Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Unbuilding: How Deconstruction Is Saving The Planet By Giving Building Materials A Second Life, Diana M. Ducroz

Capstones

In 2018, more than 600 million tons of construction and demolition (C&D) waste was generated in the United States, more than twice the volume of ordinary trash created by American households and businesses. Even though 80-95% of this concrete, asphalt, steel, wood, drywall, glass and brick can be reused, repurposed or recycled, a quarter of it – or 145 million tons in 2018 – ends up in landfills. Thirty million tons of wood alone – often sturdy, irreplaceable old-growth lumber – is being trashed every year.

Now, a budding ‘build reuse’ movement, made up of environmentalists, architects, historic preservationists, city …

Electric Vehicle Integration In San Francisco, Lisa Farmos

Master's Projects and Capstones

California’s Executive Order N-79-20 requires all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California to be zero-emissions by 2035. Electric vehicles (EVs) are the primary alternative fuel solution. However, there are widespread barriers to ownership, particularly for those in lower socioeconomic classes. A literature review of barriers to EV ownership shows the primary barrier is insufficient overnight charging infrastructure. Geospatial data of EV charging infrastructure and 2020 census tract data were used to map average income versus EV charging infrastructure in San Francisco. Data maps confirm the literature review findings: there is a positive correlation between income and EV charging …

Staying One Step Ahead Of The Growing Electric Vehicle Market, Russell Molter

Honors Projects

Electric vehicles are becoming more popular among drivers as they become more affordable and as people become more aware of the benefits of electric vehicles. Because of this, the demand for electric car chargers is quickly increasing across the country. This includes BGSU’s campus. Right now, there are seven chargers available on campus, but with the trends in how the electric vehicle market is growing, BGSU should create a plan to install many more chargers to meet the increasing demand for charging stations. This strategy will allow BGSU to keep up with the growing electric vehicle market, which will additionally …

Solar Generated Electricity: An Analysis Of What Sectors Are Most Affected By Renewable Portfolio Standards And Related Policies, Logan Knollenberg

Dissertations and Theses

The aim of this thesis is to analyze state-specific Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) to understand their design and spillover effect onto non-utility (commercial, residential, industrial) sectors. Past research has overlooked non-utility sectors, often focusing on overall renewable energy growth and electricity generation from a combined end-result perspective. Solar capacity and solar generated electricity data from 5 states are used to establish which non-utility sectors experienced the highest level of solar growth from RPSs and related policies between 2010 and 2019. An explanatory sequential design is utilized, where interrupted time series analyses and exploratory case studies are performed to analyze each …

Land Use And Land Cover Change Impact On Sustainability In The United Arab Emirates: A Big-Data Approach Using Google Earth Engine, Wissam Atwah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The relevance of land use and land cover change (LULCC) impact on sustainability and well-being is increasing due to the urban growth challenges. LULCC data offers significant insight into the historic development patterns and their relations to various sustainability indicators. Different from the previous LULCC studies that merely focused on investigating LULCC problems in a small area (e.g., a city of an urban area) within a short span of time (e.g., a year), the current study intends to assess the long-term urbanization trend within a 20-year period for a whole country through the tracking of LULCC changes within the period. …

A 60- Year Record Of The Demotechnic Index Of States, 1960-2019, Gavin James Kellough

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A country’s dependency on energy resources can be interpreted through the calculation of energy indices. The Demotechnic Index (DI) was used to determine the trajectory of energy efficiency of each state in the United States over the period 1960-2019. The DI serves as a measure of the energy intensity of states and a proxy for energy sustainability of each state.The DI is the ratio of total energy use to total metabolic energy demand of a population. Mathematically, DI = (E_T-E_M)/E_M E_T represents the total energy used (metabolic energy + technological energy in kilojoules annually, kJ/y), while EM represents the basic …

Data Analytics For Sustainable Food And Agriculture Systems, Megan Lord Reavis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing concentration of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is altering the climate, posing a serious threat to global agriculture and food security. Agriculture and food production contribute a quarter of all GHG emissions produced, so there is a critical need to limit emissions in this area while increasing food production to feed the anticipated 10 billion people by 2050. To address the needs of the future, data-driven solutions are needed to guide decision-making and provide support for actionable climate mitigation and survival strategies. Research efforts must be focused on analyzing problems on multiple scales, identifying new ways to …

Sustainably Feeding The World In The 21st Century, Ren Hua Ho, Husodo Angkosubroto, Oi Hian Lee

Perspectives@SMU

Managing investor expectation, exploiting low-hanging fruit, and farmer education will be key

Investing For The Future, Saker Nusseibeh

Perspectives@SMU

Even if you don’t believe in climate change, shifting consumer and governmental attitudes make businesses that prioritise sustainability more profitable

Sustainable Investment Across Generations, Darren Teo, Elaine Teo, Jansen Phee, Mitch Reznick, Reshma Lalvani Sujan, Ronil Sujan

