Research Publications

This project focuses on the development of a set of metrics to measure the environmental performance of Steelcase Wood Products Division (SWD) over time.  These metrics establish the point of ref...

A number of environmentally adapted lubricants have been proposed in response to the environmental and health impacts of metalworking fluids (MWFs). The alternatives typically substitute petrol...

This paper examines the problem of optimally splitting driver power demand among the different actuators (i.e., the engine and electric machines) in a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). Existi...

Context and Need for Study Two major factors have generated global interest in the development of renewable energy among corporations: The scientific, political, and societal consensus around t...

Agriculture is responsible for nearly seven percent of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions; over half of this is from livestock (USDA, 2004). The U.S. organic food sector has consistently grown...

A 1,456 ft2 modular home and conventional site built home in Benton Harbor, Michigan are analyzed to examine how the different construction and design methods of two types of housing influence environ...

The construction, repair and rehabilitation of concrete pavements relies on the production and flow of large quantities of concrete and its constituents. Within the US, nearly 43 megatons of cement ar...

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....

Steelcase, Inc., a U.S. based and globally operating furniture company, has a long history of environmental improvement throughout its processes and products. Because its products are the core source ...

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...

More than thirty years of research exploring the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) could not provide a satisfying resolution to the tension e...

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...

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, ...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...