Research Publications

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...

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 manua...

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 ...

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 compr...

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 averag...

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, partic...

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 kn...

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 b...

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. W...

Scrutiny of food packaging environmental impacts has led to a variety of sustainability directives, but has largely focused on the direct impacts of materials. A growing awareness of the impacts of...

In their recent article “Correction to: On the calculation of fuel savings through lightweight design in automotive life cycle assessments” ( https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-018-1474-4), Koffler and...

Dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT), or dynamic wireless charging technology, enables charging-while-driving and offers opportunities for eliminating range anxiety, stimulating market penetratio...

A large portion of life cycle transportation impacts occur during vehicle operation, and key improvement strategies include increasing powertrain efficiency, vehicle electrification, and lightweigh...

Liberia faces increasing challenges with solid waste management as more than 70% of households abandon their waste in unauthorized sites. Urbanization and population growth will increase Liberia's ...

The participation of local governments is one of the determining factors for achieving the objectives of sustainable development, whereby municipalities must have planning, assessment, control inst...

Landscape connectivity is critical for ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation, yet urbanization is increasing habitat fragmentation. Green corridors that connect isolated remnant habitat pa...

Background A substantial portion of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) has been attributed to the food sector, but little is known about the association between the carbon footprint of individual self-s...

The efficient provision of food, energy, and water (FEW) resources to cities is challenging around the world. Because of the complex interdependence of urban FEW systems, changing components of one...

   Proyecto Corales is a volunteer committee in the Bay of Samara that seeks to restore the coral reef in the area.  With support from the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje (INA), th...

Refrigeration transforms developing food systems, changing the dynamics of production and consumption. This study models the introduction of an integrated refrigerated supply chain, or “cold chain,...

While direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by China’s power sector from the generation side have been widely investigated, driving forces from the electricity consumption perspective and inter-reg...

Traffic-related air pollution has been one of the major environmental problems in China. It is urgent to explore the urban traffic emission patterns for the low-carbon urban planning and traffic ma...

The use of carbon dioxide as a feedstock for a broad range of products can help mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing atmospheric CO2 levels through long-term removal of carbon (e.g. c...