Marta Panero

www.nyas.org Printed on recycled paper Although the information in this document has been funded in part by US EPA under an as-sistance agreement to the New York Academy of Sciences, it has not gone through the Agency’s publications review process and, therefore, may not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency and no official endorsement should be inferred. What is new about this report on reducing the burden of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to the New York/New Jersey Harbor—this fi fth major re-port of the Harbor Consortium? Much of the format is the same. But both the technical complexities and the process leading to a consensus agreement to issue this report presented unprecedented challenges. The Consortium Process. Let’s quickly review the Consortium process to date. Selecting the fi rst four

The purpose of this effort was to foster a dialogue among peers at transportation and planning agencies about their experiences with promoting public transit and, in particular, the challenges they face related to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects, as well as the solutions they have developed in response. Agencies from dozens of large cities around the United States participated at three peer-to-peer exchanges in New York City, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. The facilitated discussions were structured to address the unique barriers to BRT implementation on the streets of dense and/or highly-congested large urban centers. Three major themes were the focus of the workshops: Network, Route and Street Design; Traffic Operations; and Building Political, Interagency and Stakeholder Support—BRT as a Driver of Economic Development. The results of the workshops make clear that better public transportation in general and BRT in particular can be cost-effective and useful tools for improving trans...

The present study examines the model of freight consolidation platforms, and urban distribution centers (UDCs) in particular, as a means to solve the last mile problem of urban freight while reducing vehicle miles traveled and associated environmental impacts. This paper attempts to identify the key characteristics that make UDCs successful and discuss under what contextual settings (e.g., institutional, policy) they work best. After an extensive review of UDC cases already implemented in other countries, the study examined three UDCs cases with potential applicability to the New York metropolitan region, discussing models and relevant features and elements that may be transferred to the New York context.

A conference entitled “Alternative Fuel / Advanced Vehicles Technologies & Infrastructure Requirements: Bringing Innovation to Our Streets” was held in New York, NY at New York University on June 14, 2011. The conference addressed several of the key issues concerning the widespread adoption of low-carbon vehicles in New York State. Panel topics included (1) recent findings and developments in alternative fuels and vehicles, including electric, biofuel, natural gas, and advanced engine technology, (2) infrastructure needs for growth of a low-carbon transportation system, and (3) policy requirements. Panelists and attendees included academic researchers, representatives of the private sector, public agency staff, and advocacy group members. The information disseminated and ensuing discussion has helped build a community of individuals in New York State with the knowledge and motivation to increase adoption of low-carbon alternative vehicles and fuels by government, businesses, and the...

The sustainable economic development of Latin America depends in great part on a workforce that is equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote sustainability practices, including effective management of water and energy resources and minimization of carbon emissions and water pollution. Such a skilled workforce is necessary for the successful operation of industries so that they contribute to the development of societal and environmental well-being in these societies. The “Pathways to Cleaner Production in the Americas” (Pathways) partnership focused on offering practical training in cleaner production to engineering and business students at seven universities in Latin America. Experiential learning was a key feature of this partnership, as student teams worked with small, and medium enterprises (SMEs) in each host country. The students analyzed the companies’ operations and then developed relevant cleaner production recommendations for them. They conducted water and energy audits, along with mass balances, waste and carbon emissions accounting, as well as return on investment calculations. After vetting these recommendations, project advisors helped companies implement priority projects, and monitor the financial and environmental benefits realized. The students were expected to gain the expertise and capabilities during their practice to guide companies on a sustainable development path. In turn, the companies were expected to improve their environmental and economic performance by implementing the recommendations. The article asks whether the “Pathways” educational model has been effective in improving the environmental and economic performance of the SMEs, by helping them to reduce their water and energy consumption, along with other measures. To address this question the authors first focused on the student cleaner production recommendations in order to analyze their potential impact on the SMEs, and then quantified the companies’ water and energy savings post-implementation of the student recommendations. The analysis also looks at key factors that have influenced the success of the educational model in the various countries. When successful, the model helps the companies with water and energy savings, and in the aggregate, leads to a lower carbon footprint and improved water sustainability in the countries engaged through this initiative. Implications for longer-term impacts of the educational model are also discussed.

Abstract A multinational partnership called Pathways to Cleaner Production in the Americas linked faculty from seven Latin American universities and two U.S. universities to facilitate the transition to sustainability in the Americas by strengthening higher education institutions' capacity for educating young professionals in cleaner production and sustainable development, and assisting micro, small, and medium enterprises in understanding and implementing cleaner production and sustainable development strategies in their respective organizations. The ultimate outcome was to develop a workforce armed with new knowledge, skills and attitudes toward sustainability through cleaner production. To achieve the twin goals of the project, an experiential learning approach was developed to provide students with opportunities for applying knowledge of cleaner production and developing workplace competencies by working directly with micro, small, and medium enterprises to identify opportunities for cleaner production, under the supervision of faculty and cleaner production consultants. This paper examines the competencies developed from experiential learning in practicum courses and internships using CareerOneStop, an Industry Competency Model, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. Online surveys were developed and administered to university students to understand whether they had mastered various competencies and comparisons were made across the seven partner institutions.