Perspectives@SMU

Children that follow in a successful company’s founder's footsteps are paying more attention to sustainability

Measuring Esg, Andrew King, Dan Chi Wong, Adrian De Groot Ruiz, Shawn Cole, Michael Tang, Dave Chen

Perspectives@SMU

Quantifying externalities is difficult and imprecise but one “should not fall into the trap of making the perfect the enemy of the good” and not try

Connecting Communities To Coastal Resilience: Enhancing Sustainability Through Public Participation In Salt Marsh Management And Restoration In Suffolk County, Ny, Jennifer L. Mcgivern

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Coastal resiliency is becoming significantly more critical to the livelihood of coastal communities as the frequency and intensity of storm events increases and is exacerbated by rising sea levels due to climate change. In October 2012 Superstorm Sandy impacted the New York-New Jersey area costing over $70 billion in storm damages and 147 lives lost, as storm surges surpassed record highs for the region. Protruding more than 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean with over 1,000 miles of shoreline, Long Island is particularly vulnerable to the increasingly ferocious and numerous storms as well as the rising sea levels that climate …

The Right To Repair: (Re)Building A Better Future, Jumana Labib

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The goal of this research project was to take a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary approach to research and examine the Right to Repair movement’s progress, current repair practices, impediments, and imperatives, and the various large-scale implications (environmental, economic, social, etc.) stemming from diminished consumer freedom as a result of increased corporate greed and lack of governmental regulations with regards to repair and the environment. This poster exhibits the highlights of my general research project on the Right to Repair movement over the course of this four month internship, and aims to disseminate information about the movement to the wider public in an …

Spatial Analysis Of Landscape Characteristics, Anthropogenic Factors, And Seasonality Effects On Water Quality In Portland, Oregon, Katherine Gelsey, Daniel Ramirez

REU Final Reports

Urban areas often struggle with deteriorated water quality as a result of complex interactions between landscape factors such as land cover, use, and management as well as climatic variables such as weather, precipitation, and atmospheric conditions. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) has been introduced as a strategy to reintroduce pre-development hydrological conditions in cities, but questions remain as to how GSI interacts with other landscape factors to affect water quality. We conducted a statistical analysis of six relevant water quality indicators in 131 water quality stations in four watersheds around Portland, Oregon using data from 2015 to 2021. Indiscriminate of station …

Diminishing Opportunities For Sustainability Of Coastal Cities In The Anthropocene: A Review, John W. Day, Joel D. Gunn, Joseph Robert Burger

Biology Faculty Publications

The world is urbanizing most rapidly in tropical to sub-temperate areas and in coastal zones. Climate change along with other global change forcings will diminish the opportunities for sustainability of cities, especially in coastal areas in low-income countries. Climate forcings include global temperature and heatwave increases that are expanding the equatorial tropical belt, sea-level rise, an increase in the frequency of the most intense tropical cyclones, both increases and decreases in freshwater inputs to coastal zones, and increasingly severe extreme precipitation events, droughts, freshwater shortages, heat waves, and wildfires. Current climate impacts are already strongly influencing natural and human systems. …

Smith Neilson Library: The Sustainability Story, Smith College

The New Neilson Library

The complete "Sustainability Story" of the New Neilson Library project.

Up Close And Personal With Mr Sundar Selvam: Hitting Zero Targets, Sundar Selvam

Oral History Collection

He might not be one you would have come across on campus. And not one you might read much about in SMU news or in the limelight for its achievements, preferring to remain in the background. But look around the SMU campus and you will see the fruits of his work and that of his team. Meet Sundar, SMU’s Vice-President for Campus Infrastructure and Services. Since January 2015, he has been at the forefront of driving SMU’s own sustainability journey which has resulted in several “firsts”. This interview was published in the August edition of SMU CIRCLE.

Comparative Study Of Leachate Characterization: Implication For Sustainable Environmental Management, Osakpolor Marvellous Omorogieva, Victory Itua Igberase

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the sources of environmental stressors, the role of geology, climate and technology would provide a guide to solving the problems posed by such stressor. The study examine the sources of wastes in Ikhueniro open dumpsite located in Benin city, Nigeria and characterize the leachate emanating from it. This will assist in adequate design of managerial scheme to tackle the menace posed by it while putting into consideration the role of geology, climate and technology. The key objectives are to carry out field study, characterize wastes in the dumpsite and collect raw leachate emanating from the wastes heap in order …

21st Century Ecopoetics And Ecotheory, Robert Balun

Open Educational Resources

Ecopoetics is the study of literature that is concerned with ecology and nature. However, beyond just literature about nature, this course will examine how ecology and nature have become complicated in the 21st century, the age of the Anthropocene, the age of the climate crisis and the 6th mass extinction (don’t worry, we will define these and other key terms).

