Energy Efficiency, Conservation, and Renewables (EECR) Campaign Update 

Rebecca Efroymson is a Senior Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN.  Rebecca is part of the Landscape Ecology & Regional Analysis Group of the Environmental Sciences Division. She is also affiliated with the Center for BioEnergy Sustainability, but her physical location of work is her home in Asheville, NC.  When she talks to elementary school kids about science, she tells them that she tried working outside in the field (marine science) and in the laboratory (biodegradation), but that she was happiest working on the computer, synthesizing information and writing about it.  What she enjoys most about her job is working on real world environmental problems, often changing the focus of her research every few years or even annually.

Recently, her research has focused on environmental effects of energy technologies such as bioenergy, wind energy, oil and gas.  She has worked with a team to develop sustainability indicators for bioenergy, and believes that the context of a sustainability question (e.g., the location of the bioenergy system, the stage of the system in the supply chain, the management of the system, the regulations and policies surrounding the system, and stakeholders) should affect the selection, measurement, and interpretation of sustainability indicators.  She is serving on the National Research Council Committee on the sustainability of biofuels made from algae.  Rebecca is working towards the development of better land-use change models to more fully understand the contribution of bioenergy in driving land-use change nationally and globally.  Many of the existing models are largely based on the global economic market, yet, drivers of land-use change can also be social and policy related.

Rebecca also works on a tiered ecological risk assessment framework for wind energy facilities, a framework consistent with recommendations from an advisory committee to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The framework addresses risks of collision of birds and bats with wind turbines, among other issues, such as the potential displacement of some wildlife by wind energy facilities.

Rebecca has worked on many projects at military installations.  It is a little known fact that military installations serve as major reservoirs of rare species, because human access is restricted on military training and testing ranges, so some plant and wildlife populations have congregated at these locations.  Recently, Rebecca developed a framework for managing "species at risk."  Species at risk are those not listed by the Endangered Species Act but are thought to be at risk because they are in decline or exist at low densities.  She and colleagues are demonstrating the species management framework at Fort Stewart, GA.

As part of her commitment to species protection, Rebecca worked on estimating risk to woody desert wash vegetation and mule deer populations from military testing activity at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ.  This was part of a demonstration of a risk assessment framework for military training and testing activities.  One of the most challenging activities involved an Apache Longbow helicopter firing Hellfire missiles at moving targets, i.e., M60-A1 tanks.  She and colleagues considered noise, explosions, and the way that tracked vehicles altered the hydrodynamics of the landscape.

Rebecca is the co-Editor-in-Chief of The Journal for Environmental Management.  She enjoys this role of helping shape how research is communicated while learning about many topics in environmental science and management.

Rebecca holds a B.A. in Biology from Le Salle University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University in Environmental Toxicology.  She got her start at Oak Ridge National Laboratory performing risk assessments for contaminated burial grounds, ponds, streams, and watersheds, with an emphasis on risks to plants, soil invertebrates and microbial processes from metals and organic chemicals. 

 

  Building More Sustainable Communities  

We are proud that two of the three North Carolina-based LEED-ND projects are located right here in Asheville. We welcome representatives from the projects at Biltmore Park Town Square and the Villages at Crest Mountain to the panel discussion.

On Monday April 18th, the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute's Green Mondays forum will present "Building More Sustainable Communities."  This panel discussion will take place at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce.  Steve Cochran, BRSI Principal, will moderate a highly-interactive panel discussion.  Event attendees will have the opportunity to participate in the discussion after panelists' presentations are made. 

The building of more sustainable communities is certainly a desirable goal, but how we take action toward that goal is often unclear and can seem overwhelming. A program recently developed by the US Green Building Council called "LEED for Neighborhood Development" (LEED-ND) is a certification program for new developments and an important templatefor measuring a developer's commitment to sustainability. 

Often overlooked and underappreciated is the impact and opportunity that adopting a sustainability ethic can offer small business. When going green becomes more than a catch phrase, businesses benefit. Joining our Green Monday panel will be representatives from the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association (AIR), and local businesses BioWheels Bike Shop and Gasperson Moving and Storage to discuss their efforts in this direction. On a regional planning basis, the recently-announced and federally-supported "Livable Communities Initaitive" will be described by a representative from the Land of Sky Regional Council.

