When New Hampshire began developing the I-93 widening project there was concern about the amount of salt that might be introduced into the environment due to winter operations and this became to impetus for the creation of the Green SnowPro Program through the Department of Environmental Services. Marilee Enus, Director of the New Hampshire Local Technical Assistance Program (NH LTAP), at the University of New Hampshire's Technology Transfer Center (UNH T2) and Scott Kinmond, Technology Specialist/Instructor explain the program and certification program.

For more information about the Green SnowPro visit the NH Department of Environmental Services website at https://www.des.nh.gov/land/roads/road-salt-reduction. And if you’re interested in more detail on the Green SnowPro program, including a good discussion of the legislative process (including a legislative partner who was in the winter maintenance industry), as well as a review of a recent legal case that “tested” the liability coverage, our webinar with the NHDES Green SnowPro team is now available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pf7k5LbvWYg

You can also reach out to Marilee at Marilee.Enus@unh.edu or Scott at Scott.Kinmond@unh.edu for more information about the training or program. Additional information on the certification program can be found on the New Hampshire Technology Transfer Center Website https://t2.unh.edu/

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AI and Machine Learning will probably be the next disruptive technology that will spawn a quantum leap in the way we approach the provision of winter service. On this episode we’re heading to the University at Albany in New York to visit with Nick Bassill, director of the New York State Weather Risk Communication Center and Carly Sutter, graduate research assistant there at the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center about a project Carly has been working on with the New York State Department of Transportation to identify road conditions from images using machine learning and the results could have impacts well beyond.

They take some of the mystery out of AI and machine learning is a way that's easy to understand. For more info on this project, AI and machine learning reach out to Nick at nbassill@albany.edu or Carly at csutter@albany.edu

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We've been talking about electrification of the maintenance fleet for some time now and the conversation always turns to the challenges facing the rollout of this technology particularly when it comes to winter maintenance. Diminished load carrying capacity due to the weight of the batteries, battery performance in cold operating environments, range anxiety, and the lack of rapid charging infrastructure re just a few. Well, Edison Motors Ltd based in Merritt, British Columbia has found the answer to these challenges and are in the process of developing a plugin hybrid electric snowplow for Emcon Services Inc, the largest maintenance contractor in Canada.

Frank Rizzardo, President of Emcon Services is here along with the founders of Edison Motors, Chace Barber and Eric Little to tell us all about their plugin hybrid electric snowplow project.

check out the progress of the hybrid snowplow build and other vocational trucks Edison Motors have built on their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@EdisonMotors. If this episode has got your interest up in hybrid snowplows you can reach out to Frank at emcon1@emconservices.ca, Chace at chace@edisonmotors.ca, or Eric at eric.little@edisonmotors.ca to continue the discussion.

Sign up for email notifications on future episodes and other communications associated with winter maintenance and winter weather management by clicking on subscribe on the Talkin' Winter Ops website at TalkinWinterOps.com

Thanks for listening in and stay safe out there!