Climate + Energy

Sustainability Themes, such as Climate + Energy, cut across all specializations—and give students and partners a chance to dig deeper in a particular area of impact and interest. Explore how our teaching, research and engagement is making an impact to tackle these global challenges.

Changing the game in planetary carbon emissions

Climate change, one of the greatest challenges facing society, requires large-scale implementation of both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Transforming the energy system through supply and demand changes is critical to address this challenge, as well as other threats from our largely fossil-based economy.

Our community responds to this challenge by working to provide energy solutions for stable climate systems. That’s the SEAS approach.

Lightning Talks

CLIMATE + ENERGY PLAYLIST

Feature

New U-M study reveals strategies for decarbonizing light-duty transportation in the U.S.

One of the goals outlined by the National Climate Task Force is to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030, and one of the strategies to achieve the goal is to increase new vehicle sales to 50% electric by 2030. A new U-M SEAS study investigated the sales target, modeling how much the light-duty transportation sector (such as cars and trucks) emissions would fall by 2030 if that target is met, finding that meeting the goals is possible, but not just by increasing EV sales. The study authors are Maxwell Woody, research assistant at the Center for Sustainable Systems (CSS) at SEAS, Gregory Keoleian, SEAS professor and co-director of the CSS and Parth Vaishnav, assistant professor at SEAS.