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1. A household-scale life cycle assessment model for understanding the food-energy-water nexus

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1059301  

   Daignault, Jessica; Wallace, Charles; Watkins, David; Handler, Robert; Yang, Yi; Heaney, Danielle; Ahamed, Sonya (February 2023, Frontiers in Environmental Science)

   Vörösmarty, C. (Ed.)

   The household is an important locus of decision-making regarding food, energy, and water (FEW) consumption. Changes in household FEW consumption behaviors can lead to significant reductions in environmental impacts, but it can be difficult for consumers to compare the relative impacts of their consumption quantitatively, or to recognize the indirect impacts of their household consumption patterns. We describe two novel tools designed to address this problem: A hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) framework to translate household consumption of food, energy, and water into key environmental impacts including greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, and water use; and a novel software application calledHomeTrackerthat implements the framework by collecting household FEW data and providing environmental impact feedback to households. We explore the question:How can a life cycle assessment-based software application facilitate collection and translation of household consumption data to meaningful environmental impact metrics?A case study in Lake County, Illinois is presented to illustrate use of theHomeTrackerapplication. Output data describing environmental impacts attributable to household FEW consumption in the study area are shown in order to illustrate key features and trends observed in the case study population. The framework and its associated output data can be used to support experimental research at the household scale, allowing for examination of what users purchase and consume over an extended period of time as well as increased understanding of household behavior trends and environmental impacts, and as future work. 

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2. Empirical assessment of the relationship between teleworking frequency and residential energy use in the U.S.: multilevel modeling and time use comparisons

   https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ade3fa  

   Han, Chaeyeon; Guhathakurta, Subhrajit; Hittinger, Eric; Liu, Kun; Phoung, Sinoun; Williams, Eric (June 2025, Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability)

   Abstract The impact of teleworking on residential energy consumption has remained inconclusive due to a lack of empirical evidence. Existing research often relies on scenario-based models with limited empirical evidence, leaving critical gaps in understanding telework’s true energy impacts. This study addresses these gaps by analyzing data from the 2020 U.S. Residential Energy Consumption Survey and the 2022 American Time Use Survey to empirically examine the relationship between teleworking frequency, residential energy use, and time-use behaviors. Results reveal that the energy impact of teleworking is not uniform but varies significantly by household income level. For lower-income households and the highest income households, each additional telework day per week is associated with an increase of approximately 871 thousand BTUs in annual energy consumption. However, among upper-middle income households, this effect is significantly reduced, and in some cases, reversed, suggesting a U-shaped relationship between income and teleworking’s association with residential energy use. Additional household characteristics, such as the number of adults, children, residence type, size, and thermostat settings also affect energy usage. Time-use analysis reveals that teleworkers spend an average of 5.9 h per day working from home, thereby using more energy for heating/cooling and lighting, which outweighs any energy savings from reduced time spent on activities like grooming, laundry, or online leisure. Clustering analysis identifies distinct time-use patterns among teleworkers and non-teleworkers, further demonstrating how their behaviors drive increased residential energy demand. By linking teleworking frequency with actual energy use and time-use behaviors, this work highlights the importance of addressing teleworking-induced energy demand through energy-efficient home retrofits, sustainable telework policies, and targeted interventions. 

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3. Spatial Life Cycle Analysis of Soybean-Based Biodiesel Production in Indiana, USA Using Process Modeling

   https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8040392  

   Vunnava, Venkata Sai; Singh, Shweta (April 2020, Processes)

   Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has long been utilized for decision making about the sustainability of products. LCA provides information about the total emissions generated for a given functional unit of a product, which is utilized by industries or consumers for comparing two products with regards to environmental performance. However, many existing LCAs utilize data that is representative of an average system with regards to life cycle stage, thus providing an aggregate picture. It has been shown that regional variation may lead to large variation in the environmental impacts of a product, specifically dealing with energy consumption, related emissions and resource consumptions. Hence, improving the reliability of LCA results for decision making with regards to environmental performance needs regional models to be incorporated for building a life cycle inventory that is representative of the origin of products from a certain region. In this work, we present the integration of regionalized data from process systems models and other sources to build regional LCA models and quantify the spatial variations per unit of biodiesel produced in the state of Indiana for environmental impact. In order to include regional variation, we have incorporated information about plant capacity for producing biodiesel from North and Central Indiana. The LCA model built is a cradle-to-gate. Once the region-specific models are built, the data were utilized in SimaPro to integrate with upstream processes to perform a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). We report the results per liter of biodiesel from northern and central Indiana facilities in this work. The impact categories studied were global warming potential (kg CO2 eq) and freshwater eutrophication (kg P eq). While there were a lot of variations at individual county level, both regions had a similar global warming potential impact and the northern region had relatively lower eutrophication impacts. 

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4. Powering fairness in climate adaptation capabilities: Evaluating the influence of air conditioning rebates in a hot climate

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.104204  

   Wade, Kester; Nock, Destenie; Gao, Xue (September 2025, Energy Research & Social Science)

   Assisting households with maintaining adequate energy supply is one method for improving overall quality of life. Households experiencing energy insecurity may be unable to afford to use energy for necessary services at home (e.g., unable to purchase air conditioners). Energy efficiency (EE) can reduce energy costs for low-income households–requiring less energy for essential activities. While existing research has identified the groups that are less likely to participate in energy efficiency programs, there is limited research on how participation impacts energy insecurity among vulnerable households when they participate. Using over 138,000 households in Tallahassee, Florida we study participants in a neighborhood program that targeted underserved communities. We conduct quasi-experimental difference-in-difference comparisons for seasonal energy consumption, energy bills, and energy burden during the cooling season in response to air conditioning (AC) appliance purchases. We compare impacts for households in the program (REACH) and higher income non-REACH qualified households. We find that REACH homes, on average, save approximately 300kWh-eq on energy or $25 seasonally after purchasing an AC unit. While AC rebates reduce seasonal energy burden by 0.6 % in non-REACH homes, there is no statistically significant change in seasonal energy burden for REACH homes. The difference in energy reduction between REACH and non-REACH qualified homes could be due to increases in AC use among REACH homes after rebates. Further work could explore this trend of potential increases in efficient appliance use among low-income homes. 

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5. A Life Cycle Assessment Approach for Vegetables in Large-, Mid-, and Small-Scale Food Systems in the Midwest US

   https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011368  

   Stone, Tiffanie F.; Thompson, Janette R.; Rosentrater, Kurt A.; Nair, Ajay (October 2021, Sustainability)

   Although vegetables are important for healthy diets, there are concerns about the sustainability of food systems that provide them. For example, half of fresh-market vegetables sold in the United States (US) are produced in California, leading to negative impacts associated with transportation. In Iowa, the focus of this study, 90% of food is imported from outside the state. Previous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies indicate that food consumption patterns affect global warming potential (GWP), with animal products having more negative impacts than vegetables. However, studies focused on how GWP, energy, and water use vary between food systems and vegetable types are less common. The purpose of this study was to examine these environmental impacts to inform decisions to buy locally or grow vegetables in the Midwest. We used a life cycle approach to examine three food systems (large-, mid-, and small-scale) and 18 vegetables commonly grown in/near Des Moines, Iowa. We found differences in GWP, energy, and water use (p ≤ 0.001 for each) for the three food systems with the large-scale scenario producing more emissions. There were also differences among vegetables, with the highest GWP for romaine lettuce (1.92 CO2eq/kg vegetable) approximately three times that of leaf lettuce (0.65 CO2eq/kg vegetable) at the large scale. Hotspots and tradeoffs between GWP, energy, and water use were also identified and could inform vegetable production/consumption based on carbon and water use footprints for the US Midwest. 

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