2016 Research Topics:
- Understanding emerging domestic and international energy markets and shifts in production locations that are driving changes in transport patterns
- Providing robust methods to assess, adapt and/or reconstruct transportation infrastructure, supply chain and logistics practices, and storage needs for energy products (crude oil and refined products, biofuels, LNG/CNG, ethanol, etc.)
- Providing data-based tools to assess and mitigate the impacts of these changes on communities
- Infrastructure design, construction and maintenance.
- Impact on the U.S. rail system of the change from coal powered plants to alternate energy sources
- Uses of energy, how will the demand for cleaner transportation change the location and operation of multimodal corridors and the transportation network?
- Impacts of increased use of natural gas on transportation networks. The main mode is pipeline, how new terminals are being built translates to transport of LNG to the southeast U.S.
- Changes in transport operations such as unit trains for crude oil by rail, and pipeline reversals
- Impacts of the federal government lifting the crude export oil ban
- Operations research, modeling and methods around supply chains for energy products.
- New EPA regulations are decreasing use of coal-based power plants, this will increase the amount of natural gas used for power, and impact demand in regions powered by natural gas
- As the use of renewables changes, storage needs will change
- Changes in energy storage devices such as batteries from a transportation perspective. Transport of dangerous goods including lithium batteries.
- Lifecycle management of energy transport infrastructure
- Market changes – the destinations for energy products are changing as rapidly as production sources. Significant changes in technology are causing industries to move quickly; their consumption of energy product as inputs to manufactured goods is changing.
- Development of a national heat map to assess the changes in demand and supply of high-demand energy commodities in the past five years.
- Import and export of energy products, especially in Mexico and Canada. Identify potential scenarios and understand how they will affect transportation systems.
- Research to support FMCSA’s decisions regarding where to focus attention and resources for enforcement to enhance truck safety. For example, what are the differences (volume, equipment types, etc.) in the truck transport of energy products in various production regions?
- Federal and state agencies need to see into the future so they are able to change focus as needed
- Impacts of railcar rules for crude by rail to potentially include ‘before and after C/B analysis.’ This or related research could also analyze potential data sources.
- Change in the national use of fuel types, e.g., from coal to liquids requires operations, regulatory and planning changes in the transportation system. Research along this set of topics could identify potential impacts and recommendations.
- Research into the relationships among predictions of well, mine or extraction development with the evolution of safety and maintenance
- Report impacts on and investigate the recent changes in energy transport developments (regulatory, pricing, exporting crude, gas, et). This consideration includes U.S. and international issues.
- Examine the roles of transportation agencies in supporting energy related issues that includes a comprehensive view of states but also the metropolitan planning organizations at the city and/or local level.
- Logistics, sustainability, public affairs and community engagement, health and human factors, modal mix, storage and terminal siting and more.