Many relationships exist between humans and their animal companions. Regardless of the relationship, the costs of pet ownership are more than just veterinary bills and the purchase of pet food. The purpose of this study is to examine the environmental impacts associated with ownership of canus lupus familiaris, more commonly known as the domesticated dog. Since dogs are carnivorous by nature, there has already been significant interest in the ecological ‘pawprint’ of pet food, or the pressure that dog food production exerts on the environment.

This study utilizes Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to determine the environmental impacts of industrial pet food production and furthermore, pet ownership through nutritional requirements. Additionally, this study aims to examine how pet food type—beef or lamb—can influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The approach taken by this study is that of a hybrid input-output LCA, combining Economic Input Output (EIO-LCA) data and process-level data to examine how supply chain decisions made by pet food manufactures can affect the ecological ‘pawprint’ of the domestic dog. The EIO-LCA provides an economy-wide lens, whereas, process-based LCAs provide data relevant to specific materials and processes. This approach was used to compare the environmental impacts associated with environmentally friendly supply chain decisions compared to the typical environmental impact of dog food.

Urban landscaping palm tree waste in the form of palm frond trimmings and bark shavings that is currently handled as municipal solid waste by the City of Phoenix and other major municipalities can be handled in more cost effective ways and lead to reductions in emissions and greenhouse gases. While many cities have green organics collection and diversion programs, they always exclude palm tree waste due to its unique properties. As a result, an unknown tonnage of palm tree waste is annually landfilled as municipal solid waste. Additionally, as the tonnage is unknown, so are the associated emissions, greenhouse gases, and costs. An attributional lifecycle assessment was conducted in the City of Phoenix from the perspective responsibility of the City of Phoenix’s Public Works Department.

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.

A two-part presentation from the ASU Library and Knowledge Enterprise Research Data Management Office. Presented at the 2023 Rocky Mountain Advanced Computing Consortium (RMACC).

Session 1: Data management planning is an integral step in the research data life cycle. Large amounts of data and lengthy code accompanying supercomputing runs are no exception. Planning before analysis will benefit research and the researcher by providing a clear strategy for collecting, storing, analyzing, and sharing the data at the end of the research cycle. Supercomputing can require significant storage beyond scratch space, but researchers typically need to be informed of what tools are appropriate and available. Framed within the planning phase of the life cycle, this presentation presents ASU’s Storage Selector as a quick and easy tool to find the most appropriate storage resources provided by the university to help researchers choose a proper storage and management solution for their research data at the right time in their project. We will also explore the DMP Tool, developed by the California Digital Library, which provides a resource-rich platform for writing data management plans, including institutional-specific guidance, feedback request, and public plans that can be used as guides.

Session 2: This presentation overviews the ongoing working relationship between the ASU Library Open Science and Scholarly Communication division, Research Data Management Office, and Research Computing. We will explore these teams’ interdisciplinary relationships and interdependence as the institution increasingly supports open science practices and initiatives. We will include case studies regarding the decision-making process, data-sharing decisions, and opportunities and challenges when transferring research data from a high-performance computing environment to the ASU Research Data Repository. Finally, we will share lessons learned as we intentionally shepherd research data from active project management and storage to final publication and preservation.

Sustainable mobility policy for long-distance transportation services should consider emerging automobiles and aircraft as well as infrastructure and supply chain life-cycle effects in the assessment of new high-speed rail systems. Using the California corridor, future automobiles, high-speed rail and aircraft long-distance travel are evaluated, considering emerging fuel-efficient vehicles, new train designs and the possibility that the region will meet renewable electricity goals. An attributional per passenger-kilometer-traveled life-cycle inventory is first developed including vehicle, infrastructure and energy production components. A consequential life-cycle impact assessment is then established to evaluate existing infrastructure expansion against the construction of a new high-speed rail system. The results show that when using the life-cycle assessment framework, greenhouse gas footprints increase significantly and human health and environmental damage potentials may be dominated by indirect and supply chain components. The environmental payback is most sensitive to the number of automobile trips shifted to high-speed rail, and for greenhouse gases is likely to occur in 20–30 years. A high-speed rail system that is deployed with state-of-the-art trains, electricity that has met renewable goals, and in a configuration that endorses high ridership will provide significant environmental benefits over existing modes. Opportunities exist for reducing the long-distance transportation footprint by incentivizing large automobile trip shifts, meeting clean electricity goals and reducing material production effects.

