Research Publications

Quantification of environmental impacts through life cycle assessment is essential when evaluating bioenergy systems as potential replacements for fossil-based energy systems. Bioenergy systems employ...

Hydrological models are usually calibrated to in-situ streamflow observations with reasonably long and uninterrupted records. This is challenging for poorly gage or ungaged basins where such informati...

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...

Urban planning policies have important implications for the quality of life of citizens and residents. Quality of life is measured through ‘objective’ and subjective indicators which offer critical in...

Chapter Summary: This chapter describes work on decarbonizing cars and light trucks through electrification. It then moves on to a discussion of the much more challenging problem of decarbonizing heav...

Human experience of social-ecological changes is governed by interdependent infrastructures that regulate food, energy, and water flows, among others. Yet, research and practice struggle to integrate ...

Demand response (DR) programs are an important tool for maintaining grid reliability and for decarbonization of the power sector. Summer residential air condition (AC) direct load control (DLC) is a c...

Rapid transition to decarbonized power systems is important to meet net-zero goals and reduce the impact of human induced climate change. In this transition to a decarbonized power system, uncertainty...

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...

We review over 60 “visioning documents” authored by non-profits and frontline community members in the United States. These visions of energy justice – authored by the actors and communities that have...

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...

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for scholars to rethink how cities and urban spaces create and reproduce disproportionate social outcomes. The social, economic, and public health effects of ...

Persistent, systemic harms have resulted in inequalities in wealth distribution, energy insecurity, infrastructure reliability, heat island exposure, and preexisting health conditions, all of which ha...

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 ...

Application of lake models coupled within earth-system prediction models, especially for predictions from days to weeks, requires accurate initialization of lake temperatures. Commonly used methods to...

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...

Hormone laboratories located “on-site” where field studies are being conducted have a number of advantages. On-site laboratories allow hormone analyses to proceed in near-real-time, minimize logistics...

To further a just energy transition, jobs lost at retiring coal plants could be replaced by jobs at wind and solar plants. No research quantifies the feasibility and costs of such an undertaking acros...