Sustainability Commons^™

Risk-Based Machine Learning Approaches For Probabilistic Transient Stability, Umair Shahzad

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Power systems are getting more complex than ever and are consequently operating close to their limit of stability. Moreover, with the increasing demand of renewable wind generation, and the requirement to maintain a secure power system, the importance of transient stability cannot be overestimated. Considering its significance in power system security, it is important to propose a different approach for enhancing the transient stability, considering uncertainties. Current deterministic industry practices of transient stability assessment ignore the probabilistic nature of variables (fault type, fault location, fault clearing time, etc.). These approaches typically provide a conservative criterion and can result in expensive …

Analyzing Alternative Modes Of Transportation & Carbon Footprint In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Sean M. Gallagher, Paul C. Krakoviak

Student Publications

As millions of students embark on their journey of college, many use different forms of transportation in and around their respective areas. The aim of this study incorporates the analysis of various forms of transportation, as well as each transportation method's marginal greenhouse gas emissions and marginal cost per mile in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Data was collected by testing each mode of transportation on a short trip to the local Walmart. The results show that the two modes of transportation that contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions were biking and walking. The results for other modes of transportation that constitute …

Greenhouse Gas Inventory Of Transportation And Driving Habits At Gettysburg College, Flavia Soctto D'Antuono, Megan G. Wojnar

Student Publications

By tracking the overall emissions put out by a college campus, mitigation strategies can be researched to lower total emissions. This study utilized a survey for both the student body and faculty and staff members at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This survey allowed this study to answer three research questions; what is the total number of Scope 3 emissions at Gettysburg College, how do these findings compare to findings from 2009 and the 2016 STARS report for Gettysburg College, and if any potential mitigation strategies are welcomed by the campus community. This study examined five major driving related emission …

Odu Highlights Climate Resilience Leadership During Legislators’ Visit To Campus, Amber Kennedy

News Items

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu

Honors Scholar Theses

Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city’s …

Effectiveness Of Plastic Ordinances In Santa Monica, Ca: Do Regulations At The Municipal Level Reduce Plastic Waste?, John W. Hayes

School of Public Policy Capstones

Plastic is a cheap, robust and versatile material with numerous practical uses that contribute to the convenience of modern day life. However the very same properties that make it uniquely diverse and hardy also contribute to the hazards it poses to the ecosystems and human health. If current consumption and manufacturing practices remain unchanged, there will be hundreds of millions of additional tons of plastic introduced into the environment over the coming decades. To mitigate this issue, some cities, such as Santa Monica, have implemented ordinances and policies directly aimed at this growing problem, albeit with ambiguous results. To better …

Local Climate Action Planning As A Tool To Harness The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation And Equity Potential Of Autonomous Vehicles And On-Demand Mobility, Serena Alexander, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Benjamin Y. Clark

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report focuses on how cities can use climate action plans (CAPs) to ensure that on-demand mobility and autonomous vehicles (AVs) help reduce, rather than increase, green-house gas (GHG) emissions and inequitable impacts from the transportation system. We employed a three-pronged research strategy involving: (1) an analysis of the current literature on on-demand mobility and AVs; (2) a systematic content analysis of 23 CAPs and general plans developed by municipalities in California; and (3) a comparison of findings from the literature and content analysis of plans to identify opportunities for GHG emissions reduction and mobility equity.

Findings indicate that maximizing …

Using Beam Software To Simulate The Introduction Of On-Demand, Automated, And Electric Shuttles For Last Mile Connectivity In Santa Clara County, Gary Hsueh, David Czerwinski, Cristian Poliziani, Terris Becker, Alexandre Hughes, Peter Chen, Melissa Benn

Mineta Transportation Institute

Despite growing interest in low-speed automated shuttles, pilot deployments have only just begun in a few places in the U.S., and there is a lack of studies that estimate the impacts of a widespread deployment of automated shuttles designed to supplement existing transit networks. This project estimated the potential impacts of automated shuttles based on a deployment scenario generated for a sample geographic area: Santa Clara County, California. The project identified sample deployment markets within Santa Clara County using a GIS screening exercise; tested the mode share changes of an automated shuttle deployment scenario using BEAM, an open-source beta software …

Human Centeredness: The Foundation For Leadership-As-Practice In Complex Local/Regional Food Networks, Maryann Martinez

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Our local and regional food systems are predominately modeled on a failed capitalist market-based economy. In the absence of corporate accountability, and/or support on the federal policy level, local and regional leadership and self-organized networks are critical to the scaling across and evolution of a moral and equitable food system. Networked food systems leaders are developing the capacity to solve wicked problems, and spark change. Understanding the values and practices of local food systems leadership that initiate, influence, and support activities is essential to understanding how to foster conditions for local and regional food network growth. My dissertation research is …