Comparative environmental life cycle assessment of conventional and electric vehicles
2012 study in the Journal of Industrial Ecology on how electric cars stack up against those with traditional gas and diesel engines over their entire lifetimes.
fossil fuels
Expert Commentary
How to mitigate climate change: Key facts from the U.N.’s 2014 report
2014 study by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on ways that nations, states and municipalities can act to limit or reverse trends in CO2 emissions.
Expert Commentary
The impact of natural gas extraction and fracking on state and local roadways
2014 study by the RAND Corporation and Carnegie Mellon on the impact of fracking-related truck traffic on the design life and reconstruction cost of the different types of roadways.
Expert Commentary
Reducing U.S. gas consumption: Plug-in hybrids versus charging infrastructure
2013 study in Energy Policy on the relative advantages of plug-in hybrid cars and car-charging infrastructure for decreasing U.S. energy consumption.
Expert Commentary
The risk of breathing polluted air from freeways and high-traffic areas: Research brief
2013 research overview on the impact of automotive pollution on human health, by Doug Brugge of Tufts Medical School and the Scholars Strategy Network.
Expert Commentary
Public capital in countries with abundant natural resources: Is there a curse?
2013 study by the University of Oxford and the University of Sussex on the relationship between per-capita rents from natural resources and levels of public capital.
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Anthropogenic emissions of methane in the United States
A 2013 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences seeking to better quantify the current levels, regions and sectors that are the key sources of methane in the United States.
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Biofuels, energy security, the environment and human health: Research roundup
2013 roundup of research on biofuels, including public attitudes, health effects, land use, environmental consequences and the long-term outlook.
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The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Fukushima and Japan’s economy
2013 selection of research on the impacts of the nuclear accident, ongoing safety concerns and the potential economic consequences of the Games.
Expert Commentary
Coal and public health: Scientific evidence from the U.S. and China
2013 review of reearch on the health effects of coal, with a focus on a study in PNAS on the relationship between coal combustion and mortality in China.
Expert Commentary