In the 21st century, humans are now confronted with a growing awareness of their destructive impact on the earth, its environments, and its human and non-human inhabitants. In this class we will examine how ecology and nature have become complicated …

Consumer Perceptions Of Plastic-Free Food Packaging, Cara Conner

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study surveyed consumers in Fayetteville, Arkansas to assess their perceptions of plastic-free food packaging. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, surveys were administered via email to Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences undergraduate students and faculty at the University of Arkansas. Eleven questions were asked in the survey. Numerical values were assigned to each answer option in order to interpret the results. The factors impacting consumer decisions to purchase foods packaged with or without plastic were ranked from greatest to least: sanitation/safety, availability where shopping, cost, shelf-life, and convenience. Food packaging materials were ranked from most to …

Green Business And The Culture Of Capitalism: Constructing Narratives Of Environmentalism, Julia S. Jester

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are widespread colloquial arguments claiming that any actions taken to combat climate change will be bad for business and the economy, scaring people into continuing their support for the status quo for fear of their financial security. Alternatively, those attempting to combat ecological destruction have subsequently made transitions to sustainable development of products and shifting consumer behavior within this system. There is one core argument that both sides have, albeit in different ways – capitalism and environmentalism are seemingly incompatible; one cannot be successful without the eradication of the other. While it may appear there are only strict binary …

Sustainability And The Post-Covid Normal, Tuck Lye Koh, Michael P. Liwanag, Hong Minh Le

Perspectives@SMU

Governance and flexibility will be key to addressing challenges climate change and the next pandemic will bring

Development Of A Decision Support System For Sustainable Water Planning In Abu Dhabi, Uae, Mohamed Ibrahim Kizhisseri

Dissertations

One of the main challenges for water managers is to foresee the future accurately; then, design appropriate policies and infrastructure plans accordingly. The use of decision support systems in the field of water resource management and planning is now widely implemented, but its use in sustainable water planning of a nation or state in arid and semi-arid areas, such as Middle East countries, remains limited. The main objective of this dissertation is to present a graphical software tool that can assist water planners and decision-makers in long-term water management and planning. Sustainable planning for Abu Dhabi’s future water supply is …

A Year In Syntropy: Exploring Syntropic Agriculture, Ajah Eills

College Honors Program

Syntropic agriculture is a form of sustainable agriculture that originated in Brazil around 25 years ago. Although it has since spread throughout Brazil and Australia, there has yet to be a comprehensive study of the driving scientific principles behind syntropy. For my thesis, I conducted literature research and interviews with farmers, with the goal of describing the ecological principles on which syntropy is based, including its primary goal to improve soil health. Much of my thesis contrasted syntropic agriculture with conventional agriculture as practiced in the United States today, but I also explored the differences between syntropic agriculture and other …

International Migration From The Latin American-Caribbean Region: Taking Environmental Indicators Into Consideration, Chelsea Wepy

Student Theses and Dissertations

International migration, the act of leaving one’s country to permanently settle in another country, is driven by many socio economic/political factors, such as lack of economic opportunity, access to education, governmental corruption, and violence. These factors have proven to be the reason that many citizens within the Latin American-Caribbean region either choose or are forced to relocate internationally. While these factors are important to consider independently; these issues are often exacerbated by changes in the natural environment. The objective of my paper is to highlight the importance of considering changes in the natural environment. In doing so, I hope to …

Digital Transformation: What? How? Why?, Chee Hau Tan, Darren Thayre, Ewen Plougastel, Mark Shmulevich

Perspectives@SMU

Leadership and prep work ahead of transformation are key

Learning From The Bats: Cooperation A Fundamental Sustainability Principle, Juan Humberto Young

Perspectives@SMU

Most scientists agree that COVID-19 was transmitted to humans from bats. In an ironic twist, their social behaviour could help us solve many of our collective problems

Technology And Sustainability: The New Business Playing Field, Havovi Joshi

Asian Management Insights

Two topics that have consistently cropped up in conversations among business leaders during the pandemic are technology, in the context of the pervasiveness and quickening pace of digital transformation, and sustainability, especially how we should be doing business without harming the environment and society. The collective belief is that both topics will continue to rise on the world’s agenda, reshaping entire industries while creating new ones. They have changed the way of doing business. So what does the new playbook look like?

Improving Logistics Efficiency Through Collaborative Truck Routing, Patrick Dougherty

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The logistics industry is among the world’s largest and most essential. Specifically, trucking is a massive component of the modern logistics system. In 2012, truck transportation carried 68% of all freight tonnage in the U.S. However, trucking currently faces significant problems with efficiency and sustainability. Of all miles driven by trucks yearly in the U.S., 25% are driven with empty loads and 36% are driven with underutilized loads. In addition to this economic inefficiency, the industry faces social and environmental challenges. Driver turnover rates are near 100%, and trucking accounts for a significant level of greenhouse gas emissions. One potential …

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 …