Profs. H.W. Chris Lee, Rachel Berney, and Lingzi Wu hosted a successful stakeholder kick-off meeting for the WSDOT-funded Shore Power: Bremerton Transportation Center eMobility Project. The meeting drew strong participation from Washington State Ferries, Kitsap Transit, the City of Bremerton, Kitsap County, Puget Sound Energy, the Port of Bremerton, and the U.S. Navy. Agencies engaged in productive discussions on mobility challenges, electrification opportunities, and multimodal planning needs at the Bremerton Transportation Center. This collaborative launch sets a strong foundation for…
Person: Hyun Woo "Chris" Lee
Professor Lee and team begin Port of Seattle funded project “Taxi and Transportation Network Company (TTNC) Electrification Policy Guidance”
Professor Chris Lee and team are beginning a project entitled “Taxi and Transportation Network Company (TTNC) Electrification Policy Guidance,” funded by the Port of Seattle. This project aims to support the Port of Seattle—including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the Maritime Division—in developing strategies to reduce carbon emissions from passenger ground transportation. Drawing on outreach to taxi and transportation network company (TNC) drivers (e.g., Uber, Lyft), the project will identify key barriers and opportunities for electrifying commercial ground transportation serving key…
2025 Inspire Fund Awardees Selected
The 2025 Inspire Fund Awardees have been selected! See more information about their projects below. Project Title: “Enhancing Feasibility and Evaluation for the Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership Program in King County” Team: Vince Wang (Runstad Department of Real Estate), Zhongmin Evy Luo (PhD student, Built Environments), Kristin Pace (KCHA) Project Title: “Wildfire Smoke Readiness of Low-Income Households in Seattle” Amos Darko (Construction Management), Alvina Ekua Ntefua Saah (PhD Student, College of Built Environments) Project Title: “Equitable Public Electric Vehicle Charging…
Charging Forward: Evaluating Public-Private Partnerships for Electric Bus Base Conversion to Support a Zero-Emission Fleet
Lee, H. W., Osburn, L., Treece, B, (2023). Charging Forward: Evaluating Public-Private Partnerships for Electric Bus Base Conversion to Support a Zero-Emission Fleet. Seattle, WA.: Mobility Innovation Center, University of Washington.
Charging Forward: reaching a zero-emission transit fleet with a public-private partnership project
UW researchers explore using public-private partnerships to convert bus bases for electric-powered vehicle charging. Conversion of bus base facilities, the heart of transit operations, for electric vehicle charging is a large-scale project with many players and complex needs. One option for transit agencies working to shift to a zero-emission fleet is a public-private partnership model (P3), which defers upfront capital construction costs and has the potential to help agencies meet long-term sustainability and resiliency goals. This research out of the…
Assessing Office Building Marketability before and after the Implementation of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Policies—Lessons Learned from Major U.S. Cities
Shang, L., Dermisi, S., Choe, Y., Lee, H. W., & Min, Y. (2023). Assessing Office Building Marketability before and after the Implementation of Energy Benchmarking and Disclosure Policies—Lessons Learned from Major U.S. Cities. Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland), 15(11), 8883–. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118883
Abstract
An increasing number of U.S. cities require commercial/office properties to publicly disclose their energy performance due to the adoption of energy benchmarking and disclosure policies. This level of transparency provides an additional in-depth assessment of a building’s performance beyond a sustainability certification (e.g., Energy Star, LEED) and may lead less energy-efficient buildings to invest in energy retrofits, therefore improving their marketability. However, the research is scarce on assessing the impact of such policies on office building marketability. This study tries to fill this gap by investigating the impact of energy benchmarking policies on the performance of office buildings in four major U.S. cities (New York; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; and Chicago). We use interrupted time series analysis (ITSA), while accounting for sustainability certification, public policy adoption, and property real estate performance. The results revealed that in some cities, energy-efficient buildings generally perform better than less energy-efficient buildings after the policy implementation, especially if they are Class A. The real estate performances of energy-efficient buildings also exhibited continuously increasing trends after the policy implementation. However, due to potentially confounding factors, further analysis is required to conclude the policy impacts on energy-efficient buildings are more positive than those on less energy-efficient buildings.
