Research Publications

“Life-cycle assessment” is a term that has been “thrown around a lot,” Martin Heller said. But what exactly is it? In essence, LCA is a methodological framework for tracking the environmental impac...

The study of industrial symbiosis (IS) has largely focused on the exchange of energy and materials among industrial processes in an effort to increase value and reduce environmental impact. Agricul...

The maximum amount of land for growing switchgrass for ethanol is estimated for a region in the southeastern U.S. Breakeven capacities are calculated for land in row crops, hay, pasture and margina...

China has proposed its 2020 clean energy target together with the climate change target of reducing CO2 intensity of the economy by 40–45% below the 2005 level. This article investigates the feasib...

With the lowest access to electricity in the world, the country of Liberia, West Africa, has efforts underway for electrification through a fossil based centralized scheme around its capital city a...

The decline of China's energy intensity slowed since 2000. During 2002–2005 it actually increased, reversing the long-term trend. Therefore, it is important to identify drivers of the fluctuation o...

China’s unprecedented change offers a unique opportunity for uncovering relationships between economic growth and environmental pressure. Here we show the trajectories of China’s environmental pres...

Algae are an appealing source for bioenergy due to their high yields relative to terrestrial energy crops. The high cost of production, however, has prohibited commercialization. Hydrothermal lique...

Top-down analysis of virtual atmospheric mercury emission networks can direct efficient demand-side policy making on mercury reductions. Taking China—the world’s top atmospheric mercury emitter—as ...

Purpose This study aims to compare the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of two cellulosic bioenergy pathways (i.e., bioethanol and bioelectricity) using different references and function...

This work assesses the potential of electrified vehicles and mass reduction to reduce life cycle energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to account for proces...

Grid-scale energy storage is one option to reduce curtailment and increase deliverability of transmission-constrained wind. This study examines four hypothetical wind and transmission projects in t...

China has built the world’s longest network of High Speed Rail (HSR) systems in less than 5 years. However, there are very few studies on the life cycle impact of China’s HSR systems compared to studi...

Increasing fuel prices, environmental concerns, and fuel efficiency regulations are precipitating the adoption of new vehicle construction and propulsion technologies that are sensitive to location of...

This research aims to provide a more comprehensive, life cycle accounting of two categories of environmental and economic benefits associated with the $3 billion US “Cash for Clunkers” vehicle scra...

Serious games are computer games with a primary purpose other than entertainment. Serious games are frequently used for training purposes, and can be used for educational and research purposes, increa...

Supplying adequate human nutrition within ecosystem carrying capacities is a key element in the global environmental sustainability challenge. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used effectively ...

Current economic restructuring policies have ignored unintended environmental consequences and cobenefits, the understanding of which can provide foundations for effective policy decisions for gree...

While clean vehicles (i.e., vehicles powered by alternative fuels other than fossil fuels) offer great potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline-based vehicles, the associated impa...

Life cycle assessment practitioners struggle to accurately allocate environmental burdens of metals recycling, including the temporal dimension of environmental impacts. We analyze four approaches ...

The Renewable Fuel Standard (2007) set aggressive cellulosic biofuel goals that have not been realized. Corn ethanol dominates the market and penetration of cellulosic ethanol is unlikely in the ne...

Increasing urbanization places cities at the forefront of achieving global sustainability. For cities to become more sustainable, however, the infrastructure on which they rely must also become mor...

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) use grid electricity as well as on-board gasoline for motive force. These multiple energy sources make prediction of PHEV energy consumption challenging and...