Working Group Meeting Details

Brad Beauchamp, Team Leader, GM Fuel Cell Activities - Beauchamp, a GPCCP board member, will lead a demonstration of several GM fuel cell vehicles.
Also, Gus Sfakianos, Vice-President, Odyne Corporation, a Long Island-based manufactdurer of hybrid systems for class 6,7, and 8 trucks. Sfakianos will speak about his company and his experience working with several other Clean Cities organizations.

Future Working Group Meetings

Stakeholder Working Group Meetings are now being held four to six times per year, and are open to any and all Clean Cities stakeholders in the Philadelphia region. These meetings are a great opportunity to learn about the latest grants, rebates and incentives for alternative fuel and vehicle purchases, as well as to meet with other stakeholders.

Meetings feature industry speakers discussing cutting-edge alternative fuel developments and updates from throughout the region. Economic development and environmental issues are highlighted. All interested individuals or organizations are encouraged to attend. For more information on quarterly meetings, or to request the addition of an agenda item, please contact the GPCCP at 215-790-1894 or coordinator@phillycleancities.org.

We thank the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for allowing us to meet in their spacious conference room.

At our past meetings:

The January 2007 meeting featured Eric Thumma, Director of the Office of Energy and Technology Development (PA DEP), who talked about the PennSecurity Fuels Initiative - a bold new initiative to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil by injecting 900 million gallons of domestically-produced fuel into the state’s gasoline and diesel supplies over the next decade, furthering the commonwealth’s solid leadership in deploying homegrown energy solutions.

For our October 2006 meeting Simon Hauger from West Philadelphia High School's Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering talked about the incredibly successful after school program where kids build electric and alternative fueled vehicles! Also, Seth Obetz of Worley & Obetz spoke to us about the biofuels business in Pennsylvania and summarize the Pennsylvania E85 Corridor Project. A plaque of recognition was presented to Mike McClurkin, formerly of the PA Turnpike Commission, for his efforts with GPCCP over the past years. Thanks, Mike!

The July 2006 meeting featured Paula Krall of the US EPA. She discussed the EPA's Clean School Bus USA Program and the Mid-Atlantic Diesel Collaborative.

Mike Boyer, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, spoke at our March 2006 meeting on air quality and transportation issues in our area. This was the first stakeholder meeting held outside of Center City Philadelphia. There was a good turnout and we look forward new venues for future meetings.

The January 2006 meeting featured a project update from John Ciccone on the E85/biodiesel fueling station coming to Philadelphia. Patricia Passarella, Regional DOE, presented on FreedomCar and the Clean Cities Program implications. Also, Ed Kron of Kronosport, Inc. shared his business vision of Electric Vehicles for the 21st Century.

At our October 2005 Working Group meeting, our coalition's new coordinator, Brinda Shetty, was introduced. Dave Gelman, of New West Technologies led a discussion the implications of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. We also joined Clean Cities coalitions across the country in celebrating the "Beyond a Billion" milestone - Through our combined efforts, the Clean Cities program has now displaced over one billion gallons of petroleum.

Our July 2005 meeting took the form of a workshop, focused on Biodiesel for Tax Exempt Fleets. Dan Desmond; Deputy Secretary for PA DEP Office of Energy & Technology Deployment, Sue Summers; Alternative Fuels Program Manager, PA DEP Office of Energy & Technology Deployment, and Susanne Zilberfarb; PA Soybean Promotion Board laid the groundwork for regional support of biodiesel, particularly new AFIG funding opportunities related to biofuels.

In the afternoon, case studies of successful biodiesel applications were presented byJeff Kangas; Fleet Manager, Valley Forge National Park and Joe Biluck; Medford Township (NJ) Board of Education.

Also, a panel of biodiesel distributors, producers, fleet mechanics and fleet managers discussed current projects, and addressed questions from the attendees.