Page 17 - Newcom

TRUCK BUSINESS NEWS
April 2016
17
Green Truck Summit keynote highlights importance of clean energy
US official announces funding for a second SuperTruck project
gies is through its SMART Mobility program – Systems and Modeling Ac- celerated Research in transportation
– which investigates energy use impli- cations into future mobility and spans research programs, all with the goal of reducing GHG emissions.
Another project was 2010’s Super- Truck program, which Sarkar said was so successful, that he announced the launch of SuperTruck 2.
The program challenges compa- nies to come up with new technologies that improve fuel efficiency, requir- ing teams to achieve greater than 50% engine productivity in addition to im- proving freight efficiency.
Subject to congressional appropri- ations, Sarkar said the government would invest $80 million into the Su- perTruck 2 initiative for research, de- velopment and demonstration of long- haul tractor-trailer truck technology that improve efficiencies by more than
100% relative to the manufacturer’s best-in-class 2009 truck.
Finally, Sarkar announced three funding recipients for plug-in electric powertrain technologies for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
Robert Bosch LLC of Farmington Hills, Mich., Cummins Corporate Re- search and Technology in Columbus, Ind. and McLaren Performance Tech- nologies of Livonia, Mich. received
a combined $12.2 million to develop various electric vehicle innovations to be brought to the general public.
“Improving the efficiency of com- mercial trucks is critical to reducing our petroleum consumption, strength- ening our clean energy economy, and further reducing our contributions to climate change,” Sarkar said. “This new funding will not only accelerate innovation but also foster rapid mar- ket adoption of new energy efficient vehicle technologies.”
By Derek Clouthier
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
The Green Truck Summit kicked off at Indianapolis’ Indiana Convention Center March 1, underscoring the myriad of ways fleets can reduce fuel costs, and at the same time their car- bon footprint.
Touching upon several topics – such as alternative fuels, electric-pow-
ered vehicles, the future outlook of compressed natural gas (CNG) and telematics – the summit opened with a keynote address from US deputy assis- tant secretary of transportation for the Department of Energy Reuben Sarkar, who said it was critical that the gov- ernment invest in energy research to curb global warming.
“We are really at the forefront of one of the defining issues of our time,” he said, adding that it was an exciting time to working in the Department of Ener- gy and with the transportation indus- try because the US needs to be a global leader in fighting climate change.
Sarkar said the transportation sec- tor makes up 70% of all petroleum use, and one third of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which was one rea- son his department asked for a 51% increase in funding in this year’s fed- eral budget for vehicle technologies research.
Sarkar said the US’s top scientist say the country needs to curb its GHG emissions by 25% by 2025 and 80% by 2050 to avoid the most devastating ef- fects of climate change.
“This (global warming) is no longer an abstract threat,” said Sarkar, add- ing that 2015 was the hottest year ever on record.
With the world’s population ex- pected to increase by 33% in the next 20 years, Sarkar said all sectors must innovate their way out of the global- warming threat, including the trans- portation industry, which he said only invests 2.4% of its sales into energy re- search.
“This is much less than other sec- tors,” he said, “and exemplifies the im- portance of government investments
into energy and into transportation re- search.”
Sarkar said that government effort has paid off, with the $931-million in- vestment into vehicle combustion en- gine research between 1986 and 2007 achieving a total benefit of $70 billion in fuel savings and environmental im- pact in heavy-duty diesel trucks.
“It shows that sustained invest- ments can have long-term benefits in terms of hitting the bottom line for companies,” he said.
Sarkar also highlighted the US gov- ernment’s Quadrennial Technology Review, which was released in Sep- tember 2015, and emphasizes the need to reduce energy use and lower GHG emissions that come from medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
He did add that light-duty trucks accounted for the largest segment of energy consumption in the transpor- tation sector in the US, but that medi- um- and heavy-duty were next in line and expected to increase.
Advising caution toward neglecting clean energy research given the cur- rent low fuel prices, Sarkar said the initiative was about much more than cost savings.
“Our transition to a clean energy economy is not just about fuel pricing at the pump,” he said. “It’s about the social cost of carbon and the effects on climate change.”
Sarkar used the aviation sector as an example for the trucking industry to follow, saying it has been using sav- ings from lower fuel prices and invest- ing the funds into research and alter- native fuel strategies.
The US government views work trucks as a key part of its initiative to develop more efficient combustible engines that are completely non-reli- ant on petroleum.
“Some experts will say that trans- portation is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 100 years,” said Sarkar. “So that rate of change is happening considerably.”
One way the US government is in- vesting in exploiting new technolo-
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FMCSA seeks input on sleep apnea screening
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will host three public listen- ing sessions to solicit input on the impacts of screening, evaluating and treating commer- cial truck drivers for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended the US DoT take action to address OSA screening and treatment for transportation workers, including rail operators. A joint Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) is the first step towards propos- ing requirements specifically on sleep apnea.
“It is imperative for everyone’s safety that commercial motor vehicle drivers and train operators be fully focused and immediately responsive at all times,” said US Transporta- tion Secretary Anthony Foxx. “DoT strongly encourages comment from the public on how to best respond to this national health and transportation safety issue.”
Estimates suggest as many as 22 million men and women could be suffering from sleep apnea without realizing it. The condition can cause unintended sleep episodes and defi- cits in attention, concentration, situational awareness, memory and the capacity to safely respond to hazards when performing safety-sensitive service, FMCSA indicates. For those with OSA, eight hours of sleep can be less productive than four hours of ordinary, uninter- rupted sleep, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
“The collection and analysis of sound data on the impact of OSA must be our immedi- ate first step,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Scott Darling. “We call upon the public to help us better understand the prevalence of OSA among commercial truck and bus drivers, as well as the safety and economic impacts on the truck and bus industries.”
The ANPRM can be viewed at www.FMCSA.dot.gov.
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