The Transportation Sustainability Research Center was formed in 2006 to combine the research forces of six campus groups at UC Berkeley. It is housed at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley.
Acting Co-Directors: Tim Lipman and Susan Shaheen
Business Manager: Kim Strasburg (510) 665-3461
Media Inquiries: Phyllis Orrick
General Inquiries: tsrc@tsrc.berkeley.edu
(510) 642-4501; Fax: (510) 642-5483
Get full contact info and info about location of TSRC offices.
Tim Lipman and Susan Shaheen to Serve as Acting Co-Directors of TSRC:
April 26—Mike Cassidy, Acting Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), announced that TSRC Research Directors Tim Lipman and Susan Shaheen would serve as Acting Co-Drectors of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center.
In a message to the ITS, Cassidy wrote: "In the wake of Alex Farrell's sad passing, Susan and Tim's willingness to step forward for now and jointly assume this leadership role is to our very good fortune. With Susan and Tim at the helm, TSRC will continue its research in the areas of advanced vehicles and fuels, transportation and climate change, and sustainable mobility."
Cassidy also announced that Kim Strasburg had joined the center as Business Manager.
May 2 Memorial Service Set for TSRC Director Alex Farrell
Colleagues, students and friends are invited to a memorial event on Friday, May 2, 2008, from 1:30-4:00 in the Lipman Room (top of Barrows Hall).
The Transportation Sustainability Research Center Mourns the Loss of Director Alex Farrell
(Jeffery Kahn/UC Berkeley photo)
Professor Alex Farrell was an inspirational leader, researcher, and teacher. We feel privileged to have worked so closely with him in launching the TSRC.
TSRC staff and students are deeply saddened by Alex's sudden death. The loss of his vision, energy, and enthusiasm is profound. In moving forward at TSRC, we are dedicated to continuing our focus upon sustainable transportation research and education, building upon the solid foundation that Alex provided.
Tim Lipman, Research Director
Susan Shaheen, Research DirectorIn lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions in Farrell's memory be made to the Alex Farrell Memorial Scholarship Fund, Energy and Resources Group, 310 Barrows Hall, #3050, Berkeley, CA 94720-3050. Please make checks out to "Regents of the University of California."
News
April 21: Biofuel Community Mourns Berkeley Researcher
Alex Farrell's research into the full environmental impacts of biofuels is sorely needed, scientists say. He leaves a legacy of his work on California's low-carbon fuel standard and in building an energy community. From Greentech Media...Alex Farrell - UC energy expert dead at 46 From the San Francisco Chronicle...
TSRC Director Alex Farrell Dies at 46:... "Alex was brilliant, energetic, supportive, insightful and caring, and he had a way of challenging his colleagues and students to think more critically even when they thought they already were," said Tim Lipman, a UC Berkeley colleague and the founding research director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center. "His career had reached a point where his loss is an enormous one, not just for the Energy and Resources Group and the transportation center, but also for the global transportation and energy community." Read more of the University NewsCenter obituary of Alex Farrell...
April 2: Now Online: "The Low Carbon Fuel Standard and Land Use Change," PDF of TSRC Director Alex Farrell's Powerpoint presentation to the Western States Petroleum Association's Lifecycle Analysis Collaborative (March 19).
April 1: "Hydrogen fuel cars: The expensive truth... It costs $50 to $100 dollars to fill up your car and it's showing no sign of subsiding. It's a financial hardship on a growing number of people as Bay Area researchers look to hydrogen as a possible fix....
... "'The real number we have to pay attention to is half a million to a million dollars a car,'" says Dr. Alex Farrell PhD of UC Berkeley. Farrell is so much of an energy expert that on Tuesday, he addressed a room filled with them at Lawrence Livermore Lab. "'There is no one answer. There's a lot of things that are going to be the answer. Efficiency is part of the answer. Electric is part of the answer. Biofuels is part of the answer. And maybe hydrogen, too," says Farrell."—Wayne Freedman, ABC7 News, San Francisco
March 24: Now Online, Bioenergy Research Needs for Heat, Electricity, and Liquid Fuels, (PDF of article) Alexander E. Farrell and Anand R. Gopal, in Materials Research Society (MRS) Bulletin | April 2008 "Harnessing Materials for Energy" (takes you to MRS Web site).
Abstract: Biomass remains a key energy source for several billion people living in developing countries, and the production of liquid biofuels for transportation is growing rapidly. However, both traditional biomass energy and crop-based biofuels technologies have negative environmental and social impacts. The overall research challenge for bioenergy is to develop the technologies to produce useful products at low costs while minimizing the use of scarce resources such as arable land and water. This requires substantial advancements in modern biomass power generation and the success of liquid biofuel technologies that permit the use of lignocellulosic feedstocks or possibly algae. With such technologies, biomass resources could meet a significant fraction (over 10%) of global energy demand. Both improved policies and technologies are needed to ensure that bioenergy contributes significantly to economic, social, and environmental goals.
March 18: Now Online, Daniel M. Kammen, Alexander E. Farrell, Richard J. Plevin, Andrew D. Jones, Gregory F. Nemet, and Mark A. Delucchi (March 1, 2008) Energy and Greenhouse Impacts of Biofuels: A Framework for Analysis
February 26: TSRC takes delivery of two fuel cell vehicles at Richmond Field Station office.
February 25: An innovation and policy agenda for commercially competitive plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (goes to Environmental Research Letters page with links to full report and author contact information). DM Lemoine, DM Kammen and AE Farrell.
"Dynamics of the Oil Transition: Modeling Capacity, Costs, and Emissions" (PDF on the University of California Energy Institute site). Adam R. Brandt and Alexander E. Farrell