The transition to sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is hindered by low demand for environmentally-benign industrial development strategies, and a limited supply of professionals to enact such strategies. The “Pathways to Cleaner Production in the Americas” project was a multinational effort aimed at facilitating the transition to sustainability in the region by addressing both of these concerns. The project incorporated multidisciplinary education in business, engineering, and the environment that enhanced sustainability awareness, technical competence and innovative skills of industry professionals, while exposing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to cleaner production (CP) opportunities. In an alliance of nine universities in eight countries, project partners trained 648 university students to assess CP opportunities, while directly benefiting 136 MSMEs. The project developed a unique industry-academic partnership model for experiential learning. Faculty members collaborated with CP industry experts in their respective countries to prepare their students to conduct energy, process and material audits, and develop recommendations for improving financial and environmental performance. The project's CP experts supervised student interns and provided follow-up assistance to the MSMEs to implement the prioritized recommendations. The universities also hosted workshops for industry participants to learn best practices developed through the project and strategies to implement those in their enterprises. In this paper, we share the most valuable lessons from this model, which can be more widely adopted to facilitate industry-academic engagement in the transition to sustainability in LAC and other parts of the world.

Advances in sensors and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are enabling real-time environmental monitoring, which has the potential to provide a plethora of fine-grained data to assist in understanding the symbiosis between food, energy, and water (FEW) systems. This paper presents the advantages of autonomous real-time water quality monitoring systems over conventional systems and proposes cost-effective and feasible approaches to designing a system that autonomously collects environmental data by integrating digital and mechanical devices connected through various communication networks, both wired and wireless. More specifically, the autonomous sensing devices proposed include low-cost water quality sensors implemented on commercial hardware and cell-based biosensors using electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS), which are capable of detecting water and/or air toxicants in real time.The paper discusses the key design considerations of the underlying WSN communication system supporting autonomous data transmission, including the spatial distribution of sensors, costs, and operation autonomy. Communication among connected devices (e.g., sensors) requires both precision timing and network security against attacks, as well as means to ensure the privacy and integrity of the data being collected and transmitted through the network. Preliminary results demonstrate the importance of precision timing and synchronization by using measured timing information and signal strength to identify man-in-the-middle attacks in fixed wireless networks and to locate the attack source using machine-learning approaches. Data modeling and recovery methods are presented to efficiently analyze and process sensing data to address the missing measurement issue caused by noise and device failure. The system proposed herein can serve as a valuable tool for real-time monitoring of FEW resources and can be broadly applied to efficient management of their sustainability.

New York Institute of Technology, Peking University, Wuhan University, the International Society for Water Solutions of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and an industrial partner HDR|HydroQual formed an EcoPartnership in 2013. The partners are jointly advancing innovative water quality models, real-time water monitoring tools and information systems, water scarcity and hydrologic simulations, and techniques for water management during hydraulic fracturing. These goals are being pursued through a combination of pilot demonstration projects, research on the next generation of technologies, and practical training and community outreach (through conferences and workshops). This comprehensive approach will help foster water quality, management, and conservation in China and the U.S.

In accordance with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) “Interim Guidance Update on Mobile Source Air Toxic Analysis in NEPA Documents (September 30, 2009),” transportation projects subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) must include an analysis of mobile source air toxics (MSATs). MSATs are air pollutants emitted by mobile sources that can cause serious health effects. Of a group of 93 MSAT compounds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has identified seven compounds with significant contributions from mobile sources that are among the national and regional-scale cancer risk drivers from their 1999 National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). These seven compounds consist of acrolein, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, diesel particulate matter plus diesel exhaust organic gases (diesel PM), formaldehyde, naphthalene, and polycyclic organic matter. FHWA classifies these seven compounds as the “priority MSATs,” recognizing that this list is subject to change. The objectives of this project are to: (1) propose a “screening” protocol that will facilitate the decision making process regarding which projects warrant MSAT assessment; (2) develop procedures (in consultation with regulatory agencies) for conducting qualitative and quantitative analyses of the seven priority MSATs in NYSDOT NEPA and SEQRA environmental documents; and (3) identify feasible MSAT mitigation measures for NYSDOT capital improvement projects and facilities. The work involves 10 separate tasks, including a guidance document for conducting MSAT assessments for projects that fall within NEPA/SEQRA.

Over the course of ten years, a consortium of stakeholders (the Harbor Consortium) used a collaborative approach to identify viable pollution prevention (P2) strategies for specific contaminants, namely mercury, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as suspended solids entering the New York/New Jersey Harbor. The project, titled “The New York/New Jersey Harbor Watershed Pollution Prevention and Industrial Ecology Project,” in a very conscious and overt way engaged stakeholders in the process of developing P2 recommendations for the Harbor. The industrial ecology (IE) tools applied by the Harbor Consortium include substance flow analysis (SFA), material flow analysis (MFA), and, to a limited extent, life cycle analysis (LCA) and fate and transport analysis (F&T), to quantify and characterize how the contaminants flow through the regional economy and the Harbor Watershed once released to the environment. The application...

Resource efficiency, including cleaner production and energy efficiency (CP/EE), is an important strategy for developing countries to grow their economies in a sustainable manner. However, informational, technical and economic barriers often limit the implementation of such strategies in the private sector, particularly among smaller enterprises. Since the 1990s, international aid agencies, governments, banks and non-governmental organizations have supplied financial incentives to encourage enterprises to adopt resource efficient practices in Latin America. “Pathways to Cleaner Production in the Americas” (PCPA) was a 3-year multinational project focused on promoting cleaner production practices in micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) through collaboration with academia. In this paper, we examine the availability and utilization of different types of financing instruments for CP/EE in MSMEs in Central America. We survey nineteen programs across five countries to examine how effectively these instruments are utilized, barriers that hinder their adoption, and best practices for increasing their uptake. We also incorporate the experience of 39 MSMEs that participated in PCPA, with respect to their demand for CP/EE and external financing options. We find a mismatch between MSMEs’ demands and expectations with the supply and interest of financing programs, leading to the underutilization of the funds.