Research Publications

The debate over offshoring of production, transfer of technological capabilities, and potential loss of U.S. competitiveness is a long-running one. Prevailing thinking is that the world is flat...

The Zambezi River Basin is home to 40 million people who rely on the river for drinking water, fisheries, irrigation, hydropower production, mining and industry, ecosystem maintenance, and other uses....

A factsheet that illustrates current patterns of wind energy production and consumption in the United States, supplemented by selected CSS research results on the life-cycle environmental impacts, ...

Firms engaged in industrial ecology hope to reduce environmental impacts and costs, improve resource efficiency, and create symbiotic relationships that reduce transaction costs and enhance inform...

This study is a comparative life-cycle assessment (LCA) of two competing digital video disc (DVD) rental networks: the e-commerce option, where the customer orders the movies online, and the tradition...

This study is a comparative life cycle assessment of two competing DVD rental networks: e-commerce option, where the customer orders the movies online, and the traditional option, where the customer p...

This paper assesses modeling parameters that affect the environmental performance of two state of the art photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation technologies: the PVL136 thin film laminates and t...

The Michigan at a Climate Crossroads: Strategies for Guiding the State in a Carbon-Constrained World Project (MCCP) team developed state-level greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction policies for the ...

Microgrids - generating systems incorporating multiple distributed generator sets linked together to provide local electricity and heat - are one possible alterative to the existing centralized ene...

Using industry standards to commodify cement beginning in 1904, the cement and concrete industry surrendered control of their product to the market and the concrete industry as a whole developed a tec...

While pavements are central elements of transportation systems, pavements in the United States are significantly deficient. An estimated 58% of America’s urban and rural roadways are in poor, medio...

This study documents the energy intensity and environmental impacts from operation of water and wastewater treatment systems through case-studies in US. Life-cycle energy and impact assessments were c...

The development of new transportation infrastructure materials is often disconnected from design, construction, and system management. Problems originating from this separation have resulted in usi...

Environmental policies in developed countries have taken tentative steps beyond the traditional focus on end-of-pipe or constraintbased waste disposal regulations, toward ‘extended responsibility’ for...

The most recent measures of cement production estimate 97.4 million metric tons are produced annually in the U.S., and global production is estimated at 2.1 billion metric tons. In an increasingly glo...

Cement production is the second most carbon dioxide intensive industry, accounting for 5% of anthropogenic emissions. As the key binding agent in concrete it is integral to the modern infrastructure o...

A metalworking fluid (MWF) technology that is novel, environmentally preferable, and capable of rapid diffusion into the industrial sector has been developed. The process of creating this technology r...

The energy efficiency of the average clothes washer in the U.S. improved by 88.4% from 1981 to 2003. Replacement of old vertical-axis washers with new horizontal-axis washers results in decreased oper...

This thesis investigated the economic and environmental aspects of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) practiced by Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). From the economic perspective, it analyzed...

Nearly ninety percent of people in rural northern Ghana are without electricity. Many offgrid projects undertaken by the Ghanaian Government to provide electricity to this region have been largely uns...

Environmental Reporting for University of Michigan Ann Arbor Campus: The U-M Environmental Data Repository (Report Number CSS05-11) resulted from a project conducted by Sarah Deslauriers, Colin McMill...

Estimates for mine tailings, smelter slag, mine overburden, stock buildup, loss of copper discards to the landfills, and energy and water use requirements have been presented based upon scenario analy...

This paper examines the experience of existing alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) programs in the US and China to provide insights into appropriate strategies for developing hydrogen vehicles and infra...