Projects

The use of heat pumps is becoming more common in residential buildings and newer electric vehicles (EVs) because of their dramatic potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Air-sourced heat pumps ...

Inefficient residential energy use, which often occurs in conjunction with low-quality housing, raises greenhouse gas emissions and negatively impacts health. Residents may face the “heat-or-eat” dile...

Wind and solar energy both generate power intermittently. To allow these renewables to proliferate while maintaining grid stability, significant energy storage must be developed. The National Renewabl...

To achieve carbon neutrality, residential energy needs—including for space heating—must be fully electrified. How electrification will affect the shape, peak, and total consumption of electricity in r...

Electrification is a key corporate strategy and is motivated chiefly by sustainability concerns for the conventional technology. The research results from the project will better define the sustainabi...

Project purpose Maple syrup producers can influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with production practices. We will conduct a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of maple syrup production, focus...

Multiple flood risk tools are available that address problems for different economic sectors, institutions, and geographic domains. A common goal among the majority of these tools is assistance with i...

Electric power system utilities are engaged in work to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions intensity of electricity generation. The ultimate aim is to reach near-zero carbon dioxide emissions. Effe...

The University of Michigan Office of Research and the Center for Sustainable Systems are hosting the Hydrogen Roadmap for the State of Michigan Workshop on the UM Ann Arbor Campus. Hydrogen Roadmap...

This project will quantify avoided food waste/loss emissions associated with cold chain services, net of emissions of the equipment needed to refrigerate foods.. The purpose of the project will be to ...

The rural-urban divide refers to a range of disparities associated with access to a variety of services, livelihood opportunities, and income within urban and rural communities. In addition to creatin...

Problem Statement: The embodied energy of vehicles is growing as energy-intensive materials such as aluminum auto body sheet (ABS) are used to deliver improved performance. This presents an opportu...

Nuclear energy’s powerful potential to advance decarbonization of the energy sector is compromised by a number of legacy issues. Historically, developers have failed to engage host communities as p...

Graham Catalyst Grant The grants provide support for small-scale, collaborative, and interdisciplinary sustainability research. Innovative Model to Help Urban Resource Managers Stop Stream ...

The Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) at the Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) funds research and development in three technology areas: photovoltaics (PV),...

The University of Michigan’s GHG emissions can be broken into three categories: Scope 1 (those generated on-site), Scope 2 (those associated with purchased electricity); and Scope 3 (those resulting f...

DOWNLOAD THE RESEARCH SUMMARY  Graham Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Program (CNAP) Carbon neutrality is a global imperative and a top university priority initiated by U-M President Mark Sc...

The goal of this project is to improve the speed at which material flow analysis (MFA) is performed and to transparently communicate and reduce the uncertainty in the results, thus enabling a routi...

Graham Sustainability Institute’s Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Program (CNAP) This emerging energy storage solution could offer the best of both worlds—supporting deep decarbonization and kee...

Ford Alliance

The Center for Sustainable Systems at University of Michigan conducted for Borealis Foods a “cradle to grave” life cycle assessment of Chef Woo (CW) instant ramen noodle, a unique product that supp...

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...

The objective of this project is to evaluate the impact of the global pandemic on future travel and associated energy use, emissions, and cost ramifications.  The project will characterize and qu...