Webinar and Council Meeting: How Transportation Can Help Reduce Minnesota's Carbon Footprint
This webinar will feature two presentations focused on different methods of reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Minnesota. The first presentation will highlight University of Minnesota on intelligent energy management systems for commercial electric trucks. These trucks have potential to significantly reduce Minnesota's carbon emissions footprint due to their high daily mileage and energy usage. Intelligent energy management is necessary to allow commercial fleets to electrify without significantly impacting range requirements and for adding range certainty during winter months. The presentation will discuss how telematics data and two-way communication with fleet vehicles can be effectively used to enable electrification of this transportation sector.
The second presentation will review MnDOT's Pathways to Decarbonizing Transportation in Minnesota project. This project began a conversation about moving Minnesota toward a low-carbon transportation future. The presentation will include a brief overview of the key Pathways components: modeling, public input, and proposed actions and recommendations. It will also include an update on implementation of the proposed actions and recommendations, like the new MnDOT Sustainable Transportation Advisory Committee.
This webinar will be held in conjunction with a meeting of the CTS Environment and Energy in Transportation Research Council.
Speakers
Will Northrop is an associate professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota and director of the TE Murphy Engine Research Laboratory. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan in 2003 and 2009, respectively, and a B.S in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997. Northrop is a CTS scholar and the principal investigator on many Minnesota and federal projects in the areas of energy and emissions from vehicles. His recent work has focused on energy management of electrified commercial vehicles using data science and machine learning methods.
Siri Simons is the principal sustainability planner in MnDOT's Office of Sustainability and Public Health. She leads coordination of sustainability planning and implementation to meet fleet fuel use, energy, water, waste, and other sustainability targets for MnDOT operations. Simons also provides support on agency efforts to reduce carbon pollution from the transportation sector in Minnesota. She received her master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and her undergraduate degree in environmental sciences, policy and management from the University of Minnesota.
Registration
This webinar is free to attend, but registration is required. Once you have registered, you will receive an email confirmation with a Zoom link. The link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.
If you're unable to join us for the live broadcast, a recording of the webinar will be available here after the event.
Credit
To the best of our knowledge, this course meets the continuing education requirements for 1.5 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) and 1.5 American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Certification Maintenance credits.
For more information, please contact Kaydee Kirk at kkirk@umn.edu.