Publications & Reports

Carbon Emissions and Management Scenarios for Consumer-Owned Utilities

Authors: Miriam Fischlein, Timothy Smith and Elizabeth Wilson, University of Minnesota
Consumer-owned electric utilities contribute significantly to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, but are often excluded from energy efficiency and renewable energy policies. This paper, published in Environmental Science & Policy, situates consumer-owned utilities in the context of emerging U.S. climate policy, quantifying for the first time the state-by-state carbon impact of electricity sales by consumer-owned utilities. Link to the report


Our researchers developed several reports while operating under the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences’ Center for Sustainable Enterprise Development. Below are summaries and links to more information:

Improving Environmental Product Performance: The Role of Product Standards, Certifications and Eco-Labels

Partners: Forest Resources; Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
In 2008, the Minnesota Legislature charged the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency with developing recommendations for a product stewardship approach to reducing the risks of product use and disposal. This report provides an overview of eco-standards, certification and labeling in the United States and a discussion of relevant policy tools to facilitate product stewardship in Minnesota. (Report forthcoming, Garth Hickle, MPCA)

Environmental and Economic Assessment of Ethanol Production Systems in Minnesota Partner: Industrial Ecology Lab

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s prevention and assistance division sponsored a study of the costs and environmental consequences of ethanol produced from corn starch and cellulosic biomass, looking at ways to predict the sustainability of cellulosic ethanol production in Minnesota. Read the report

Implementing Energy Efficiency: Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Electric Cooperatives and Small Municipal Utilities

Partners: Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy; Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences
Find article: E.J. Wilson et al. / Energy Policy 36 (2008) 3383–3397

Exploring the Use of LCA-Based Information in Corporate Communications

Partners: Sergio A. Molina-Murillo; Boston University School for Field Studies; NAIMA
This report examines how LCA-based environmental performance information can be communicated in an advertising setting, the impact of such messages on individual attitudes and behaviors, and the roles of informational complexity and credibility. Read the report

Green Building Rating Systems: A Comparison of LEED and Green Globes Systems in the United States

Partners: Industrial Ecology Lab; Cold Climate Housing Research Center
This comparative framework explores competing “new construction” green building rating systems. Read the report