 New Options for Recycling   

Action Items:

• Recycle your number 5 plastic at Greenlife 
• Buy products made from recycled number 5 plastic, including toothbrushes that come with a pre-paid envelope to be returned after use for further recycling
• Learn more about how single stream recycled material is processed by visiting Curbside Management's plant in Woodfin

Recycling can reduce the environmental impacts of our material-intensive lifestyle, but the approaches used for recycling are changing. Each of the four panelists at BRSI's March 21st Green Monday examined an aspect of this change. Two approaches to recycling were explored.  Single-stream recycling refers to mixing all recyclables in one bin to be sorted later at a recycling facility.  Single-stream has also been referred to as a "mixed recyclable" approach.  The other method of recycling discussed consists of a higher degree of separation which would be conducted by the home or business owner manually rather than later down the line in an automated facility. 

Wendy Simmons, Solid Waste Manager for the City of Asheville, reported on the results of an experiment that the City has conducted with single stream collection of recyclables. At present, Asheville collects recyclable paper and containers in separate 14 gallon bins. Separating these materials and carrying the bins to the curb for collection is viewed as a barrier to recycling. Starting in October, the City ran an experiment in four neighborhoods with different demographics. Simmons said residents in these neighborhoods were asked to put their recyclables in blue 65 gallon wheeled containers, similar to the green 95 gallon containers used for unrecyclable garbage. The experiment was deemed a success - a higher percentage of households recycled, and the average amount of recycled material increased by 3 pounds per household per month. Based on these results, on March 22nd, the Public Works Department recommended to City Council that the program be extended citywide. The Council discussed this proposal but took no action.

In response to a question, Barry Lawson, President of Curbside Management, who handles Asheville's recycled material, explained the process used to sort the single stream of recyclables, and invited the public to visit their plant in Woodfin to watch recyclables being sorted. Someone in the audience claimed that this processing could leave as much as 20% - 30% contaminated material that would then be sent to the landfill. After the meeting, Lawson told a BRSI staff member that the results of their single stream process had better recycling rates and only a 4% - 5% loss due to contamination.

Tim McCoyle, President of T-A-D-S, a resource recovery company, took a different approach. McCoil is a passionate advocate who encourages a high rate of recycling, which he states can only be achieved by intensive separating of recyclables. T-A-D-S collects more than twenty different types of recyclable material in separate streams. Some of McCoil's clients have had remarkable success. Mellow Mushroom, an Asheville restaurant, has reduced its landfill contribution by more than 90%. It has gotten rid of its dumpster and replaced it with small garbage bins. McCoyle said that the reason these approaches are not more widely used is because we are a lazy society. Protecting the environment takes work and he challenged the idea that recycling should be made convenient.

Josh Hale, Green Mission Leader for Greenlife/Whole Foods Grocery in Asheville, described their program for recycling Number 5 plastic and also showed the products made from recycled plastic, including plates, tableware, and toothbrushes. Compared with using new plastic, recycled Number 5 plastic creates at least 64% fewer greenhouse gases, and uses at least 54% less water, 46% less energy, 75% less oil and 48% less coal. And every recycled container is one less that ends up in a landfill.  Hale also talked about the program Greenlife has for recycling waxed cardboard containers, used for shipping wet produce, into fireplace logs. He urged the audience to recycle their Number 5 plastic containers at Greenlife and to buy the recycled plastic products Whole Foods produces under the "Preserve" label.   

Derric Brown, Director of Sustainability for Evergreen Packaging in Canton, described a program called the "Carton Council" consisting of his company and three other paper and pulp companies.  The program they developed enables the recycling of coated cardboard cartons used for milk and juice containers. These containers have high quality fiber that is suitable for recycling, but because they are coated, they can't be processed with uncoated paper products. The industry recycling program, which began in 2008, initially faced four barriers:  

• low volume - coated cardboard accounts for only 0.5% of U.S. recyclables
• limited capacity to handle material for recycling - in 2008 there was only one recycler in the U.S. handling this material located in Dade County, Florida
• poor public perception
• lack of industry alignment

Brown said the industry has been aligned by forming the Carton Council. Collection centers now serve about 30% of the households in the U.S. End markets for recycled material have been secured at four U.S. domestic paper mills. A website (www.RecycleCartons.com) and a school recycling guide have been created to educate the public. Evergreen is working to bring this program to Western North Carolina.