Susan E Powers

• PhD Environmental Engineering
• Clarkson University

Evaluates how sustainability toolkits structure goals and priorities using SHPS-TSI. • Maps toolkits by local-global scope and aspirational-practical aims with a 2×2 alignment matrix. • Reveals patterned variation in design strategies across ten SHPS evaluation indicators. • Constructs a framework for 'most different' case analysis to support toolk...

We use circuit-level granular electricity measurements from student housing and statistical analysis to better understand individuals’ electricity consumption. Two key patterns emerged—individuals varied systematically in their magnitude of electricity use as well as in their variability of usage at the hourly and daily level. A cluster analysis of...

Engineering graduates must be prepared to support our world’s need for a clean and sustainable energy future. Complex problems related to energy and sustainability require engineers to consider the broad spectrum of interrelated consequences including human and environmental health, sociopolitical, and economic factors. Teaching engineering student...

Engineers must take a leading role in addressing the challenges of mitigating climate change and adapting to the inevitable changes that our world is facing. To improve climate literacy, technical education must include problem formulation and solutions that consider complex interactions between engineered, Earth, and societal systems, including tr...

Building energy simulation (BES) tools fail to capture diversity among occupants’ consumption behaviors by using simple and generic occupancy and load profiles, causing uncertainties in simulation predictions. Thus, generating actual occupancy profiles can lead to more accurate and reliable BES predictions. In this article, occupancy profiles for a...

To support the need for a better understanding of occupant behaviors in buildings, we present occupancy profiles for apartment-style student housing from high-resolution monitored occupancy data. We illustrate differences between data-driven occupancy patterns and the widely-used reference occupancy schedule in Building America’s House Simulation P...

Natural Events Vulnerability Assessment conducted in conjunction with NYS Climate Smart Communities

New options for feminine hygiene products could greatly reduce solid waste impacts and have other environmental benefits. As a group of widely used but rarely examined consumer products, feminine hygiene products offer great potential for impact reduction if alternative products are used or conventional products improved. Through a comparative life...

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of feminine hygiene products was completed with three samples considered representative of sanitary pads, tampons and menstrual cups. Gabi LCA software was used to organize inventory data with the ILCD (v.1.0.10) life cycle impact assessment method used to determine mid-point and normalized impact scores. Data from the...

Many interventions designed to curb energy use are ineffective because they fail to inspire individuals to engage in proenvironmental behavior and interact meaningfully with energy information. This field experiment targeted individuals' personal motivations and goals in combination with sensor-recorded energy feedback to decrease electricity and w...

Based on estimations in 2015, almost 40% of total energy consumption in U.S. was consumed in buildings. Heating or cooling unoccupied spaces, overheating or undercooling, air leakage, and inefficient appliances are the main causes of energy waste (39% of total energy consumption) in residential buildings. Therefore, different strategies have been p...

Liberals and conservatives show consistent differences in attitudes toward proenvironmental behavior (or PEB); this research seeks to understand why. We investigated the role of political ideology in predicting self-reported PEB and assessed whether this association was mediated by environmental motivation. Survey respondents (N = 310) reported on...

Office buildings are the most prevalent commercial building types throughout United States with more than one million buildings. Moreover, in commercial office buildings, because of routine weekday and weekend schedules, occupancy-based strategies for reducing energy used by HVAC systems are expected to be more feasible and effective compared to ei...

Project-based climate change instructional modules were developed and used in middle and high school classrooms. The modules were created to develop higher-order thinking skills with real-world data and models describing climate systems and approaches to mitigate or adapt to changes. The objective of this paper is to identify the relationships betw...

Many urban areas in the United States have experienced difficulty meeting the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), partially due to pollution from electricity generating units. We evaluated the potential for residential demand response to reduce pollutant emissions on days with above average pollutant emissions and a high potential for p...

Zooplankton biomass productivity was estimated for two 64,000m3 (1.7 ha) facultative aerated wastewater treatment lagoons to evaluate potential biodiesel production from zooplankton biomass. Lagoons were monitored bi-weekly during summer 2010. Lipid accumulated by crustacean zooplankton was considered the most efficient means by which to collect li...

