Research Publications

This study evaluates the importance of geologic and geographic factors in constraining the location of limestone mining operations for the production of cement in the Great Lakes region of the Unit...

An integrated life-cycle assessment and life-cycle cost analysis model was developed and applied to enhance the sustainability of concrete bridge infrastructure. The objective of this model is to c...

While Portland cement concrete (PCC) overlay has been increasingly used as a rehabilitation technique for deteriorated PCC pavements in the last decade, reflective cracking places a major limit on its...

Wind and solar resources are, by nature, spatially distributed and temporally variable. The process of siting generators that use these renewable resources and integrating them into the electricity...

A dynamic substance-flow model is developed to characterize the stocks and flows of cement utilized during the 20th century in the United States, using the generic cement life cycle as a systems bo...

Concrete is a material that gives architects and engineers great control over its form and appearance, especially where its visual qualities have been fully considered at the design stage. The appeara...

Evaluating and enhancing construction material sustainability requires a life cycle perspective of the structures in which they are used, since material properties and durability can have a profound e...

A number of previous studies on China's carbon emissions have mainly focused on two facts: (1) the continuous growth in emissions up till the middle of the 1990s; (2) the recent stability of emiss...

The design, processing, and evaluation of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) is investigated at large scales, up to 3 m3 (4 yd3). The design of ECC is undertaken to retain the pseudo-tensile ...

Pavement systems have significant impacts on the environment and economy due to large material consumption, energy input, and capital investment. To evaluate the sustainability of rigid pavement overl...

Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) has become a common practice in road construction at the state level during the past decade in the United States. It enables pavement engineers to conduct a comprehensi...

In this paper, we consider interactions between life cycle emissions and materials flows associated with lightweighting automobiles. The study begins by developing scenarios for lightweighting a sp...

Deregulation and decentralization in the electricity sector have thrived worldwide since the early 1980s. China also started restructuring its electricity industry since the mid-1980s. The reform ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...