Estimating environmental impacts of a system at an early design stage provides insights into the overall impact of a new technology and offers the greatest opportunities for improvement. Unfortunately, products at an early stage of development lack sufficient data to perform a traditional life cycle assessment (LCA).
There has been significant research on the diffusion of innovations to understand
potential market penetration of a new technology, adopter characteristics, and displacement effects. Diffusion of innovation concepts are useful when constructing scenarios for consequential LCA and understanding how different policy or design
choices may affect overall technology adoption and market penetration.
This seminar will present methods to construct future scenarios within the context of consequential LCA to identify preferable options for new technology design or policy development. A number of case studies will be explored, discussing research projects that involve assessment of transportation fuels, carbon capture and storage, and penetration of refrigerated food supply chains in developing countries.

Professor Miller's research uses life cycle assessment and scenario modeling to identify environmental problems before they occur. Historically, our society has taken a reactionary approach to the environment. By proactively understanding the environmental issues of emerging technologies, we can identify a greater number of options and more creative solutions to avoid or reduce negative consequences. Miller's research group works on a variety of energy-related topics, including the energy-water nexus, bioenergy, refrigeration in the food system, and autonomous vehicles.