Energy literacy is a broad term encompassing content knowledge as well as a citizenship understanding of energy that includes affective and behavioral aspects. This article presents explicit criteria that will serve as a foundation for developing measurable objectives for energy literacy in three dimensions: cognitive (knowledge, cognitive skills),...

A measurement scale has been developed to assess secondary students’ energy literacy—a citizenship understanding of energy that includes cognitive as well as affective and behavioral items. Instrument development procedures followed psychometric principles from educational and social psychology research. Initial exploration of the measure yielded p...

The Dynamic Anaerobic Reactor & Integrated Energy System (DARIES) model has been developed as a biogas and electricity production model of a dairy farm anaerobic digester system. DARIES, which incorporates the Anaerobic Digester Model No. 1 (ADM1) and simulations of both combined heat and power (CHP) and digester heating systems, may be run in eith...

Demand response has been demonstrated as a valuable resource for ensuring electric system reliability, deferring capacity upgrades, and improving cost efficiency. We quantify the emissions impact of residential demand response due to the implementation of time-varying electricity tariffs. Published demand response rates are used to model the effect...

Residential consumers exposed to dynamic pricing, or prices that vary with the market value of electricity, have been shown to consistently shift electricity demand during high price periods. Our research hypothesizes that oxides of nitrogen, (NOx), will also be reduced with the implementation of dynamic pricing. To test this we modeled the New Yor...

US federal energy policy strongly supports the use of biomass for conversion into liquid fuels for transportation. Although these biofuels can effectively reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and have other benefits, there are other possible and sustainable uses for biomass. Pursuing biomass heating options can displace more fossil fuels and redu...

The outreach and educational component of my NSF-CAREER grant focused on the development of a new undergraduate course on climate change for engineering undergraduate students and development of project-based course modules for middle and high-school students. Engineering students have minimal formal education on climate issues, but are increasingl...

Energy literacy was measured among a sample of middle school students (n=865) before (pre) and after (post) their middle-level physical science course using a written quantitative questionnaire developed for this research. Overall, students demonstrated significant cognitive gains, with no significant change in their energy-related affect, self-eff...

The removal of corn stover or production of herbaceous crops such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) or big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) as feedstocks for bioenergy purposes has been shown to have significant benefits from an energy and climate change perspective. There is potential, however, to adversely impact water and soil quality, especially...

Classroom units were developed for high-school environmental science and college industrial ecology classes to introduce life-cycle perspectives and systems analysis of transportation fuel/vehicle systems. The units at both levels emphasize the need to consider energy and environmental issues related to the nation's transportation sector that exten...

Energy literacy, which encompasses broad content knowledge as well as affective and behavioral characteristics, will empower people to make appropriate energy-related choices and embrace changes in the way we harness and consume energy. Energy literacy was measured with a written questionnaire completed by 3708 secondary students in New York State,...

A new course was developed to improve engineering students' understanding of the earth science associated with global climate change, human interactions with climate, mitigation technologies and policies, and adaption strategies. The three-credit course, entitled Global Climate Change: Science, Engineering, and Policy, is highly quantitative and ta...

This research is aimed at monetizing the life cycle environmental and health externalities associated with production of ethanol from corn, corn stover, switchgrass, and forest residue. The results of this study reveal current average external costs for the production of 1 l of ethanol ranged from $0.07 for forest residue to $0.57 for ethanol produ...

The US mandates for increased use of domestically produced biofuels will help to reduce the dependence on imported oil, yet it will necessitate the increased use of our earth and ecosystem services, our 'natural capital'. Biofuels can be sustainably produced if we recognize the limits of our soil, water and air resources to provide these services....

Extensive research has been done to characterize transport of bacteria in porous media; however, little is understood on how the presence of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) coupled with the growth state and carbon source of bacteria affect bacterial transport. The objective of this research is to quantify the bacterial adhesion of Pseudomonas sac...

