Research Projects
July 1999
July 1999
The U.S. EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory has sponsored the development of the life cycle design framework, principles and tools as well as demonstration projects for the testing and refinement of life cycle design techniques. Demonstration projects with industrial partners have targeted a wide range of products. Automotive products investigated include oil filters (AlliedSignal), air intake manifolds (Ford), transmission cases (Ford), fuel tanks (GM), automotive film (3M), instrument panels (Chrysler, Ford, GM, U.S. EPA Common Sense Initiative); electronic products include business telephones (AT&T), flat panel displays (Optical Imaging Systems), photovoltaic modules (United Solar Systems Corporation); and other systems studied include milk and juice packaging (Dow), and wet technologies for garment cleaning.
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National Risk
Management Research Laboratory
Risk Reduction Engineering Lab (now called National Risk
Management Research Lab)
Life cycle inventory analysis has been applied in many of demonstration projects indicated above. In addition, our research team is participating in a life cycle inventory analysis of a generic vehicle. This study is sponsored by the U.S. Auto Materials Partnership (USAMP), which is a program under US Consortium for Automotive Research (USCAR). The objective of this project is to develop a baseline inventory of a mid-sized vehicle including energy consumption, solid waste generation, and air and water pollutant emissions.
Industrial Ecology of the Automobile Seminar Series was organized with funding from the AT&T Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship program to both characterize the environmental burdens associated with the automobile life cycle and identify opportunities for improvement through technology and design, policy and regulation, and changes in usage patterns. The seminar series brought together experts from industry (OEMs and suppliers), government (US EPA and MDEQ), environmental organizations, and academics (Engineering, Physics, Public Health, Business, Economics, Policy). The multistakeholder process proved constructive in identifying common as well as divergent perspectives.
Participants
Industry
Ford, GM, Dow, American Iron and Steel Institute, American Plastics
Council, Alcoa
Government
US EPA, Vehicle Emissions Laboratory; Michigan Department of Natural
Resources
Environmental Organizations
Ecology Center of Ann Arbor; Center for Environmental Studies, Grand
Rapids, MI
Academia
University of Michigan, Schools: Business Administration, Engineering,
Natural Resources and Environment, Physics, Public Health, Public Policy;
Office of Automotive Studies
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