Sustainability Commons^™

Triple Bottom Line As A Method To Increase Business Value And Foster Positive Social And Environmental Change, Jayleene West

Master's Theses

The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) business model has transformed the business world by changing the way businesses operate. By focusing on the people and the environment, businesses have grown to see substantial profit and avoid risks along the way. Companies are using the TBL to build their brand and customer loyalty by enhancing the environment and society. This paper analyzes four companies that are leaders in their industry and are founded on the TBL; Seventh Generation, New Belgium Brewing, Patagonia, and Ben & Jerry’s. Recommendations have been made by performing a literature review on the advantages and disadvantages of the …

Human Thermal Comfort In Transition Space, Asawari Anil Pawar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

ABSTRACT

HUMAN THERMAL COMFORT IN TRANSITION SPACES

Objective: To evaluate and identify the relationship between personal factors and the climatic conditions that influence the human thermal comfort in transition spaces and suggest solutions for adaptation of the built environment, that would encourage active and healthy living in the tourist as well as local community.

Background:

By 2050, there is a prediction that two-thirds of the world population will be living in urban areas, which would add more than 2.5 billion people living in cities (Melnikov et al., 2017). Since Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing cities in Nevada, …

Influencing Hawai‘I Hotel Patrons To Use Reef-Safe Sunscreens, Rochelle Good

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The health of Hawaiian coral reefs is threatened by pollution from common sunscreen ingredients such as oxybenzone. Hawai‘i hotel patrons using sunscreens with harmful ingredients contaminate coral reefs when these products wash off while swimming or bathing. Reef-safe sunscreens are alternative sunscreens that provide effective sun protection while averting damage to coral reefs. The purpose of this research was to determine the dominant factors leading to the pro-environmental behavior of using reef-safe sunscreen and identify practices that Hawai‘i hotel operators could implement to influence patrons to engage in this behavior. This research applied an integrative conceptual framework to model pro-environmental …

Design And Preliminary Evaluation Of A Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycle For Solar Dish Concentrator Clean Energy Production, Danielle Nobles-Lookingbill

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As we move toward energy independence and more ambitious clean energy goals, solar energy research must push the efficiency limits of traditional energy generation systems. Increases in efficiency can be achieved by increasing the hot temperature of the power cycle. Recent research demonstrates the potential for increased efficiency and a vastly smaller component size when supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton power cycles are used. Concentrated solar and nuclear heat sources are capable of achieving the high working fluid temperatures needed for significant efficiency gains. This NSF EPSCoR funded, experimental research system is designed to exploit the uniquely immense solar irradiance of …

As The Clothing Industry Is A Major Polluter, Sustainable Fashion Is Rising, Gabe Herman

Capstones

That the fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world is one of the industry’s best-kept secrets — it uses a quarter of the chemicals produced globally, and its share of the world’s CO2 emissions is expected to rise from 2 percent to 26 percent in the next 30 years. Developing nations — where many factories are located — are most affected. Every year in Bangladesh, for example, tanneries dump enough toxic waste into rivers to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools. Advocates and some in the fashion world are working to not only get the word out, …

Flow Analysis Through Collectorwell Laterals: A Case Study From Sonoma County Water Agency, California, Matteo D'Alessio, John Lucio, Ernest Williams, Donald Seymour, Jay Jasperse, Chittaranjan Ray

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The Sonoma County Water Agency (SWCA) uses six radial collector wells along the Russian River west of Santa Rosa, to provide water for several municipalities and water districts in north-western California. Three collector wells (1, 2, and 6) are located in the Wohler area, and three collector wells (3, 4, and 5) are located in the Mirabel area. The objective of this paper is to highlight the performance of the three collector wells located in the Mirabel area since their construction. The 2015 investigation showed a lower performance of Collectors 3 and 4 compared to their original performances after construction …

Assessing The Feasibility Of Soil Infiltration Trenches For Highway Runoff Control On The Island Of Oahu, Hawaii, Martina Sobotkova, Jaromir Dusek, Ghasem Alavi, Laxman Sharma, Chittaranjan Ray

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The coastal waters of Hawaii are extremely important for recreation as well as for the health of the marine environment. Non-point source pollution from storm runoff poses a great threat to surface water quality in Hawaii. The State of Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) includes infiltration trenches as a best management practice (BMP) option to reduce pollution caused by stormwater runoff. HDOT guidelines state that the implementation of BMPs is needed to reduce sediment and pollutant loads to streams and the ocean. In this study, the suitability of soils adjacent to highways on Oahu for the siting of infiltration trenches …