Our objectives are to:
       1. Review the LCA literature to determine the dominant environmental impact categories in
           wild-caught fisheries in order to evaluate which phases are causing the greatest impacts.
       2. Determine how these impacts can best be mitigated and develop a framework that seeks
           to incorporates LCA into sustainable seafood guides so that consumers can make better-
           informed decisions.

This framework will include developing meaningful LCA impact categories for sustainable seafood guides. Despite their importance, we considered social factors beyond the scope of this paper.

While the scientific study of religion is not new, the topic has yet to be approached by Lifecycle Assessment (LCA). This work demonstrates a method for assessing the personal “cost” of “manufacturing” a mature religious adherent, or, a believer committed to a particular faith. By measuring such inputs as personal importance of faith, prayer, religious service attendance, religious experiences, and scripture reading, an assessment can be made of the quantity of such inputs required to engender enduring religious devotion. Ultimately, this study has demonstrated that the data typically collected in longitudinal surveys are insufficient to adequately support any firm quantitative conclusions, but the method proposed is sound and can be exploited when data becomes available.

The research topic for this assignment is shrimp farming in Thailand located throughout the coastal areas of the southern, eastern, and central regions of the country. Thailand’s huge shrimp export driven industry represents one of the largest in the world accounting for over twenty-five percent of food exports out of the country (Sriboonchitta & Wiboonpongse, n.d.).

Specific research questions include:
       1. What are the current unsustainable practices in shrimp farm production?
       2. In what part of the life cycle should intervention take place?
       3. What does a sustainable shrimp farming practice look like in the future?

Our study calculates the estimated difference in water use, energy demands, and CO2 emissions of head lettuce associated with the production (land preparation and growing operations, chemical inputs, irrigation) and the transportation (diesel demand) to the Phoenix metro area from:
       1. A local level, defined here as within Maricopa County, Arizona (AZ).
       2. From the central coast of California (CA) in Monterey County.

Our research results demonstrate that local lettuce is more resource intensive than non-local or regional produce. Production in Maricopa County has significantly higher (more than double) energy demands and emissions than Monterey County. Irrigation and chemical inputs are the greatest contributors to energy demand in Maricopa, but it is primarily irrigation that contributes to emissions. Comparatively, transportation and chemical inputs are the greatest contributors to energy demand in Monterey, and it is primarily transportation that contributes to emissions.

This life cycle inventory suggests that we need to reconsider the “food miles” framing of the local food debate and whether local food production is a viable sustainable alternative to the current food system in the arid Southwest. However, we also recognize that factors beyond resource-use and emissions affect policymakers’ and consumers’ demands for local foods. Future studies ought to provide a more nuanced look at the issue that also includes social, psychological, and economic factors that influence food policies and purchases. These results have important implications for future water management and suggest the need to pursue more water efficient practices in AZ.

This study seeks to examine how the introduction of residential solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) will affect urban air quality. Both the life-cycle and operations emissions profiles of an SOFC are compared with the baseload electricity generating technologies that widespread adoption of SOFCs would replace – coal fired, natural gas combined cycle, and nuclear. The monetary impacts from use phase emissions are then assessed in five water-vulnerable cities in which SOFCs would likely be adopted in order to increase local resilience to electricity failures as a result of water shortages. The SOFC system under study is a 1 kWe system of planar design intended for residential CHP. The excess heat from the SOFC is used to heat domestic hot water. Analysis of the SOFC system life-cycle includes raw materials extraction and processing, component manufacturing, SOFC manufacturing, natural gas fuel processing and distribution, SOFC use, as well as energy used in these processes. Life-cycle analysis of the baseload power systems is bounded similarly. Emissions tracked for this study include SOx, NOx, VOCs, PM10, and PM2.5.