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About Us!
The rate of Climate Change ,which has repercussions
for human and natural system well-being , is one of our major global challenges. The increasing trend of global
temperatures over the centuries, as reported in various research studies, show that human activities (i.e. industries,
land use changes) absolutely affect the ecosystem equilibrium. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly carbon dioxide
and methane, which are emitted directly and indirectly from human activities are contributing to global climate
change. Thus, it is important to understand the coupling of human and natural systems to mitigate the effects of climate
change, which is a complex system.
According to various climate change studies, the sinks
of GHGs are atmospheric, terrestrial and water systems while the sources of GHGs are human-engineered systems and activities
(i.e. industrial production, land use changes). To really address our global environmental problems, we have to implement
environmental improvements in all anthropogenic activities. One approach to assess the status of our environmental
sustainability at the micro industrial level) is by conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which accounts
the emissions from cradle to the grave. This covers critically
inventorying the emissions from extraction of primary resources (cradle) to disposal of wastes and residuals (grave)
and even back to cradle. If we know which stage of the supply chain or which materials
or substances contribute to major environmental emissions, we can improve our products or processes or replace harmful
raw materials to promote sustainable production and consumption.
Though we are now exploring the use of biofuels, wind,
solar & geothermal energy, and other renewable sources for our human consumption, all of these technological
policies are just ways to adapt to global climate change, which is in fact "business-as-usual" strategies.
These do not in a way address the main source of our environmental problem, which in fact, we, humans. Unless we
change our thinking and consumption patters, human-environmental problems will continue to persist. We
need to build human-engineered complex systems that are aligned with the natural ecological capacity (which is the main
argument of Industrial Ecology discipline) such as the pursuit of low carbon, resilient systems and economies.
The Research Group for Industrial Ecology, LCA and Systems Sustainability (IELCASS) at the University of Maine undertakes transdisciplinary,
integrative, innovative research to develop practical tools for measuring and improving the sustainability and resilience
of products and processess which maximize resource and energy efficiency and minimize ecological life cycle impacts.
We focus on understanding the dynamic interactions fundamentally and holistically, drawing on elements of systems analysis
& engineering, industrial ecology, ecological engineering, process simulation and optimization, network and complexity
science and methods.
Please refer to our research pages for more information. We are interested to work with industries
too.
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Our Partners
We
are working with various partners nationally and internationally. Here is a selection of our research partners.
Forest Bioproducts Research Initiative (FBRI), University of Maine, USA
Advanced Structures and Composites Center (AEWC), University of Maine, USA
Environmental Research Group, University of New Hampshire, USA
Environmental Sustainability Analysis Group, National Research Council, Canada
Research Network for Business Sustainability,
Canada
Institute for Industrial Production, University of Karlsruhe, Germany
Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
FONA (Research for Sustainability), Germany
Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment, National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Science and Technology, Japan
Environment and Sustainable Development Program, United Nations University, Japan
Faculty of Science, Makere University, Uganda
Glorious Sun School of Business and Management, DongHua University, Shanghai, China
Forest Products Research and Development Institute, Philippines
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University of Maine. All rights reserved.
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