Award Abstract #0628232
BE/MUSES: Sustainable Consumption, Globalization and Information: Impacts and Opportunities

NSF Org:	CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems
Initial Amendment Date:	September 21, 2006
Latest Amendment Date:	September 21, 2006
Award Number:	0628232
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Robert M. Wellek CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems ENG Directorate for Engineering
Start Date:	October 1, 2006
Expires:	September 30, 2008 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$100000
Investigator(s):	H. Scott Matthews hsm@cmu.edu (Principal Investigator) Cliff Davidson (Co-Principal Investigator) Michael DeKay (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Carnegie-Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue PITTSBURGH, PA 15213 412/268-8746
NSF Program(s):	BE-MAT USE:SCIENCE,ENG&SOCIETY
Field Application(s):	0308000 Industrial Technology
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR, 1414, 0000
Program Element Code(s):	1794

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Proposal Number: CTS-0628232

Institution: Carnegie Mellon University

P.I.: H. Scott Matthews, Cliff I. Davidson, Michael L. DeKay

Title: MUSES: Sustainable Consumption, Globalization and Information: Impacts and Opportunities

While there is considerable interest in alternative fuels among policy makers,

automobile manufacturers and fuel providers, substantial economic and technical challenges remain. The adoption of any alternative fuel requires changes throughout the supply chain. Even a liquid fuel such as ethanol that is compatible with current infrastructure can induce dramatic changes, so proper accounting of infrastructure requirements is critical to a complete analysis of material flows and environmental impacts and for a transition to sustainable infrastructure. While much existingresearch address processes and technology for producing alternative fuels, most do not account for the necessary changes in infrastructure. The project proposes to focus our work upon the infrastructure requirements and best technologies for a future of sustainable alternative fuels and to explore different infrastructure options by creating scenarios for each alternative fuel/light duty vehicle option of interest.

The project uses the concept of industrial ecology as our system-wide approach to analyzing the body of issues related to material flows. The project will assess the entire life cycle of various infrastructure components, alternative fuels and vehicle options using a hybrid approach combining process and product specific models coupled with a national economic-input-output life-cycle assessment model developed at Carnegie Mellon. The degree to which any alternative fuel and/or propulsion system is adopted for light-duty vehicles in the United States will depend critically on how well the resulting attributes satisfy preferences in the marketplace. The project will use Life Cycle based analyses in conjunction with consumer choice models of heterogeneous demand with engineering simulations of attainable vehicle attributes to predict market acceptance and likely firm response for alternative fuels and vehicles under several regulatory incentives, technology progress, and infrastructural scenarios. Results from this work will suggest the most promising alternatives based on multifaceted criteria considering environmental, social, and economic issues.

Broader Impacts of the Proposed Research and Integrated Education Program: The project plans a series of educational tasks that are integrated with our research activities. Diverse and talented graduate and undergraduate students will be recruited. It will integrate research results into a secondary school apprentice program, into university courses and into educational modules for use elsewhere. It will use the Internet as a mechanism to disseminate educational materials. More broadly, sustainable energy and infrastructure are critical needs for the United States and for the world. The project states that the world cannot continue to assume that inexpensive petroleum will be available for our transportation needs. Society needs to start on a trajectory that will lead to a sustainable future, both for costs and for overall environmental impact. This project is intended to contribute significantly to that movement with both professional and popular analyses and recommendations.

The project is jointly supported by MUSES funds through the CTS, ECS, and DMR divisions of NSF.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Christopher L Weber and H. Scott Matthews. "Quantifying the Global and Distributional Aspects of American Household Environmental Impact," Ecological Economics, v.66, 2007, p. 379.

Christopher L Weber and H. Scott Matthews. "Embodied Emissions in U.S. International Trade: 1997-2004," Environmental Science and Technology, v.41, 2007, p. 4875.

Weber, C.L. and Matthews, H.S.. "Food-Miles and the Climate Impacts of Freight Transportation in American Food Consumption," Environmental Science & Technology, v.42, 2008, p. 3508.

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