Research Publications

This paper describes a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) done to evaluate the relative environmental performance of magnesium (Mg) and aluminum (Al) automatic transmission cases. Magnesium is considered ...

Life Cycle Assessment is becoming an important tool for guiding environmental design improvements in the automotive industry. This paper reports the life cycle inventory profiles for two fuel tank ...

This article investigates the influence of environmental, cost, and performance requirements on the design and management of automotive components through a case study involving instrument panels. ...

This life cycle design (LCD) project was a collaborative effort between the National Pollution Prevention Center at the University of Michigan, General Motors (GM), and the U.S. Environmental Protecti...

A 2,450 ft2 residential home (referred to as SH for Standard Home) built in Ann Arbor, Michigan was analyzed to determine total life cycle energy consumption of materials fabrication, construction, us...

An assessment of the environmental burdens and human health effects of perchloroethylene-based dry cleaning and aqueous-based wet cleaning was documented in the first paper of this two part series....

The life cycle design framework was applied to photovoltaic (PV) module design. The primary objective of this project was to develop and evaluate design metrics for assessing and guiding the improv...

A life cycle design demonstration project was initiated between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Dow Chemical Company, and the University of Mic...

This paper highlights results from a collaborative life-cycle design project between the University of Michigan, the US Environemtal Protection Agency and United Solar Systems Corporation. Energy a...

The U.S. EPA initiated the Common Sense Initiative (CSI) to develop "Cleaner, Cheaper, Smarter" environmental policy and management practices. This paper addresses the application of life cycle design...

Environmental management practices are currently undergoing two important shifts. First, companies, policy makers, environmental organizations and other stakeholders are increasingly focusing on the e...

Water-based cleaning of specialty garments is emerging as a potential alternative to dry cleaning. Perchloroethylene, the solvent used in dry cleaning, poses significant human and ecosystem health ...

This project presents and analyzes major findings of the "Industrial Ecology of the Automobile" Seminar Series, conducted by the former National Pollution Prevention Center (NPPC) now the Center for S...

Design offers an excellent opportunity to reduce environmental burdens associated with products and processes, which ultimately can lead to a more sustainable relationship between economic and ecologi...

The toxicity and use of the naturally occurring element mercury has been recognized for thousands of years. The state of Michigan has identified mercury as one of the primary pollutants of concern for...

Life cycle design (LCD) is a framework for designing product systems which are both economically and ecologically sustainable. Key elements of this framework are systems analysis, multicriteria ana...

The life cycle design framework was applied to photovoltaic module design. Two metrics were used to assess life cycle energy performance of a PV module: energy payback time and electricity production ...

    Evaluating Environmental Performance: A Case Study in the Flat Panel Display Industry develops a four step framework for evaluating environmental performance and explores how a manu...