The Environmental Sustainability Program responds to sustainability issues related to materials consumption, biodiversity, agriculture, land-use patterns, urban development, and social and environmental equity. The development of clean products and technologies is central to environmental sustainability and thus constitutes a major research emphasis of this program area. Under the rubric of cleaner production and technology, this area explores ways to reduce toxic burdens, energy consumption, human health impacts, and social impacts associated with all stages of a product’s life. From a broader perspective, to improve environmental sustainability, this program assesses, and if necessary, redesigns systems of products, the built environment, urban infrastructures, and product distribution.
This program also examines the positive and negative impacts of new technologies on environmental sustainability. For example, new nanotechnologies could potentially reduce waste and energy consumption, and it might be possible to sequester carbon in the built environment through the innovative use of carbon nano-materials. On the other hand, emissions of nano-particles into the environment might pose new risks to human and ecological health.
The Environmental Sustainability Program evaluates improved planning and decision-making strategies that can be implemented amid conditions of risk and uncertainty. A particular emphasis is on developing participatory methods to empower communities and regions to develop plans for sustainable economic development.
In collaboration with UT faculty and staff, primarily from the colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Business, and with colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers in this program pursue research opportunities and funding from state and federal agencies as well as private foundations.