About Us
The
Energy and Resource Systems
Analysis Laboratory (ERSAL)
develops mathematical models and
decision support tools to
quantify opportunities for
reducing energy and resource use
in industrial technology
systems. Such models and
tools can be used by
manufacturers and policy makers
to identify technological,
behavioral, and policy pathways
toward more sustainable products
and processes.
Specifically, our research aims
to improve the energy, resource,
and economic efficiencies of:
- Manufacturing
processes and supply chains,
- Product
and material life-cycle
systems, and
- Information
technology (IT) systems,
and
further includes
- Manufacturing
policy analysis to
help achieve these goals.
For
further information, please
visit our research
page.
Latest News
(news archive)
October
13th, 2014 ....
ERSAL
researchers have published
two articles resulting from
our recent massive open
online course (MOOC) on life
cycle assessment. The
first, published in the
Journal of Industrial
Ecology, sheds light on the
changing
characteristics of LCA
students. The
second, published in the
International Journal of
Life Cycle Assessment,
discusses pedagogical
opportunities and
challenges associated with
online LCA courses.
August 26th, 2014 .....
ERSAL
staff in the
news:
Professor
Masanet
discusses food
waste,
composting,
and in-sink
disposals with
Debra
Shore,
Commissioner
of Chicago's
Metropolitan
Water
Reclamation
District on WBEZ's Worldview
program.
Listen to the
interview here,
and read the
accompanying EcoMyths
article here.
August
18th, 2014 ......
Professor
Masanet selected
as a participant in
the U.S. National Academy of
Engineering (NAE) 2014 Frontiers
of Engineering Education
Symposium
May 29th, 2014 .....
ERSAL staff
in the news: A new study
on the energy and
emissions implications of
streaming video by
ERSAL's Ben Walker and Eric
Masanet, with Arman Shehabi
of Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, has
been covered by Smithsonian
Magazine, Phys.org,
and other major media.
May 28th, 2014 .....
Professor
Masanet selected
as a participant in
the U.S. National Academy of
Engineering (NAE) 2014 Frontiers
of Engineering Symposium
May 27th, 2014 .....
ERSAL staff in the news:
Paper or plastic?
Professor Masanet weighs in
on Chicago's partial ban of
plastic grocery bags on WBEZ's Worldview
program. Listen to the
interview here,
and read the accompanying EcoMyths
article here.
May 21st, 2014 .....
Professor
Masanet discusses recycling
of photovoltaic panels as an
invited panelist at the U.S.
Department of Energy's SunShot
Grand Challenge Summit.
May 19th, 2014 .....
Professor
Masanet to discuss the idea
of "green products" at
Chicago's Pint of Science --
the international series of
science talks at cities
around the world -- at
5:30pm at Bar Louie.
Sign up here!
February 24th, 2014
.....
Professor
Masanet discusses the topic
"Will Big Data Mean Big
Energy for the 21st
Century?" as an invited
panelist at the ARPA-E
Energy Innovation Summit in
Washington, DC.
January 15th, 2014 .....
Professor
Masanet discusses life cycle
assessment at Science Cafe
for NU alumni and Evanston
residents. See the flyer here.
November 25th, 2013
.....
Our Coursera
course "How Green Is That
Product? An Introduction to
Life Cycle Environmental
Assessment" will launch on
January 25th, 2014.
Sign up here!
November 20th, 2013
.....
Professor
Masanet speaks at a U.S.
government briefing on data
centers and
efficiency. Read about
the event here
and here.
October 1st, 2013 .....
ERSAL staff
in the news: Professor
Masanet speaks about rinsing
and recycling on WBEZ's
Wordview program. Hear
the interview here.
September
9th, 2013 ......
Professor
Masanet and Dr. Mike
Walker's research featured
in Northwestern
news
July 18th, 2013 .....
Professor
Masanet's article with Arman
Shehabi (Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory) and Jon
Koomey (Stanford University)
on characteristics of low
carbon data centers in Nature
Climate Change has
been covered by GigaOM,
Slashdot,
Datacenter
Dynamics, and other
media outlets.
June 27th, 2013 .....
Professor
Masanet has been appointed
to the Morris
E. Fine Research
Professorship,
effective September 1st
June
25th, 2013
.....
Professor
Masanet's
article with
Arman Shehabi
(Lawrence
Berkeley
National
Laboratory)
and Jon Koomey
(Stanford
University) on
characteristics
of low carbon
data centers
appears in Nature
Climate Change
June 15th, 2013 .....
ERSAL staff in the news:
ERSAL and LBNL report on the
energy efficiency potential
of cloud-based business
software covered by Forbes,
Scientific
American, Computer
Weekly, GigaOM,
and other major media
outlets.
June 10th, 2013 .....
ERSAL and Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory release
results quantifying the
energy savings potential of
selected cloud-based
software for U.S.
businesses. Read the
press release and report here.
June 6th, 2013 .....
Professor Masanet presents
at Google's How Green is
the Internet?
Summit. View the
highlight video here.
June 5th, 2013 .....
Professor Masanet's and
Dr. Mike Walker's article on
energy-water
efficiency in U.S.
industrial steam systems
has been featured on the
cover of the AiChE
Journal (Volume 59,
Issue 7). The article
was also covered by Chemical
Engineering Progress.
April 25th, 2013 .......
