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| Methods and Tools | Research Areas | CSS Home | | Transportation | Community Metabolism | Buildings | Renewable Energy | | Renewable Material | Consumer Products, Packaging and Services | |
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CSS develops and applies the tools and methodologies of life cycle assessment and design, industrial ecology approaches, and environmental performance and sustainability indicators in the following areas |
Transportation (LCA & Design of Components & Systems) |
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Transportation systems for meeting mobility and accessibility needs of society are, in general, resource intensive and create significant environmental impacts. For example, the transportation sector accounts for 26.8% of the total US energy consumption and 33% of carbon dioxide (GHG) emissions. Research has emphasized automotive transportation as it accounts for 93.4% of passenger miles traveled in the U.S. and because of the concentration of industry in this region. In addition, to its energy and GHG intensity, congestion, smog, land conversion, and water pollution from impervious services represent environmental problems related to the automobile and road infrastructure. Our research focus ranges from the design analysis of automotive components to metrics for evaluating the sustainability of entire vehicle systems; and on a larger scale, analysis of integrated systems for serving transportation needs of a community. Life cycle assessment is a useful tool for evaluating alternative vehicle technologies such as hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. Innovations in the life cycle management of vehicles such as the take back and remanufacturing of vehicles for upgrading are also being investigated. For sustainable production and consumption in transportation the industry and consumers must better match needs (e.g., commuting, family vacations) with the systems for providing this service. The current mismatch in many cases is an opportunity for improvement. |
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Community Metabolism Modeling (Material & Energy Flows) |
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Communities across the U.S. face enormous challenges with regard to urbanization. Recent unsustainable activities include low-density development, land conversion, and extension of essential infrastructure services. The current administration in Washington recognizes the problems of development and consumption and is issuing an agenda for building livable communities for the 21st Century. Our nation's communities are confronted with growing per-capita resource consumption, or "metabolism," coupled with an aging and capacity-limited urban infrastructure, including transportation, water and sewer, energy utilities, and waste management. In particular, energy consumption and related greenhouse-gas emissions; water use; pollution in air, water and soil; and waste generation limit long term ecological and economic viability. For example: - The seven-county region Southeast Michigan (including Ann Arbor) is projected to urbanize 234,000 acres between 1995 and 2020, a 24% increase in developed area. The potential to mitigate sprawl lies in revitalizing neighborhoods within major cities. For example, Detroit has lost more than one million residents since 1945 and currently has an estimated 46,000 abandoned lots within its boundaries. - In 1960 each American produced an average of 2.7 pounds of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day; in 1996 that number increased to 4.3 pounds. - Annual per-capita energy consumption has increased by 73%: from 204 MBtu in 1949 to 352 MBtu in 1997. - The Texas Transportation Institute estimated that drivers in Metro-Detroit lost 62 hours while being delayed in traffic during 1997. CSS is currently studying community metabolism in the City of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. Energy and material flow analyses are being conducted in addition to an investigation of land use patterns. |
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Life Cycle Design |
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Life Cycle Design is a framework for integrating environmental considerations into product development by considering all stages of a product's life cycle, from raw material acquisition through manufacturing and use to final disposal of wastes. Activities include identifying system requirements, selecting strategies for meeting these requirements, and evaluating trade-offs among system alternatives. Successful environmental integration often must be achieved within the context of shortening time to market cycles, more stringent regulations, and global competitiveness. The objective of life cycle design is to enhance environmental performance across the life cycle while also optimizing functional performance, cost, and regulatory/policy requirements that influence the product system. |
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Buildings (LCA) |
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Research on sustainable building addresses both residential and commercial/institutional buildings. This research emphasizes the development of tools for assessing a building's environmental performance. Recent trends in the average home size in the U.S. are not moving towards a sustainable housing future. Between 1975 and 1998 the average, new, single-family home constructed increased in size from 1,645 to 2,190 square feet, during the same period the average number of occupants per household decreased from 2.94 to 2.61 (Wilson 1999, NAHB 1999, U.S. Census Bureau 1999). The design, construction, and purchase of a new house is one of the most resource intensive and economically significant decisions made by developers and consumers. In 1997, 1.62 million new homes were built in the U.S., approximately 1.28 million of these units were single detached dwellings, and 0.34 million were multi-family units 1998 (NAHB 1999). Approximately 11% of the total U.S. energy consumption is from household use. This energy consumption results in an average annual household expenditure of $1,282 for all major energy sources. The application of industrial ecology tools is required in order to better understand the specific material flows, energy flows, and costs associated with an individual residential home. CSS has initiated research on a University building to improve both the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) environmental ranking system and BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software. |
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Renewable Energy (LCA & Environmental Sustainability Metrics) |
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Currently, only 7.8% of the total energy consumed in the U.S. comes from renewable, potentially sustainable sources, while 85% originates from fossil fuel sources and nuclear power accounts for the balance. Such heavy reliance on finite fossil fuels is not sustainable on a long-term basis and contributes substantially to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. In addition, 22.4% of the U.S. total energy consumption is met by net imports, and uncertainty in this foreign supply grows as the bulk of global oil production shifts to politically unstable countries. At the same time, the environmental impact of human activities has become an issue of increasing social and political concern. Numerous promising renewable energy technologies loom on the horizon, demanding additional investigation. As alternative energy sources are introduced, however, it is critical that the net environmental impact and overall sustainability of these systems be thoroughly investigated. CSS is active in promoting sustained renewable energy technologies through systems based research that begins to permit comparisons of total benefits and impacts of emerging technologies. A Life Cycle Design project of Building Integrated Photovoltaic Systems evaluates the environmental benefits of displacing regional grid electricity and conventional building materials with electricity producing photovoltaic building materials. Biomass is another promising renewable energy source. A CSS research project will perform a full life cycle assessment of a demonstration "biomass to electricity" system under development in New York. The study will address questions such as the overall system energy efficiency, land use intensity of this energy crop, environmental benefit relative to conventional and other alternative electricity production systems, and cost estimates of generating electricity from short rotation woody biomass. |
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Renewable Materials (LCA of Bio-Based Materials & Closed-Loop Systems) |
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Renewable materials derived from forestry and agriculture can provide many of the same chemical building blocks as petrochemicals. While the demand for plastics continues to increase, the finite amount of petroleum available to generate chemical building blocks is being depleted. Currently, only 2% of manufacturing production begin with materials derived from plants and crops. There are many roadblocks that need to be overcome according to The Technology Roadmap for Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources 2020 (Executive Steering Group, 1998). Research and development in plant science, plant/crop production, processing and utilization is necessary to surmount the obstacles preventing the general use of plant-based resources. LCA provides a useful framework for evaluating the performance of renewable technologies relative to technologies utilizing petrochemical feedstocks. DuPont has pledged to earn 25% of revenues from non-depletable resources, especially plant life, by 2010. |
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Consumer Products, Packaging and Services (LCA & LCD) |
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Over the last ten years, research has focused on the development and application of life cycle assessment and life cycle design methods. CSS has conducted research on variety of consumer goods and services ranging from milk and juice packaging to aqueous based garment cleaning systems. Current research is exploring yogurt product delivery systems and the application of information technology to electronic publishing and digital libraries. |
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| - Complete list of the Center's projects | |
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- Complete list of the Center's publications |
| Last revised: December 3, 2004 |