Monday, November 17, 2008
3:30-4:30 p.m. (Reception 3:00-3:30)
UVA, Harrison Institute for American History
(Auditorium, Lower Level)

Infrastructure for Alternative Vehicle Fuels

Dr. Chris Hendrickson

Abstract

After decades of dominance by petroleum fuels, alternative fuels for motor
vehicles are becoming increasingly attractive for cost and security reasons.
The lengthy history of petroleum use has resulted in substantial
infrastructure for delivering gasoline and diesel in a cost-effective fashion.
Developing new infrastructure to deliver alternative fuels poses significant
challenges. This talk considers infrastructure investment options for
cellulosic ethanol, corn-based ethanol, liquefied natural gas, and plug-in
hybrids.

Biography

Dr. Hendrickson is the Duquesne Light Company
Professor of Engineering and Co-Director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie
Mellon University. His research, teaching and consulting are in the general area of
engineering planning and management, including design for the environment, project
management, transportation systems, finance and computer applications. Current research
projects include life cycle assessment methods (especially based on economic
input/output tables such as eiolca.net), assessment of alternative construction materials,
economic and environmental implications of Ecommerce, product take-back planning,
and infrastructure for alternative fuels. He has co-authored three textbooks,
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Goods and Services: An Input-Output Approach
(Resources for the Future, 2005), Project Management for Construction (Prentice-Hall,
1989, now available on the web) and Transportation Investment and Pricing Principles
(John Wiley & Sons, 1984) and two monographs, Knowledge Based Process Planning
for Construction and Manufacturing (Academic Press, 1989) and Concurrent Computer
Integrated Building Design (Prentice-Hall, 1994). In addition, he has published numerous
articles in the professional literature. Prof. Hendrickson is a Distinguished Member of the
American Society of Civil Engineering, an Emeritus Member of the Transportation
Research Board and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. He has been the recipient of the 2002 ASCE Turner Lecture Award, the 2002
Fenves Systems Research Award, the 1994 Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering
Award, Outstanding Professor of the Year Award of the ASCE Pittsburgh Section (1990),
the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Award (1989), the Benjamin
Richard Teare Teaching Award from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (1987) and a
Rhodes Scholarship (1973).

This event is open to the public.