Research Publications

Executive Summary  This project was conducted by six University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability graduate students (referred to as the research team) to support Meijer’s...

There is a lack of data on resources used and food produced at urban farms. This hampers attempts to quantify the environmental impacts of urban agriculture or craft policies for sustainable food prod...

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) will impact the climate, the environment, and society in highly significant ways. This study compares EVs to vehicles with internal combustion engines for thr...

Single-use packaging generates millions of tonnes of plastic waste per year – a circular economy waste reduction strategy is to implement reusable container systems for restaurant takeout. We develope...

Plastic is a ubiquitous material that has caused major environmental impacts. Ecosystem damage from improperly disposed plastic waste is the most visible of these impacts; however, plastic also has le...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used to evaluate product environmental impacts, while detailed LCAs are missing that model the effect of design and manufacturing decisions on U.S. ductile iron c...

New approaches are needed to both reduce and reuse plastic waste. In this context, poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is an appealing target as it is the least recycled high-production-volume polymer due to i...

Unabated coal power in India must be phased out by mid-century to achieve global climate targets under the Paris Agreement. Here we estimate the costs of hybrid power plants—lithium-ion battery storag...

Rationale and objective: This study was conducted by The Center for Sustainable Systems at University of Michigan to provide environmental performance of replacing meat consumption with consumption of...

Over the last decade, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology has significantly advanced to enable more realistic impact simulations and predictions with spatial and temporal considerati...

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs” (H2Hubs) in collaboration ...

Urban agriculture, experiencing a resurgence across the Global North, features prominently in food system sustainability and urban resilience discourse, planning, and policy. Research, however, indica...

The United States Postal Service (USPS) plans to purchase 165,000 next-generation delivery vehicles (NGDVs) between 2023 and 2032. The USPS submitted an environmental impact statement (EIS) for two NG...

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce and automated warehouses, vehicles, and robots and has created new options for grocery supply chains. We report and compare the greenhous...

The thermal modification (TM) process has been developed as an alternative to chemical treatment of wood, which increases longevity of lumber used in exterior non-ground-contact applications. In one a...

Lockdown and social-distancing policy drove U.S. workers to switch to telecommuting during the pandemic of Covid-19 in 2020. Telecommuting has been widely perceived as a sustainable way of working tha...

Urban green space is conducive to the physical and mental health of residents. However, exposure to green space is often highly unequal. This research addresses a major gap in the green space literatu...

Urban agriculture provides a range of ecosystem services (as well as potential disservices). This study examines the spatial extent, physical characteristics, and residents' perceptions of community a...

Food systems literature has shifted towards interdisciplinarity and the use of systems lenses but can still be disjointed and unconnected. To bring together disciplinary knowledge and establish a comm...

Cold chain infrastructure is vital in the modern food system, yet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of cold warehouse construction and operation are unclear. This article fills the gap by presenting ...

Eco-driving benefits and automation energy use burdens are important factors impacting the energy consumption of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). However, challenges exist ...

Growing global demand for natural rubber is driving deforestation due to the expansion of rubber plantations, with consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage, and local communities. There has been ...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used widely to compare the relative impacts of different packaging materials for a specific food product, but few studies evaluate how a single packaging material contri...

This project was conducted to address recommendations from the University of Michigan’s President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality by footprinting the institution's Scope 3 purchased goods and servic...