APPLIED RESEARCH CENTER OF ALABAMA
200 Century Park South Suite 112, Birmingham, AL 35226

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Organizations Filed Purposes: To improve the environment and therefore improve the social welfare of the State of Alabama.

Transportation Planning (50%) - The Center continued its ongoing participation in the local transportation planning process for Jefferson and Shelby counties with its Executive Director serving on the Transportation Citizens Committee of the Birmingham Metropolitan Planning Organization. The Center also continued its involvement in a coalition to educate the public on the benefits of completing a major highway development project in Jefferson County, the Northern Beltline (Beltline). The organization was founded in October 2008 as an Alabama nonprofit corporation, the Coalition for Regional Transportation (CRT), and the Center's Executive Director serves on CRT's Board of Directors. The Beltline, a limited access expressway from I-59/20 west of the City of Birmingham around the northern fringes of the Birmingham metropolitan area to I-59 northeast of the City of Birmingham, has been considered since the 1960's when the Interstate Highway System in the region was developed. The Beltline is designated as an Appalachian Regional Commission Development Corridor (Corridor X-1) and is proposed to be a part of the nation's interstate highway system as I-422. The Beltline will provide transportation improvements for the region, traffic congestion relief, air quality improvements and public safety improvements in the area. Construction of the Beltline will provide a safer, more efficient highway facility where no convenient east-west access currently exists in northern Jefferson County.

Alternative Fuels (45%) - The Center provided office space to and remained active in the management and operation of the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition, Inc. (ACFC), a participant in the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program. This program promotes the use of alternative fuels (AF) and alternative fueled vehicles (AFV) to expand the market, create job opportunities, improve air quality, and to reduce dependence of foreign sources of energy. ACFC was founded in 2002 as an Alabama nonprofit corporation. ACFC and its members work primarily with state and local governments to provide them with information on the benefits of AF and to identify potential AFV uses and AF infrastructure projects. The use of alternative fuels increased significantly in Alabama in 2019 and provided a reduction in the use of petroleum of more than 11.1 million gallons of gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) and 57,179 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. This effort was lead primarily by state and local governments with assistance from the ACFC. During 2019, alternative fuels (E85 Ethanol, B20 Biodiesel, and Propane) continued to be included on the state fuel contract. In addition to being available to state agencies, these alternative fuels can be purchased by local governments on the state contract from approved vendors in all 67 counties in Alabama. Use of alternative fuels in the fleets of government agencies in Alabama continued to expand in 2019: the Alabama Department of Transportation used 114,744 gallons of B20 Biodiesel and 235,272 gallons of E85 Ethanol; the Alabama Department of Corrections used 75 gallons of Propane; the Alabama State Docks used 1,744 gallons of Propane; the Alabama State Motor Pool used 54,939 gallons of E85 Ethanol; the Marshall Space Flight Center used 34,849 gallons of E85 Ethanol; the City of Birmingham used 98,773 gallons of E85 Ethanol and 175 gallons of Propane; City of Birmingham Schools used 31,921 gallons of Propane; the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) used 1,053,502 GGE of CNG; the ACFC developed public access CNG station at the BJCTA facility dispensed 73,778 GGE of CNG to the general public; Mobile County Schools used 289,551 gallons of Propane; the Lee County Sheriff's Office used 11 gallons of Propane; the Town of Gordo used 73,778 GGE of CNG; the City of Athens used 64,331 GGE of CNG; the City of Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa Transit used 17,969 gallons of Propane; Tuscaloosa City Schools used 451,194 gallons of Propane; the City of Alabaster used 3,300 gallons of B20 Biodiesel; Lawson State Community College used 50 GGE of CNG; the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the City of Montgomery operated electric vehicles in their fleet which reduced 35,839 GGE of petroleum; and waste vegetable oil to biodiesel initiatives continued at the City of Alabaster, the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind and Alabama A&M University, where these programs produced more than 1,877 gallons of B100 Biodiesel. ACFC programs and activities laid the foundation for additional alternative fuel infrastructure projects increased the availability of cleaner burning fuels to the public in Alabama during calendar year 2019 and beyond. Increasing availability of these fuels will improve air quality.In addition, other potential projects were identified for future funding and/or technical assistance.

Air Quality (5%) - The Center continued its ongoing involvement in planning and implementing the Alabama Partners for Clean Air Program (APCA) in Jefferson and Shelby counties. This program develops and implements voluntary strategies that improve air quality in order to enhance the area's ability to meet federal air quality standards, to have economic sanctions on the area lifted, and to improve public health.

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Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (public 990 form dataset) from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202043189349308634_public.xml