Manure management practices are regulated or promoted in the interest of preventing environmental pollution. Even when there are clear benefits, some management practices can result in unintended consequences. In this paper, a life cycle assessment approach was used to assess the role of manure storage and/or anaerobic digestion in changing the pot...

As the global understanding of climate change is increasing, environmentally and energetically sustainable solutions are increasingly valuable. Although transportation fuels have received the most attention as an energy product from biomass resources, these same resources could be used for domestic heating for increased sustainability in rural New...

As part of an extensive University - K-12 partnership program in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines, more than 20 faculty members at Clarkson University have developed and taught summer institutes and workshops for area middle and high school teachers. The goals of these interventions are to provide rigorous and state-of-t...

This life cycle assessment aims to determine the most suitable operating conditions for algae biodiesel production in cold climates to minimize energy consumption and environmental impacts. Two hypothetical photobioreactor algae production and biodiesel plants located in Upstate New York (USA) are modeled. The photobioreactor is assumed to be house...

Energy education programs are making their way into today's K-12 classroom. Effective programs that improve energy literacy will help draw students toward further studies and careers in the growing fields of energy-related engineering, science, and technology, and will prepare all students to interpret energy issues and make sound choices as they b...

The water consumption and agrochemical use during biofuel production could adversely impact both availability and quality of a precious resource.

Anaerobic digestion of manure and energy recovery is generally viewed as a positive environmental approach to increase the use of renewable energy. In this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) methods were utilized to investigate the net benefits of these energy recovery systems. Environmental impacts of business-as-usual manure management were compa...

A project-based energy module has been taught for five consecutive years in a high school environmental science class as part of an NSF GK-12 outreach program. The module brings students through an exploration of problems and potential solutions related to automotive transportation, a relevant topic for the average American teenager. Students inves...

Efforts to promote energy literacy - a citizenship understanding of energy that includes attitude and behavioral aspects - will help people make objective energy-related decisions and actions throughout their daily lives. This educational research study intends to improve our understanding of how energy education can improve energy literacy among m...

An energy literacy survey for middle and high school students has been developed according to established psychometric principles and methodologies. The survey measures energy-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors and is correlated to established benchmarks that define energy literacy as determined by a panel of energy- and energy-education sp...

The harvest of corn stover or herbaceous crops as feedstocks for bioenergy purposes has been shown to have significant benefits from energy and climate change perspectives. There is a potential, however, to adversely impact water and soil quality, especially in Midwestern states where the biomass feedstock production would predominantly occur. The...

The composition of chlorinated hydrocarbon DNAPLs (dense non-aqueous phase liquids) from field sites can be substantially different than the material originally purchased for use as a solvent. Waste management practices at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) included co-disposal of a wide range of organic and inorganic w...

We analyzed seven years of pre-program and post-program sur-vey data to evaluate the Clarkson University Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site Program in Environmental Science and Engineering, and evaluated whether our program was successful at meeting the intended outcome of increasing par-ticipants' likelihood of attending graduate sc...

The harvest of corn stover or herbaceous crops as feedstocks for bioenergy purposes has been shown to have significant benefits from energy and climate change perspectives. There is a potential, however, to adversely impact water and soil quality, especially in Midwestern states where the biomass feedstock production would predominantly occur. The...

Clarkson University's outreach efforts were initiated in 2000 primarily with a GK-12 grant from the National Science Foundation, which provided the fundamental basis for almost all of our current outreach activities: a project-based approach that provides both rigor and relevance to enhance teacher and student learning, and retention and interest i...

Firms engaged in industrial ecology hope to reduce environmental impacts and costs, improve resource efficiency, and create symbiotic relationships that reduce transaction costs and enhance information flow. However, current LCA tools do not explain firms' incentives to implement the principles of industrial ecology, or how an individual or firm ca...

Goals, Scope and BackgroundEutrophication and hypoxia, which are already serious environmental issues in the Midwestern region of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico, could worsen with an increase emphasis on the use of corn and soybeans for biofuels. Eutrophication impacts from agriculture are difficult to integrate into an LCA due to annual...

