Programs and Communities
The collection collates collections by schools, centers, programs, and research groups.
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- All Subjects: Obesity in children
- All Subjects: Land use
- All Subjects: 49
An increase in population and need to protect the planet has created many initiatives and research goals in developing alternatives methods of fueling. Federal and state policies have provided a push for industries to find ways to of reducing their impact on the environment while maintaining competitiveness. In the sector of alternative fuels, large policies such as the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) in the United States are making goals to reduce vehicular fuel from coal and oil, and focus on alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Along with the RFS and other federal policies, states are introducing independent initiatives to promote the use of alternative fuels.
Research has shown that other crops besides corn can feasibly be used to produce ethanol for fuel use. One of the major crops of interest currently is switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum L.) because of its ability to grow under a variety of weather conditions and soil types. Switchgrass does not require as much maintenance as corn and is a perennial grass that can have high yielding fields for up to 9 years.
This report focuses on the impacts from using switchgrass-derived ethanol to meet the state of Arizona’s policy to have government fleet vehicles operating on alternative fuels. The study uses a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to evaluate 22 million gallons of ethanol produced in Arizona and stored at fueling stations for use. Impacts in land use, global warming, and water quality are evaluated using software tools and databases in Ecoinvent and Simapro.
The results of the study indicate that the cultivation and harvest phase of the process will contribute the most to negative environmental impacts. According to the study, application of heavy nutrient fertilizer and the machinery needed for the additional agriculture have the potential to contribute over 36 million moles of hydrogen and 89 million CTU eq. to the air, soil, and water.
Describes the LIHEAP benefits distributed to electric utilities companies in Arizona for fiscal year 2019.
This project is creating a non-profit green building organization called AZ Build Green Coalition. There is currently no statewide neutral organization for knowledge sharing about various green building initiatives throughout Arizona. Multiple municipalities in the state are now interested in and starting to execute green building initiatives through varied processes. Yet, each municipality is remaking the wheel and select green building champions in each city usually lead these efforts without a lot of funding or capacity. A central source for knowledge sharing and education would be instrumental in facilitating faster and more efficient movements with green building initiatives and codes. For example, the city of Scottsdale is in the process of being the first municipality in the nation to adopt the newest version of the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). This project has been involved in and aided in that initiative. The city of Tempe has initiated three IgCC 2018 pilot projects. Other municipalities in the state are interested in the IgCC and several have previously adopted it on a voluntary basis. Sharing resources and code approval barriers through a central forum would be beneficial for faster progress and also navigating the political barriers more effectively. The non-profit aims to assist with this collaboration and future high performance building initiatives through tools such as: public presentations, a central sharable document repository, an online presence, and other collaborative tools.
The New Jersey Childhood Obesity Study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, aims to provide vital information for planning, implementing and evaluating interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity in five ew Jersey municipalities: Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Vineland. These five communities are being supported by RWJF's New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids program to plan and implement policy and environmental change strategies to prevent childhood obesity.
Effective interventions for addressing childhood obesity require community specific information on who is most at risk and on contributing factors that can be addressed through tailored interventions that meet the needs of the community.
Using a comprehensive research study, the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University is working collaboratively with the State Program Office for New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids and the five communities to address these information needs. The main components of the study include:
• A household survey of 1700 families with 3 -18 year old children
• De-identified heights and weights data from public school districts
• Assessment of the food and physical activity environments using objective data
Data books and maps based on the results of the study are being shared with the community coalitions in the five communities to help them plan their interventions.
The maps in this chartbook describe the food environment in Camden in terms of access to supermarkets, smaller grocery stores, convenience stores, and limited service restaurants. Research shows that when residents have access to healthy food outlets, they tend to eat healthy.
• Food environment maps were created using geo-coded commercially available data of food outlets (InfoUSA, 2008 and Trade Dimensions, 2008) in Camden and in a 1 mile buffer area around Camden.
•Using the commercial data and additional investigation, food outlets were classified into different categories based on their likeliliood of carrying healthy choices: supermarkets carry most healthy choices; smaller grocery stores carry fewer healthy choices; convenience stores and limited service restaurants are likely to carry mostly unhealthy choices.
• Access to different types of food outlets was computed at the census block group level based on concentration of stores / restaurants per unit area and is reported as food outlet densities.
•Food outlet density maps are compared with Census 2000 data to visualize accessibility of healthy food s in neighborhoods with different characteristics.
Data Sources: Info USA food outlet 2008 data
Trade Dimensions food outlet 2008 data
Census 2000 data
New Jersey Department of Education 2008-2009 data
The maps in this chartbook describe the food environment in ew Brunswick in terms of access to supermarkets, smaller grocery stores, convenience stores, and limited service restaurants. Research shows that when residents have access to healthy food outlets, they tend to eat healthy.
• Food environment maps were created using geo-coded commercially available data of food outlets (Info USA, 2008 and Trade Dimensions, 2008) in New Brunswick and in a 1 mile buffer area around New Brunswick.
•Using the commercial data and additional investigation, food outlets were classified into different categories based on their likelihood of carrying healthy choices: supermarkets carry most healthy choices; smaller grocery stores carry fewer healthy choices; convenience stores and limited service restaurants are likely to carry mostly unhealthy choices.
• Access to different types of food outlets was computed at the census block group level based on concentration of stores / restaurants per unit area and is reported as food outlet densities.
•Food outlet density maps are compared with Census 2000 data to visualize accessibility of healthy foods in neighborhoods with different characteristics.
Data Sources: Info USA food outlet 2008 data
Trade Dimensions food outlet 2008 data
Census 2000 data
New Jersey Department of Education 2008-2009 data
The maps in this chartbook describe the food environment in Vineland in terms of access to supermarkets, smaller grocery stores, convenience stores, and limited service restaurants. Research shows that when residents have access to healthy food outlets, they tend to eat healthy.
• Food environment maps were created using geo-coded commercially available data of food outlets (Info USA, 2008 and Trade Dimensions, 2008) in Vineland and in a 1 mile buffer area around Vineland.
•Using the commercial data and additional investigation, food outlets were classified into different categories based on their likelihood of carrying healthy choices: supermarkets carry most healthy choices; smaller grocery stores carry fewer healthy choices; convenience stores and limited service restaurants are likely to carry mostly unhealthy choices.
• Access to different types of food outlets was computed at the census block group level based on concentration of stores / restaurants per unit area and is reported as food outlet densities.
• Food outlet density maps are compared with Census 2000 data to visualize accessibility of healthy foods in neighborhoods with different characteristics.
Data Sources: Info USA food outlet 2008 data
Trade Dimensions food outlet 2008 data
Census 2000 data
New Jersey Department of Education 2008-2009 data