An Evaluation Of Extended Producer Responsibility (Epr) As A Policy Option For Compostable Plastics In California, Amy Franz

Master's Projects and Capstones

This research project evaluates Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in California as a viable option to address the end-of-life management challenges identified for compostable plastics. The evaluation is done in three ways (1) review the main challenges identified for managing compostable plastics against the existing California EPR laws for mercury thermostats, agricultural pesticide containers, carpet, paint and mattresses to look for overlap in issues EPR has been used to address, (2) review compostable plastics in the context of the Product Selection Criteria used by California, (3) Look at the California Framework for setting up an EPR program to lay out what …

Disrupting Desalination: Novel Energy Efficient Technologies For Hypersaline Brines, Ngai Yin Yip

Sustainability Seminar Series

Management and treatment of hypersaline brines, e.g., produced water from oil and gas extraction, zero liquid discharge effluent, and flue gas desulfurization wastewater, are of growing environmental importance. Prevailing practice of distilling brines is highly energy-intensive and costly because the evaporation of water is enthalpically unfavorable. Here, we present two novel technologies for hypersaline desalination: cascading osmotically mediated reverse osmosis (COMRO) and temperature swing solvent extraction (TSSE). The first technology, COMRO, utilizes the novel design of bilateral countercurrent reverse osmosis stages to lessening the osmotic pressure difference across the membrane, thereby simultaneously depressing the hydraulic pressure needed and reducing energy …

Treatment Of Plastic Wastes Using Plasma Gasification Technology, Zachary A. Homolka

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Plasma gasification (PG) complements traditional recycling when applied to contaminated or

mixed plastics. Without PG these plastics cost recyclers more to process than they are worth on the market, and sometimes they are landfilled or incinerated instead of being recycled. Plasma gasification can take plastic not suitable for traditional recycling and break it down into high-quality syngas for use in electricity generation, chemical manufacturing, or hydrogen production. The technology can be implemented without changing the behavior of consumers, which is a major advantage over attempting to decrease contamination or reduce use of low-value plastic. Due to high capital requirements and …

2018 Fall Engr333 Poster, Alexander Cooper, Katie Diekema, Grace Fasipe, Daniella Sugijanto, Alec Dejonge, Timothy Dykhuis, Breanna Kooiman, Samuel Olson, Brennan Boice, Tyler Gustman, Daniel Norton, Christopher Vanwhye, Robert Capozzoli, Jared Minderhoud, Clark Richeson, Nathan Schuyten, 2018 Fall Engr333 Section A

ENGR 333

• $158k initial investment in Geothermal systems for various Calvin-owned residential buildings
• $3.34M initial investment in solar panels for Calvin’s rooftops
• The overall savings would be $233,850 per year
• Emissions would be reduced by 864 tons of CO2 emissions per year
• The recommended investment would be fully paid back in 11-15 years

Factors Perceived By Multifamily Property Owners And Managers As Beneficial In Improving Energy Efficiency, Alex David Arneson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Maintaining the existence of affordable housing stock is an important goal for most cities and

communities, as well as at the state and national level. Compared to single-family housing, the multifamily housing sector poses a unique set of challenges and barriers related to investments in energy efficiency. With more than 50 million Americans, many of whom are low income, living in multifamily housing, this sector presents vast opportunities to reduce energy consumption. Reducing our carbon footprint has become an important issue in today’s society. More than ever, there is increased demand to incorporate ‘green’ sustainable design elements and technologies into …

Land Use And Land Cover Changes, And Environment And Risk Evaluation Of Dujiangyan City (Sw China) Using Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques, Biswajit Nath, Zheng Niu, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding of the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change, its transitions and Landscape risk (LR) evaluation in earthquake-affected areas is important for planning and urban sustainability. In the present study, we have considered Dujiangyan City and its Environs (DCEN), a seismic-prone area close to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (8.0 Mw) during 2007–2018. Five different multi-temporal data sets for the years 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2018 were considered for LULC mapping, followed by the maximum likelihood supervised classification technique. The individual LULC maps were further used in four time periods, i.e., 2007–2018, 2008–2018, 2010–2018, and 2015–2018, to evaluate the …

