10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

WVU hosts first emissions summit since revealing Volkswagen scandal

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Global attention of a West Virginia University study has opened the door for Morgantown to be a potential leader in emissions measurement and testing.

It’s been nearly a year since a Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions (CAFEE) study revealing Volkswagen cheated on U.S. emissions tests started receiving mass media attention.

“It’s really exciting. There’s been a lot of positive things that have come out of this for us,” explained Dan Carder, director of the CAFEE that is part of the Statler College of Engineering.

Carder led the research in 2014 that found some of Volkswagen’s vehicles, during testing, released 10 to 40 times more oxides of nitrogen than permitted by regulators and than the company advertised.

Volkswagen is now in the middle of a multibillion dollar consumer settlement that is estimated at $14.7 billion.

WVU researchers have been featured on Motor Trend’s Power List and as a Times magazine top 100 most influential person in the world.

And, the university is hosting its inaugural Real-World Emissions Technology Summit.

“Once you get folks to Morgantown or West Virginia, I think their whole mindset changes of what we would have to offer,” Carder said. “So, if we can attract industry that would be our ultimate goal.”

The two-day summit Wednesday and Thursday includes an open house at the Vehicle and Engine Testing Laboratory, CAFEE’s new off-campus facility.

The lab will feature a light-duty chassis dynamometer, a heavy-duty chassis dynamometer, an ATV/motorcycle dynamometer and engine test cells.

According to Carder, if the automotive industry leaders, environmental regulators and air quality experts who’ve been invited to the summit get to see how the center and WVU researchers operate, there will be future opportunity for collaboration.

“Before the regulators start making any sweeping decisions, there will be studies, impacts and investigations that have to go on. And, we’d like to put ourselves in the middle of that.”

Carder expects regulators to address standards that will greatly impact the automotive industry including heavy trucks and off-highway vehicles and engines.

His concern is that abiding by new standards can be costly and unattainable without input from his team.

“(We want to) take an approach that we accelerate the technology and the regulatory pathways. But we want to make sure we’re doing things at the right pace and that technology is able to keep up.”

Current and future students, Carder added, could be instrumental in generating business for the college for testing and evaluations and for planting the seeds for new emissions control projects.

“The international student interest has been up compared to previous years. Even within the state, there’s a lot of students that have expressed interest in our group that may have been undecided before.”

Summit speakers included, Carder, WVU administrators and representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and Energy Innovations, South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association to name a few.





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