Keywords
building energy benchmarking and disclosure policies; building energy efficiency; office buildings; time series modeling
To Achieve Goal Alignment by Inter-Organizational Incentives: A Case Study of a Hydropower Project
Wang, Y., Hu, S., Lee, H. W., Tang, W., Shen, W., & Qiang, M. (2023). To Achieve Goal Alignment by Inter-Organizational Incentives: A Case Study of a Hydropower Project. Buildings (Basel), 13(9), 2258–. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092258
Abstract
Although the use of incentives has been widely recognized as an effective project management tool, its application still needs specific exploration. Existing research on incentives mainly focuses on intra-organizational incentives, lacking systematic research with empirical evidence from the perspective of the inter-organizational level. To fill this research gap, this study conducted an in-depth investigation into the application and impacts of inter-organizational incentives by studying a typical case of a hydropower project. In this case, a series of innovative inter-organizational incentives, involving a multiple contractual incentive scheme concerning schedule, quality, safety, as well as environmental performance, is applied. Using a mixed methodology that included a document review, a questionnaire survey, and interviews, this case study revealed that inter-organizational incentives could effectively help promote goal alignment, stimulate cooperative inter-organizational relationships, and improve project performance. This research developed a novel classification of inter-organizational incentives and emphasized the importance of non-contractual and informal incentives, which were ignored in previous research. The results further highlight that while incentivized organizations generally value incentives according to their monetary intensity, their prioritization of goals is determined by various factors. Therefore, to achieve project goal alignment, the optimization of incentive schemes should comprehensively consider a variety of influencing factors rather than merely focusing on monetary intensity. These findings will help both academic researchers and industrial practitioners design and execute effective inter-organizational incentives for superior project performance, especially for those projects that pursue high sustainable performance with safety and environmental performance included.
Keywords
inter-organizational incentive; inter-organizational relationship; multiple incentive; motivation; goal alignment; relational contracting; contractual incentive; environment incentive; environment performance; project performance
February 2022 Inspire Fund Awardees: Progress and Products
Five projects were awarded Inspire Fund awards in February 2022. They have completed various stages of work and have provided a report on their progress and products. Below, excerpts from these reports are highlighted to showcase the work that has been “Inspired” in 2022-23. Rick Mohler: “One Seattle: Leveraging Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan Update to advance housing diversity, affordability, livability and racial equity” This funding supported products from the Architecture 594 research seminar and Architecture 508 design studio, which tasked students…
ACT²: Time–Cost Tradeoffs from Alternative Contracting Methods
Choi, Kunhee, Bae, Junseo, Yin, Yangtian, and Lee, Hyun Woo. (2014). ACT²: Time–Cost Tradeoffs from Alternative Contracting Methods. Journal of Management in Engineering, 37(1).
Abstract
Incentive/disincentive (I/D) and cost-plus-time (A+B) are two of the most widely used alternative contracting methods (ACMs) for accelerating the construction of highway infrastructure improvement projects. However, little is known about the effects of trade-offs in terms of project schedule and cost performance. This study addresses this problem by creating and testing a stochastic decision support model called accelerated alternative contracting cost-time trade-off (ACT2). This model was developed by a second-order polynomial regression analysis and validated by the predicted error sum of square statistic and paired comparison tests. The results of a descriptive trend analysis based on a rich set of high-confidence project data show that I/D is effective at reducing project duration but results in higher cost compared to pure A+B and conventional methods. This cost-time trade-off effect was confirmed by the ACT2 model, which determines the level of cost-time trade-off for different ACMs. This study will help state transportation agencies promote more effective application of ACMs by providing data-driven performance benchmarking results when evaluating competing acceleration strategies and techniques.
Keywords
Errors (statistics), Project management, Benefit cost ratios, Regression analysis, Construction costs, Infrastructure construction, Contracts and subcontracts, Construction methods
Clean Energy Justice: Different Adoption Characteristics of Underserved Communities in Rooftop Solar and Electric Vehicle Chargers in Seattle
Min, Yohan, Lee, Hyun Woo, & Hurvitz, Philip M. (2023). Clean Energy Justice: Different Adoption Characteristics of Underserved Communities in Rooftop Solar and Electric Vehicle Chargers in Seattle. Energy Research & Social Science, 96.
Abstract
Concerns over global climate change have led to energy transition to clean energy systems with the development of various clean energy policies. However, social equity issues have emerged in association with the rapid transition of energy systems related to distributed energy resources (DERs), evidenced by disparities in clean energy access. While most existing studies have focused on several variables impacting the adoption of DERs, there is a dearth of studies concerning distributional and recognition justice specifically aimed at investigating: (1) which DER adoption variable is the most important among several variables identified in the literature; and (2) how adoption patterns vary by technologies and communities. The objective of the present study is to answer the two questions by examining the geographic distribution of rooftop solar and electric vehicle (EV) chargers and the related community attributes. Also, the study involves identifying latent variables by addressing inter-correlations among several adoption determinants. The results show that rooftop solar and EV charger adoptions in Seattle present disparities associated with geographic locations and community attributes. In particular, housing variables are the main indicators for rooftop solar adoption and even stronger in communities with low adoption rates. EV charger adoptions are strongly associated with economic variables. Furthermore, spatial inequality of rooftop solar adoption is higher than that of EV charger adoption. The study suggests housing-related support may increase the adoption of both technologies, particularly in communities with low adoption rates. Considering that the installations of rooftop solar and EV chargers were concentrated in particular communities, the study results imply that policies aimed at increasing the adoption of DERs should be tailored to local community characteristics.