Browsing by Subject "greenhouse gas emissions"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    City of Edina Density Study
    (Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2024) Briggs, Kenton; Leaf, Holly; Menhennet, Johnny; Olberding, Greg; Thompson, Jem; Wu, Yuping
    This project was completed through a partnership between the City of Edina and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (https://rcp.umn.edu/). The goal of this project was to investigate if the City of Edina’s 2030 population density targets are adequate to meet its transportation and climate goals, analyze how this density target aligns with the City’s current comprehensive plan, and recommend site-specific and general strategies for increasing density to meet the target goal. City of Edina project lead Matthew Gabb collaborated with a team of students in Dr. Nichola Lowe’s course PA 8081, which performed policy and literature reviews, ran multivariate regression analyses to determine which factors impact vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions, modeled potential density scenarios and relevant policy changes to introduce greater density, and made final recommendations for how the city might best achieve its transportation and climate goals. A final student report and presentation from the project are available.
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    Expanding Climate Mitigation in Healthcare: Investigating Top-Down Approaches to Greenhouse Gas Reduction in Minnesota Community Hospitals
    (2024-05-01) Sako, Kristin
    Healthcare exists to protect and promote human health, yet is a contributor to climate change. There is a need for this sector to begin addressing their environmental impact, though accountability measures must ensure that existing burdens in healthcare are not exacerbated. Currently, any environmental action in healthcare is done on a voluntary basis. Healthcare, especially patient-centered care, faces unique challenges that must be confronted in order for them to join the climate movement. One major barrier is a lack of broader policies and regulations that can incentivize or coerce healthcare into addressing their greenhouse gas emissions. For this paper, I interviewed multiple stakeholder groups in Minnesota hospitals and supporting organizations in healthcare sustainability to investigate how hospitals would respond to greenhouse gas emission tracking and reporting requirements. In doing so, I analyze how the existing barriers, voluntary programs, and incentives have impacted the way hospitals engage in climate mitigation. The general lack of guidance and incentives have made it difficult for hospitals to engage in change management, which is necessary for climate action to be integrated into hospitals. Consequently, health systems and hospitals that have begun change management are much more likely to meet requirements on greenhouse gas emission reporting than those that have not yet started. I recommend multiple strategies and actions hospitals and external support organizations can take to help Minnesota hospitals begin change management and collectively become environmental stewards.
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    Feasibility of Electric Car Sharing in a Suburban Environment: A Survey of Edina Residents
    (Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2022) Masson, George; Henke-Fiedler, Brandon
    This project was completed as part of a partnership between the City of Edina and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). The City of Edina is committed to providing clean, abundant, equitable, and accessible transportation options to all who live, work, and travel through the community. Edina’s newly passed Climate Action Plan includes goals to reduce community-wide vehicle miles traveled by 7% by 2030, and increase battery electric vehicle utilization to 25% of community-wide rolling stock. The City is also committed to prioritizing low-income household transportation opportunities. A team of graduate RCP Scholars collaborated with Edina project lead Grace Hancock to develop and administer an online resident survey to understand whether, how, and by whom an electric car-sharing service might be used in a suburban environment such as Edina. The students’ final report is available.
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    Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions and Housing Affordability in Minnesota: Opportunities for the Residential Sector
    (2020) Peterson, Kristen; Milnar, Mike; Wolski, Dan; Mezey, Rachel
    Emitting more than one fifth of the State of Minnesota’s overall emissions, the residential building sector is a top priority for decarbonization to meet the state’s goals in the Next Generation Energy Act. Based on current levels of energy usage, the state is expected to fall short of these goals by nearly 100 million tons of CO2e by 2050. At the same time, many Minnesotan households are energy burdened, paying significant fractions of income for home space heating and energy expenses.
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    Organically managed intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) as a dual-use grain and forage crop
    (2023-05) Bowden, James
    Intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium), a historically managed forage crop for livestock, is currently being domesticated to produce the cereal grain crop named KernzaⓇ. This study examines using intermediate wheatgrass as both a grain for human consumption and feed for livestock in a dual-use, organically managed system, and consequences for environmental quality. This was done by comparing agronomic and environmental responses to different fertilization strategies (none, commercial mineral fertilizer, or manure) and defoliation to simulate biomass removal for forage. Agronomic measurements included grain, straw, and forage yield as well as environmental effects, specifically nitrogen mineralization, total carbon, total nitrogen, and soil gas emissions. Treatments were carried out at two sites, in south central Minnesota and central Kansas. Results showed that manure increased grain, straw, and forage yields compared to unfertilized treatments in year two in MN and KS. In addition to yields, forage nutritive value increased in manure fertilized treatments compared to unfertilized control treatments in the second year at both sites. Soil extractable nitrogen differed across seasons in MN in years one and two, but KS only differed in year two. There was a difference in nitrogen mineralization among treatments and across seasons in MN in year 2. KS did show an interaction among treatments and season in 2020 and a difference across seasons in both years. Soil gas emissions were higher for CO2 in manure fertilized plots in the second year in MN, but there were no differences between treatments for CH4, N2O, or NH3. At the end of the experiment, soil carbon was higher in manure fertilized plots in MN. In summary, manure fertilizer improved agronomic variables important to farmers but environmental impacts of this practice should be considered. Manure application can result in increases in soil gas emissions thus exacerbating human impact on the climate. However, manure showed potential to increase soil organic carbon and potentially offset soil gas emissions associated with manure addition.