life cycle assessment

“Complete streets” is a design concept for primarily urban streets and intersections (existing and/or new) intended to encourage active transportation by bicyclists and pedestrians by making streets safer, convenient, and attractive for active transportation. This project seeks to provide insight into specific and different potential benefits of a given complete streets project.

This study identifies the current pathways for retired EV batteries in the United States and Canada and anticipates how the network might evolve in the future.

The researchers assessed whether the LCA framework was useful in identifying whether a complete street delivered, or was likely to deliver, the intended performance and benefits, and the social and health conditions of the neighborhoods receiving the benefits.

Sidewalk infrastructure presence is a key indicator of pedestrian safety and walkability for neighborhoods in cities throughout the United States. This work refines prior sidewalk infrastructure network generation techniques, contributing new methods to identify sidewalk infrastructure presence.

Lithium-ion battery recycling can decrease life cycle environmental impacts of electric vehicles (EVs) and assist in securing domestic supply chains; however, the US has no policies for recycling of batteries at their end-of-life. This analysis calculates feasible RCSs for the US based on future sale projections, techno-economic assessment, life cycle assessment, and material flow analysis.

This dissertation examines clean energy supply chains in the context of the just transition and circular economy frameworks, focusing on a central technology for zero-emissions transportation: lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for electric vehicles (EVs). The author focuses on three phases of the LIB life cycle: mineral extraction, component and cell manufacturing, and end-of-life management.

The main goal of this dissertation was to develop frameworks, quantitative models, and databases needed to support data-driven, informed, and integrated decision-making in managing the vast transportation infrastructure in California.