Professor
Masanet joins the Editorial
Board of the International
Journal of Energy
Technology and Policy
April 17, 2013 .......
Congratulations
to ERSAL Ph.D. student Yuan
Yao, who was selected as a
2013-2014 recipient of the ISEN Cluster Fellowship!
February 22, 2013
.......
ERSAL staff
in the news: Professor
Masanet to teach a MOOC
on life-cycle assessment
as part of Northwestern's
partnership with Coursera
January
17, 2013 .......
ERSAL staff in the news: Professor
Masanet quoted in Chemistry
World
January 1, 2013 .......
Professor Masanet named new Editor in
Chief of the journal Resources,
Conservation and Recycling
December 20, 2012 ........
ERSAL welcomes Dr. Venkata
Krishna K. Upadhyayula
as a research associate
December 3, 2012 ........
ERSAL staff in the news: Professor
Masanet talks about vampire
power and green electronics on
WBEZ's Worldview program
|
Contact
Us
Energy and Resource
Systems Analysis Lab (ERSAL)
Technological
Institute
2145 Sheridan Road,
E127
Evanston, IL
60208-3100
1.847.467.2929
eric.masanet@northwestern.edu
ERSAL Talks
& Events
10/8/2014 -
Green Grid Forum, San Francisco, CA.
TOPIC: Missing data for resource
efficient IT?
8/5/2014 - U.S. NSF Sustainable
Engineering Education Community
Workshop, Washington, DC.
TOPIC: Reflections on a Life Cycle
Assessment MOOC
6/26/2014 - U.S. EPA and ITIC Workshop
on Intelligent Systems Efficiency,
Washington, DC.
TOPIC: Metrics for Intelligent Systems
Efficiency?
6/16/2014 - U.S. NIST Workshop on Smart
Manufacturing Systems Design and
Analysis for Enabling American
Competitiveness, Gaithersburg, MD.
TOPIC: Materials Efficiency.
5/23/2014 - ANSER Solar Energy
Symposium, Evanston, IL.
TOPIC: Prospective LCA of Energy
Technologies
5/21/2014 - U.S. DOE SunShot Grand
Challenge Tech Forum, Anaheim, CA.
TOPIC: PV Hardware Recycling
5/19/2014 - Pint of Science:
Chicago. TOPIC: Green
products?
3/14/2014 - China NSF – US NSF Workshop
on Sustainable Manufacturing, Wuhan,
China. TOPIC: Supply Chain Energy
and Resource Management
3/5/2014 - Seminar, Illinois Institute
of Technology. TOPIC: Prospective
LCA for Advanced Manufacturing.
2/24/2014 - ARPA-E Summit. TOPIC: Big
Data and Energy Use
2/21/2014 - Seminar, University of
Michigan. TOPIC: Supply Chain
Energy and Resource Management
1/23/2014 - Seminar, University of
Chicago. TOPIC: Industrial
Sustainability Through Supply Chain
Energy Management
1/15/2014 - Science at the Cafe,
Evanston, IL. TOPIC: How green is that
product?
11/20/2013 - Public Hearing, Washington,
DC. TOPIC: Next-Gen Data Centers:
Bringing Energy Efficiency to Government
10/11/2013 - World Summit on Innovation
and Entrepreneurship, New York. TOPIC:
Understanding Electronics and
Sustainability
10/1/2013 - DatacenterDynamics Converged
Chicago. TOPIC: Can the Cloud Save
Energy?
9/10/2013 - ACS National Meeting,
Indianapolis. TOPIC: Environmental Costs
and Benefits of Electronics
8/20/2013 - WCCE9, Seoul, Korea.
TOPIC: Sustainability Assessment of
Next-Generation Chemical Processes
6/28/2013 - ISIE 2013, Ulsan, Korea.
TOPIC: Leveraging Supply Chains as
Energy and Materials Efficiency
Resources
6/6/2013 - Google Summit: How Green is
the Internet? Mountain View, California.
TOPIC: U.S. energy efficiency potential
of cloud computing
5/2/2013 - University of Wisconsin,
Milwaukee, Distinguished Speaker Series.
TOPIC: Enabling
energy and resource efficient
manufacturing supply chains
3/21/2013 - U.S. Department of Energy,
Advanced Manufacturing Office Seminar,
Washington DC. TOPIC: Life-cycle
valuation of next-generation
manufacturing technologies
2/25/2013 - Clemson University Seminar,
South Carolina. TOPIC: Prospective
analysis of next-generation
manufacturing processes
1/18/2013 - Green ICT for Sustainable
Consumption?, Vienna, Austria. TOPIC:
Quantifying the benefits of ICT
11/15/2012 - Greenbuild, San Francisco,
California. TOPIC: Greener buildings
through site-specific LCA
11/14/2012
- SETAC North America, Long Beach,
California. TOPIC: LCA of advanced
manufacturing technologies
10/31/2012
- World Energy Engineering Congress,
Atlanta, Georgia. TOPIC: Industrial energy
efficiency
10/15/2012
- Sustainable Electronics Forum. Racine,
Wisconsin.
9/25/2012 - LCA XII, Tacoma,
Washington. TOPIC: LCA for
materials efficiency
9/12/2012 - Shanghai Jiao Tong
University, Shanghai, China. TOPIC:
Supply chain energy efficiency
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