Arundo donax, or giant reed, is an invasive plant species that thrives around rivers and streams. Bad Grass creates consumer products thus promoting demand for Arundo biomass. By introducing a line of cannabis pipes that are strategically positioned between joints and pipes, we can attract customers interested in smoking out of disposable pipes.
Powered by Moxie is an Eco-Entrepreneurship Project that analyzes the environmental impacts of different types of grocery and snack packaging and offers a solution to reduce packaging waste by using reusable packaging. Powered by Moxie delivers farmer’s market produce and snacks to corporate offices as a supplemental employee benefit program.
To reduce the risk of vessel strikes on the Caribbean community of sperm whales off the coast of Dominica, this project created a dynamic marine spatial plan for the coast waters of Dominica and proposed shipping lanes that will avoid high suitable habitat of sperm whales.
In partnership with Adidas AG, the Future Footwear team seeks to understand the microplastic problem that is generated from the footwear industry within the United States.
This project worked in partnership with the Nature Conservancy (TNC) to explore how we can support the wind energy growth while ensuring the continued conservation and protection of nature and biodiversity. To do this, the group evaluated whether wind power projects located in areas that avoid harming wildlife have a lower likelihood of cancellation.
To develop floating offshore wind projects in federal waters off the coast of California, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Pacific Region has tasked the Bren School with characterizing and assessing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the integration of offshore wind energy into California electricity markets.
This project modeled market interactions for different scenarios of offshore cultivation to elucidate what effects these new markets would have on both consumers and suppliers of totoaba products, as well as the illegal market for poached buche.
Reducing the environmental impacts of the apparel supply chain through harnessing waste from the agricultural industry, converting it into apparel-grade fiber.
This project aimed to estimate the greenhouse gas emission reductions which would result from powering CBS facilities nationwide with 100% renewable energy, and actions to implement this strategy.
This project team analyzed the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary's current citizen science data management system and identified improvements that will maximize the usability of this rich dataset.
The CITE Plan Project investigated the relationship between timber management, fire regimes and fire severity and their future regulatory incorporation by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CalFire) into the Timber Harvest Plan (THP) permit process.
This project team and their client, Denver Water, sought to understand the threat contaminants of emerging concern may pose to drinking water quality in their collection system.
Trade-offs associated with marine reserves are believed to have played a key role in the network’s delayed implementation; potential long-term gains in sustainable fishing and the conservation of biodiversity likely generate short-term losses in fishery revenue due to fishery closures. The trade-offs between conservation and livelihood led our team to ask: What are the consequences of delaying the implementation of a reserve network, and how much area should be protected to enhance both fish biomass and catch?
The Nature Conservancy enlisted this group project team to help determine whether investments in natural infrastructure could lower insurance costs to hoteliers and coastal development sites.
This project team worked with The Nature Conservancy, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and other island conservation organizations to better understand how climate change will impact island oaks and their recovery.
In California, there is often an excess supply of solar energy in the middle of the day, which can lead to grid curtailment - when clean, renewable energy is not generated to its full capacity or sold to other regions at negative pricing. As more electric vehicles enter the market in California and are poised to charge at the similar peak demand times, utilities are looking for strategies to shift demand of electric vehicle charging to use that excess supply of solar energy. The project's goal was to analyze the potential of electric vehicles as a flexible demand response tool and how to turn a challenge into an opportunity.
By modeling various product changes out to the year 2035 with company growth, this team identified the material and dye applications with the largest GHG savings for apparel company Patagonia. From this, they sought to develop realistic product change recommendations to decrease the overall environmental impact of Patagonia’s products.
This project aimed to identify synergies and tradeoffs between agricultural practices, ecosystem health, and human wellbeing in Rwanda. Their approach was to examine Vital Sign’s integrated data across a variety of indicators. This analysis was then used to inform agricultural development decisions.
This research group project was commissioned by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to conduct a watershed analysis of the Carson and Walker river basins of Douglas County, Nevada. They developed a conceptual model of the local watershed, evaluated ecosystem services and the impacts of climate change, as well as performed a market feasibility study to determine if a water fund mechanism would be possible in the region.
