{"657170":{"#nid":"657170","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Proposal by Aline Banboukian","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Role of Life Cycle Assessment in\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nEnvironmental Policy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommittee list\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026bull;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Valerie Thomas (Chair) - School of Industrial Engineering and School of Public Policy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026bull;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Kaye Husbands Fealing - School of Public Policy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026bull;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Marylin Brown - School of Public Policy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026bull;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Cale Reeves - School of Public Policy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026bull;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Joe Bozeman - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDate and Time: April 22, 2022, at 10:30 am\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Meeting URL: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bluejeans.com\/174144283\/1656\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/bluejeans.com\/174144283\/1656\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMeeting ID\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bluejeans.com\/174144283\/1656\u0022\u003E144283\/1656\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E174 144 283\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EParticipant Passcode\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E1656\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAbstract\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIn this dissertation, I examine the use of life cycle assessment in environmental policy, its role,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\npotential benefits, challenges, and how we can improve it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nLCA provides policymakers quantitative evaluation of the environmental impacts of a product or\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\na service, potentially supporting effective and targeted decisions based on environmental\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ncriteria. LCA provides a holistic view of the multiple impacts of a technology or a service over\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nthe whole lifespan and allows the comparison of alternatives on an \u0026quot;apples to apples\u0026quot; basis. It\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nalso provides unforeseen information. LCA can aid in institutionalizing a shift toward a more\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nholistic approach to managing environmental issues because it provides information on the\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nwhole life cycle of a product or process and its different impacts on the environment.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nFirst, I review studies that have examined and critiqued the use of LCA in public policy,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nspecifically in environmental policymaking. I also examine the literature and current regulations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nand policies regarding how and why is LCA being used in the policy process, and what type of\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nLCA is being used. The review shows that the critiques of LCA in policy development are largely\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\npolitical and cognitive criticisms rather than of the capabilities of the method itself. The\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ncritiques of LCA in public policy are similar to those of other quantitative tools. I propose LCA as\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\na framework for overcoming some of the silos in the way that environmental impacts are\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\naddressed. The preliminary findings of the review of how LCA is used in policy development\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nshow that the US government has used LCA for different purposes such as administrative\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\npractices, financial support, governmental procurement policy, informational measures, and\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nlegislative and regulatory framework. We also find that LCA has been adopted by different\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nstates such as California and Oregon. I expect to also find in this chapter the type of LCA that is\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nused in these different uses of LCA in policy in the US.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThen, I investigate the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) on a multi-impact technology to\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nhighlight the array of information that an LCA can provide to decision-makers when applied\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAline Banboukian Thesis Proposal\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nfully. In this chapter, we compare the environmental impacts of different agricultural methods\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nand highlight hotspots for improvement. The results provide information relevant to (a) US\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nenergy and greenhouse gas policy including the US Nationally Determined Contributions to the\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nUNFCCC, (b) US EPA efforts to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution including under the\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nClean Water Act, and (c) USDA and Farm Bill policies in support of local agriculture, among\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nothers. The results show that different approaches, to agriculture, in this case, have different\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nimpacts in different energy and environmental policy areas. Specifically, controlled environment\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nagriculture has benefits as a local agricultural opportunity (USDA, Farm Bill) and for reducing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nnitrogen and phosphorus pollution (EPA, Clean Water Act) but has high energy consumption\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nand greenhouse gas emissions (US energy policy, UNFCCC). We also show that life cycle\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nassessment contains within it, at a still developing level, quantitative methods for comparing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ndifferent types of impacts. We illustrate how choices across policy impacts can be compared,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nand illustrate how LCA can provide benchmarks or targets across different environmental impact\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nand environmental policy areas.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nFinally, I examine how stakeholders are currently engaged in LCA as it is used in the public policy\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ndevelopment process. The contribution of this chapter is showing how are stakeholders\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ncurrently engaged in LCA for the policy development process. I study the use of LCA in the\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\npolicy process for the renewable fuel standards - RFS2. We analyze the opportunities for public\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ncomments as part of the policy process. We create a database of these public comments and\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ncompare the involvement of the stakeholders in this process to all the stakeholders impacted by\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nthis policy. We expect to find who is engaged as a stakeholder, which type of stakeholders are\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nengaged, and how useful are the public comments in the policy process impacting the decisions.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nEach chapter in this dissertation highlights specific issues and benefits related to the use of life\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ncycle assessment as a tool for technology evaluation in the policy development process. In\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\naddition to that, these chapters contribute broadly to public policy research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Role of Life Cycle Assessment in Environmental Policy"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2022-04-11 19:14:32","changed_gmt":"2022-04-11 19:14:32","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2022-04-22T11:30:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2022-04-22T13:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2022-04-22T13:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2022-04-22 15:30:00","gmt_time_end":"2022-04-22 17:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2022-04-22 17:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"102851","name":"Phd proposal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}