Life Cycle Assessment of Climate Change Mitigation Strategies - Applications to the Passenger Transportation Sector

The mitigation of climate change emissions in the United States and worldwide requires investment in new technologies and new infrastructure. This talk examines climate change mitigation efforts for the passenger transportation sector from a life cycle perspective. It discusses enhanced methods for life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to climate forcing emissions, and the role of capital and infrastructure investments in determining the life cycle benefits or drawbacks of climate change mitigation strategies.

The talk will focus on two main avenues of inquiry; (i) the synthesis and enhancement of LCAs of transportation-related infrastructure, technologies, and energy carriers including biofuels, advanced technology passenger cars, high-speed rail, and highway asset management, and (ii) the advancement of LCA methods for characterization of climate forcing emissions at the impact assessment stage of LCA.

Speaker: Alissa Kendall, Assistant Professor, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Davis

Room 406