Research Publications

Meal kits contain ingredients for cooking a meal that are pre-portioned, packaged, and delivered to a consumer’s residence. Life cycle environmental impacts associated with climate change, acidific...

Multiple studies have quantified the ecosystem services of green infrastructure for both public and environmental health. This study evaluates and compares accessibility of low-income and marginali...

China faces increasingly severe water stress from its limited, unevenly distributed water resources and rapid economic growth. Interregional trade of goods and services within China further leads t...

Deep decarbonization of electricity production is a societal challenge that can be achieved with high penetrations of variable renewable energy. We investigate the potential of energy storage techn...

Essential for society to function, the production and consumption of food, energy, and water (FEW) are deeply intertwined, leading to calls for a nexus approach to understand and manage the complex...

Flat roofs represent a significant proportion of urban areas and perform a variety of functions, each of which is responsible for a corresponding variety of effects on the urban environment and its...

Purpose Sustainable diets are an environmental, economic, and public health imperative, but identifying clear intervention points is challenging. Decision-making will require descriptive analyses...

Although recent studies of autonomous taxis (ATs) have begun to explore potential environmental implications of fleet deployment, little is known about their impacts over the long term. We present a h...

Emerging technologies play important roles in shaping future mobility systems and impacting sustainability performance of the transportation sector in major economies, such as the United States of Ame...

The authors document the development and testing of a new suite of hydrologic and hydraulic data for the customization of the new National Water Model (NWM) to the Great Lakes basin. The NWM was recen...

Informal footpaths known as desire lines crisscross the city of Detroit and are visible from space. Despite their prevalence, especially in postindustrial cities, no comprehensive study of desire line...

Express delivery plays a vital role in modern economy, but also brings great concern on post-consumer packaging waste. This study is therefore designed to characterize the material flows and enviro...

Although ride sharing as a way to improve transportation efficiency is not new, the scale of ride sharing has historically been limited due to safety concerns and logistics challenges. Recent devel...

This research presents the barriers and incentives faced by small-scale farmers in engaging in aquaponics systems in the São Carlos, Brazil community. Aquaponics is an agricultural system that combine...

Across the United States, 120 cities, 11 counties and 6 cities have made commitments to transition to 100 percent renewable energy. Leelanau County in Northwest Michigan has a small community comprisi...

Machine dishwashers are a unique consumer appliance since they are often substituted with manual dishwashing. Although some studies indicate machine dishwashers use less energy and water than manual d...

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, destroying most of its energy infrastructure and triggering an 11-month blackout. This research looks to micro-grids and their potential for ...

Over the past 50 years, plastic has emerged as one of the most ubiquitous materials in modern society. In the form of packaging, plastic has provided us with immense convenience and utility, particula...

Brazil’s growing middle class, electrification rates, and urbanization has led to a significant uptick in residential appliance adoption. Air conditioner usage, increasingly relevant to both average a...

Although recent studies of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have begun to explore the potential energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission impacts from an operational perspective, little is known...

Value chain (or Scope 3) emissions, stemming external to an organization’s direct operations, account for over 90% of the greenhouse gas inventory of an automotive manufacturer, and are dominated by U...

Interest and investment in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOLs), commonly known as flying cars, have grown significantly. However, their sustainability implications are unclear. We r...

To support regional management planning decisions, and to protect human health and safety, we developed a new statistical model that simulates the onset of seasonal ice cover along the shoreline of a ...