Research Publications

Cold chain infrastructure is vital in the modern food system, yet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of cold warehouse construction and operation are unclear. This article fills the gap by presenting ...

Climate change and biodiversity loss are two pressing global environmental challenges that are tightly coupled to urban processes. Cities emit greenhouse gases through the consumption of materials and...

The water level change in the Great Lake region can modulate stresses in the nearby fault system and potentially induce earthquakes. We perform a systematic analysis of local seismicity around souther...

Eco-driving benefits and automation energy use burdens are important factors impacting the energy consumption of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). However, challenges exist ...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used widely to compare the relative impacts of different packaging materials for a specific food product, but few studies evaluate how a single packaging material contri...

Growing global demand for natural rubber is driving deforestation due to the expansion of rubber plantations, with consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage, and local communities. There has been ...

This project was conducted to address recommendations from the University of Michigan’s President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality by footprinting the institution's Scope 3 purchased goods and servic...

Despite extensive literature on the socio-cultural services of urban open spaces, the role of food-producing spaces has not received sufficient attention. This hampers advocacy for preserving and grow...

In conjunction with the Ann Arbor 2030 District and the University of Michigan (UM), this project aims to create a suite of engagement tools to assist 2030 Districts Network members in meeting their r...

Technological and social innovations are rapidly advancing in communities across the United States and abroad to address the root causes of climate change and fortify community resilience. Resilience ...

According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting standard, Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions constitute emissions that result from indirect a...

Urban activities are an important driver of ecosystem services decline. Sustainable urbanisation necessitates anticipating and mitigating these negative socio-ecological impacts, both within and beyon...

Understanding impacts of climate change on water level fluctuations across Earth's large lakes has critical implications for commercial and recreational boating and navigation, coastal planning, and e...

This report discusses the findings from the Detroit 2030 District Transportation Emissions Baseline Survey that was conducted in 2022. The goal of this survey was to collect data on people who commute...

Plastic materials have become pervasive in 21st century economies, yet 60% of all plastics ever produced globally have been discarded either in landfills or elsewhere in the environment.This represent...

Aluminum and steel represent the two most dominant metals in light-duty vehicles, yet the flows of these materials into the American automotive industry have not been well characterized. This study...

Electrification of delivery vehicles will play an important role in decarbonizing the transportation sector. As electricity-generating technologies vary regionally and temporally, where electric vehic...

Automated long haul trucking is being developed for commercial deployment in the United States. One possible mode of deployment for this technology is a “transfer-hub” model where the operationally...

The design and techno-economic performance of a compact additively manufactured (AM) molten salt (MS)-to-supercritical carbon di-oxide (sCO2) primary heat exchanger (PHE) for solar thermal application...

Electrification can reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of light-duty vehicles. Previous studies have focused on comparing battery electric vehicle (BEV) sedans to their conventional internal co...

Energy-only electricity markets, such as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), rely on the decentralized investment decisions of market participants to lead to a resource mix providing an...

Despite the fact that the Great Lakes contain roughly 20% of the world's surface freshwater, there is a relatively limited body of recent work in peer reviewed literature that addresses recent trends ...

Reliable precipitation estimates are a crucial component for hydrologic modeling and hydro-climate applications. However, watersheds that extend across international boundaries or those that contain l...

Large fleets of motorcycle taxis in Kampala, Uganda, and other cities in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) emit significant local and global air pollutants. To reduce emissions, companies h...