Projects

Development and maintenance of factsheets that illustrate current unsustainable patterns of providing various services to society in the United States (e.g., food, personal transportation, housing)...

Establishment of a framework and pilot project for inventorying and reporting the environmental performance of the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus. ABSTRACT This project assesses ...

One of the many challenges facing the introduction of fuel cell vehicles is the establishment of an appropriate fueling infrastructure. This research project explores dynamics involved in establish...

Current energy systems that rely primarily on fossil fuels are not sustainable because of the finite nature of fossil fuels and the environmental impact of their use.  Biomass is emerging as a...

This project focuses on the application of the Life-Cycle-Assessment (LCA) methodology to enhance metrics and tools for assessing buildings' environmental impacts. This objective will be accomplish...

At 7.1 million volumes, the University of Michigan (UM) Library is one of the country's largest.  Its Digital Library Initiative has been at the forefront of promoting the use of electronically p...

Automobiles are among society’s most resource intensive products.  They have significant environmental impacts throughout their entire life cycle, including material production, manufacturing,...

Project tasks included creating an Industrial Ecology database in Microsoft Access and an Industrial Ecology web page.  The database contains information on IE projects and programs throughout...

This project was sponsored by Dupont's Educational Aid Program, 2000 - 2001 Science and Engineering Grant.   It served as a pilot for subsequent funding of a two-year project on willow bioma...

Stonyfield Farm's (www.stonyfield.com) concern for the environment prompted it to consider the impacts of its refrigerated yogurt product delivery beyond the traditional focus on container disposal...

The Center for Sustainable Systems CSS (formerly the National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education, established by the U.S. EPA in 1991) works towards educating college students, faculty, ...

This study has three goals: - To increase the understanding of material flows moving through the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan; - To develop a methodology by which community leaders may analyze ...

Application of a relative risk scoring approach to Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data and its policy implications.

Using Washtenaw County, Michigan as a focus, this project was designed to help local decision-makers in three ways: (1) Summarize national, state, and local land use trends; (2) provide a tool for ide...

Objective of this project is to enhance the environmental performance of universities and colleges (U&C) through a framework for assessing and reporting environmental impacts, based on a set of qu...

This study provides a framework upon which to base management for ecological sustainability in the University of Michigan's Housing Division.

As concern over the environmental impacts of residential house construction grows, many researchers are beginning to use life cycle assessment as a means to quantify natural resources consumption, and...

Using a four-tiered, progressive ecotourism model (Ziffer, 1989), the operations of the Irwin Lodge (Colorado) are evaluated and ranked regarding environmental education (EE) and interpretation (EI...

The United States food system, from field to table, is at a crossroads for change. Improving the sustainability of this complex system requires a thorough understanding of the relationships between fo...

BACKGROUND A very small percentage of U.S. electricity is currently generated from renewable, potentially sustainable sources (hydropower - 8.6%, wood - 1.1%, geothermal - 0.5%, wind - 0.1%, so...

The cruise industry is booming, rising from 4.8 million passengers in 1994 to a projected 8 million passengers by the year 20001.  Cruise ships, with their on-board theatres, shopping malls an...