Transition Pathways To Sustainable Agricultural Water Management: A Review Of Integrated Modeling Approaches, Erin M.K. Haacker, Vaishali Sharda, Amanda M. Cano, R. Aaron Hrozencik, Agustin Nunez, Zachary Zambreski, Soheil Nozari, Garvey Engulu B, Smith, Lacey Moore, Sumit Sharma, Prasanna Gowda, Chittaranjan Ray, Meagan Schipanski, Reagan Waskom

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Agricultural water management (AWM) is an interdisciplinary concern, cutting across traditional domains such as agronomy, climatology, geology, economics, and sociology. Each of these disciplines has developed numerous process-based and empirical models for AWM. However, models that simulate all major hydrologic, water quality, and crop growth processes in agricultural systems are still lacking. As computers become more powerful, more researchers are choosing to integrate existing models to account for these major processes rather than building new cross-disciplinary models. Model integration carries the hope that, as in a real system, the sum of the model will be greater than the parts. However, …

2018 Fall Engr333 Seminar Presentation, Rachel Evans, Alex Gross, Daniella Sugijanto, Jake Shaarda

ENGR 333

File for student presentation, given by students in the Fall 2018 class of ENGR333.

Simulating The Impacts Of Irrigation Levels On Soybean Production In Texas High Plains To Manage Diminishing Groundwater Levels, Vaishali Sharda, Prasanna H. Gowda, Gary Marek, Isaya Kisekka, Chittaranjan Ray, Pradip Adhikari

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

There is an increasing need to strategize and plan irrigation systems under varied climatic conditions to support efficient irrigation practices while maintaining and improving the sustainability of groundwater systems. This study was undertaken to simulate the growth and production of soybean [Glycine max (L.)] under different irrigation scenarios. The objectives of this study were to calibrate and validate the CROPGRO-Soybean model under Texas High Plains’ (THP) climatic conditions and to apply the calibrated model to simulate the impacts of different irrigation levels and triggers on soybean production. The methodology involved combining short-term experimental data with long-term historical weather data (1951–2012), …

Green Supply Chain Management: A Perspective On Best Practices In Gscm Design, Leroy Paddock, Natasha Rao

Arkansas Law Review

Greening of company supply chains has become almost de rigueur for large, publicly facing companies. One indication of this situation is the fact that 35 of the Fortune 50 companies and at least 58 of the Fortune 100 companies discuss at least some aspects of their green supply chain management (GSCM) activities on their public websites, primarily under the heading of “responsible sourcing.” These GSCM activities ] have the potential to contribute in very important ways to meeting societal sustainability goals, influencing suppliers that are beyond the reach of the national laws of consumer nations, and driving changes in environmental …

Reclaiming Energy Efficiency In An Age Of Petroleum Exclusion, Monika Ehrman

Arkansas Law Review

The principal tasks of the chief executive officers of publicly-traded exploration and production companies is to guide senior management and the company through various operational, regulatory, and financial challenges, all the while mitigating risk and providing shareholders with an expected return on their investment. Executives face declining reserves, increased funding and development costs, and some shareholder and public opposition to oil and gas development or hydraulic fracturing based on climate change or negative environmental externalities. Although these oil and gas companies are familiar with technical and financial challenges, public opposition to extractive industries is a newer barrier to entry and …

Contracting For Sustainable Surface Management, Tara Righetti

Arkansas Law Review

This article examines the surface damage agreement as an instrument of private governance. Part I describes split-estate ownership of oil and gas and the historic dominant-servient ordering of the mineral and surface estates. Part II explores the rebalancing of power effectuated by split estate acts and statutory requirements to contract for surface damages in both state and federal law. Part III examines the surface damage agreement and provides a catalog of common environmental provisions and covenants within those agreements. Part IV analyses surface damage agreements within the framework of private governance instruments, identifying their benefits and exploring the limitations of …

Keynote: Motivating Private Climate Governance: The Role Of The Efficiency Gap, Michael P. Vandenbergh

Arkansas Law Review

The topic of this symposium, “Environmental Sustainability and Private Governance,” is important and timely. In response to the shrinking federal role in environmental protection, many policy advocates have focused on the role of states and cities, but this symposium focuses on another important source of sustainability initiatives: the private sector, including corporations, households, civic and cultural organizations, religious organizations, private hospitals, colleges and universities, and other organizations. States, cities, and other subnational government responses are increasingly important, but the limited geographic reach of subnational governments constrains their ability to address many environmental problems. For instance, although twenty states have set …