Executive Director of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA)

Ben Taube is executive director of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), a nonprofit organization comprised of public and private interests. The mission of the Atlanta-based group is to deploy energy efficiency across 11 states in the Southeast, through public policy initiatives, utility development, academic research activities, and partnerships with local and state governments.  Taube’s expertise lies in energy and environmental programs. Before joining SEEA almost three years ago, Taube worked in the public and private sectors, including serving as environmental manager for the city of Atlanta.  He is chair of the Atlanta chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and vice chair of the Georgia chapter.

Question:

SEEA supports a cleaner, greener transportation vision that addresses the needs of passenger and freight traffic while reducing congestion, fuel use, and air pollution.  How does Norfolk Southern’s Crescent Corridor Intermodal Freight Project fit into that vision?

Answer:

We look across the Southeast for opportunities to improve energy efficiency, and addressing transportation problems is probably the largest piece of that.  I believe the Crescent Corridor is a big part of the solution in terms of making freight transit more efficient, more accessible, and more sustainable for the region.  It offers us a way to be more efficient and to look long term at ways to reduce energy consumption.

Simply building more highway lanes – the traditional response to address congestion – is not a realistic solution. That only creates more transportation issues, and we all see the impact – our communities grow and sprawl and traffic gets worse and more congested. So, we have to look at more efficient technologies and a variety of other things, and rail infrastructure is an important part. What I think Norfolk Southern brings to the table is a way to alleviate the need for cargo to travel on highways and a way to solve our congestion problem.

Rail is a much more environmentally friendly solution for our country’s transportation infrastructure needs. If you look at greenhouse gas emissions in the country, obviously most of the emissions are coming out of the tailpipes of cars and trucks. The Crescent Corridor can reduce those emissions by taking long-haul trucks off the highway and moving that freight over rail.

I think we’ve also got to look more to rail as a way to move people from place to place, not just freight. We’re such a car dependent society that we’ve lost sight that rail infrastructure has been around and functioning for a long time. T here’s a lot of value in what Norfolk Southern is doing to reinvest in that infrastructure. Anyone who has spent time in Europe knows that you don’t get anywhere without getting on a train. It’s part of the culture, and we have to figure out a way to move that into our culture, too.

Question:

Norfolk Southern recently became the first Class 1 railroad to join the U.S. Green Building Council. As part of the Crescent Corridor project, NS has committed to submitting buildings from three of its proposed intermodal terminals in Birmingham, Ala., Memphis, Tenn., and Greencastle, Pa., to the council for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. What is the significance of that in your view?

Answer:

What Norfolk Southern has done is show that it’s not just traditional residential or commercial buildings that have the ability to be efficient in terms of energy use, water use, or other environmental attributes. From my perspective, this is a very strong leadership role that Norfolk Southern is providing in the transportation sector. It’s showing that we can make buildings across the country more energy efficient, whether they’re classified as industrial, commercial, or residential. The railroad is providing vision and leadership and is demonstrating a commitment to make its infrastructure, facilities, and operations more efficient.