of decision-making power to communities. The speakers include case studies of applying findings to new mobilities and policing, and visions for equitable futures.
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March 9th, 10:00-11:00 a.m. PDT
Dr. Dillon Fitch | NCST Researcher; Co-Director, BicyclingPlus Research Collaborative, Univeristy of California, Davis
Lucy Noble | TDM Program Manager, Google
Terry Mac | Bike Program Manager Hallcon, Google
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Google employees borrowed high quality electric-assisted and conventional bicycles for free, for up to six months. MTI researchers discuss their recent evaluation of this transportation demand management program in this webinar. The lending program at Google represents one of the largest employer-sponsored bike and e-bike lending programs in North America with over 1,000 bikes in its inventory. More individuals and agencies have shown interest in e-bike rebates and in the role of public policy in the shift from four wheels to two. This evaluation is a critical first step toward understanding the potential for bike lending as a strategy in North American suburban contexts. Discussion and Q&A will follow. |
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Concrete is a key component of the built environment. However, the manufacture of cement-based materials, such as concrete, produces over 8% of worldwide anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Designing infrastructure in a manner that uses concrete more efficiently, and thus lowers consumption while meeting the same system demands, holds promise for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This webinar presented methods for evaluating implications of design decisions on the environmental impacts of concrete systems and the potential for using multi-criteria selection processes to assist decision-makers. |
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Design with the Sun Curriculum |
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The Designing with the Sun project, led by Beth Ferguson, is an in-depth educational tool covering renewable energy, electricity basics, solar energy design principles, solar job training, and solar mobility innovation. The curriculum is designed for high school and college students and beyond. Each chapter has a PowerPoint presentation, a teacher’s guide, an active learning activity, video clips, and links to learn more. The solar curriculum materials are free for educators and self-learners to download and explore at their own pace. |
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Preliminary estimates suggest that using performance-based rather than prescriptive design methods could reduce emissions per volume of concrete by:
a. Up to 10%
b. Up to 20%
c. Up to 30%
d. Up to 40% |
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What trends do travel surveys reveal about California bicycling and walking trips between 2012 and 2017?
a. They went up
b. They went down
c. They stayed the same
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Recently Completed Research
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Transformation of Engineering Tools to Increase Material Efficiency of Concrete
Sonoko Ichimaru Watanabe, Kanotha Kamau-Devers, Patrick Cunningham, and Sabbie A. Miller | University of California, Davis |
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This report demonstrates how considerations across concrete material design and infrastructure design can be used together to change environmental impacts and costs by targeting appropriate constituents, materials, and system longevity. Each stage of design |
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considered was shown to have substantial effects on mitigating environmental impacts. In all cases, the primary environmental impact addressed was greenhouse gas emissions; however, this work can be extended to address other environmental impacts in future work. |
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BikewaySim Technology Transfer: City of Atlanta, Georgia
Reid Passmore, Kari E. Watkins, and Randall Guensler | Georgia Institute of Technology |
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This report covers the development of a tool for planning and prioritizing bicycle infrastructure projects based on their estimated effects on bicycle accessibility, bicycle mode share, energy usage, and emissions. The researchers developed a network that includes all |
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possible bicycle paths for a 12-square-mile study area in the City of Atlanta that can be expanded later to the entire Atlanta metro area. The tool, BikewaySim, finds the preferred bicycling route from any origin to any destination within the study area based on lowest travel time and lowest total impedance cost.
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Real World Brake Activity of Heavy-Duty Vehicles
Heejung Jung, Kent C. Johnson, and Brenda Lopez | University of California, Riverside
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This study aimed to establish a test method to determine brake activity of a heavy-duty vehicle, since the contribution of brake particle emissions to ambient PM2.5 is increasing. Brake parameters and vehicle parameters were measured during two chassis cycles and two on-road test tests. |
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Challenges and Opportunities for Publicly Funded Electric Vehicle Carsharing
Caroline Rodier, Juan Carlos Garcia Sanchez, Makenna Harrison, Jerel Francisco, and Angelly Tovar | University of California, Davis
Creighton Randall | Mobility Development
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From 2016 through 2021, a wave of new federal, state, and local funding has supported carsharing services that use electric vehicles and install electric vehicle chargers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and address climate change. This study explores the potential climate change benefits for carsharing services and the need for these services in underserved areas, discusses the evolution of carsharing in the U.S., and draws conclusions of relevance for future government-funded carsharing programs. |
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Assessing the Three Es—Environment, Economy, and Equity—in Climate Action Plans
Mark Lozano, Alissa Kendall, Gwen Arnold, John Harvey, and Ali Butt | University of California, Davis |
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This study examines Climate Action Plans (CAPs) released by jurisdictions in California, focusing on the quantity and quality of information presented on the expected GHG |
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emissions reduction, cost, and equity impacts of proposed climate actions. This research develops a framework to assess their inclusion, which could also be used to guide future CAP development, and develops a set of guiding questions to promote the inclusion of equity themes in climate action planning and implementation.
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UC Davis researchers used the publicly available 2012 CHTS and 2017 NHTS California add-on data to examine the impact of methodological differences on the changes in mode shares over this five-year period and conducted a preliminary investigation into the role of demographic and other factors in these changes. |
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Researchers at UC Davis previously developed a planning toolbox for public charging infrastructure based on data available in California that allows planners to anticipate the future geographic distribution of EVs and the resulting optimal locations of charging infrastructure. For this project, the researchers adapted the toolbox to be used outside of California. |
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Researchers at UC Davis and the Technical University of Berlin evaluated questions about how automated vehicles will affect congestion, vehicle miles traveled, and GHGs, and whether they might improve mobility for marginalized populations by simulating three scenarios in the Westside Cities area using an open-source, dynamic, agent-based travel model called MATSim. |
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How Billions in Infrastructure Funding Could Worsen Global Warming |
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NCST Director Dr. Susan Handy was quoted in a New York Times article about how increased infrastructure funding could lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions through the expansion of highways. “It’s not always intuitive to people, but the economic logic is pretty simple: If you make driving easier, people will do more of it,” Dr. Handy said, referring |
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to the concept of induced travel. Dr. Handy and other UC Davis researchers developed the Induced Travel Calculator, which estimates the vehicle miles of travel induced annually as a result of adding lanes to California roadways. This calculator served as the basis for the recent development of a nationwide tool, the RMI SHIFT Calculator.
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Driverless cars won’t be good for the environment if they lead to more auto use |
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NCST researchers Scott Hardman and Giovanni Circella wrote an article for The Conversation (which has now been republished in over two dozen media outlets) about the possible negative environmental impacts of automated vehicles. The article highlights new research showing that automated vehicles will likely encourage much more driving, as well as various policy options for limiting this effect.
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The National Center for Sustainable Transportation is a consortium of leading universities committed to advancing an environmentally sustainable transportation system through cutting-edge research, direct policy engagement, and education of our future leaders. Consortium members: University of California, Davis; University of California, Riverside; University of Southern California; California State University, Long Beach; Georgia Institute of Technology; and the University of Vermont. |
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