“Traces of MTBE in ground water (>10 ppb) do not necessarily indicate recent gasoline contamination.”

The waste disposal to the M-area basin and A-14 outfall at the Savannah River Department of Energy facility in Aiken SC (USA) included a wide variety of inorganic aqueous flows and organic solvents in the form of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPL). The DNAPL has migrated through the subsurface resulting in widespread groundwater contamination....

Concerns surrounding the continued, un-checked use of petroleum-based fuels in the transportation sector, the search for more sustainable, renewable alternatives, and the constraints of the existing supply infrastructure in the United States have placed a spotlight on biomass-derived fuels. The central question of the ethanol debate has changed fro...

An energy education program that embeds energy topics within a societal context that is meaningful to students may improve energy literacy and effectively prepare students to interpret energy issues and make sound actions and choices as voters, consumers, and professionals. High school environmental science students participate in a project-based e...

Capillary pressure (Pc)–saturation (S)–relative permeability (kr) relationships must be quantified to accurately predict non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) distribution in the subsurface. Several experimental techniques are presented here for two-fluid Pc–S–kr relationships for various saturation paths to better define the effect of fractional wettabi...

The Partners in Engineering (PIE) program brings together 8 th grade girls and female engineering students from Clarkson University to experience mentoring, leadership, and real-life engineering problem solving. The program aims to empower young women to make informed and educated choices for advanced coursework and careers in engineering and techn...

An educational outreach program uses project-based curricula with environmental themes as a means to engage students and increase their interest and competency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Engineering and science students from Clarkson University work in partnership with area teachers to develop and teach modules tha...

Engineering education is reaching beyond the traditional bounds of teaching engineering to engineering students. As engineering pervades everyone's life, it is becoming increasingly important to teach engineering to non-engineers, to bring engineers and non-engineers together in dialogs around technological topics, to integrate teaching and cutting...

Fertilizer use can cause environmental problems, particular eutrophication of water bodies from excess nitrogen or phosphorus. Increased fertilizer runoff is a concern for harvesting corn stover for ethanol production. This modeling study found that eutrophication potential for the base case already exceeds proposed water quality standards, that sw...

Remediation of dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) is affected by the heterogeneous spatial distribution of the DNAPL in the subsurface. This distribution is contingent upon porous media properties such as grain size, mineral composition as well as hydrodynamic and capillary forces on the DNAPL. Processes resulting in reduced interfacial tension...

The development of University-K-12 partnerships to promote increased interest in and knowledge of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines requires well-planned and implemented curricular content. The content must meet several constraints, including interest to the partner-teacher, relevance to the students to help engage them,...

Tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene are the primary constituents in a DNAPL found in the unsaturated zone at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS). Following equilibration of the SRS DNAPL with deionized water, the measured interfacial tension was less than 2 dynes/cm and the pH of the aqueous phase 3.8, thus indicating the presenc...

Faculty and students at Clarkson University have developed a 10-week unit for middle school students to increase their awareness and aptitude for engineering. The unit, entitled "engineering for the environment", challenges students to reduce solid waste from their community by reusing the waste in the form of a valuable material. Science, engineer...

In 1999, approximately 72 m3 of denatured fuel-grade ethanol spilled at a bulk fuel terminal that had existing contamination within the subsurface. An unanticipated increase in the measured depth of the light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) was observed in nearby monitoring wells following the spill. This paper presents results of a laboratory anal...

Interfacial tension, which is a critical variable affecting multiphase flow of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) in the subsurface, varies greatly with the composition of complex NAPLs recovered from field sites. Much of this variability stems from the presence of acid and base molecules in the NAPL mixture. The interfacial tension and acid and base...

This paper reports on the methodology and results of a baseline life-cycle inventory (LCI) performed on toner used in the xerographic process. Toner is the dry ink that creates the image on paper and is used in most copiers and some large printers. The goal is to perform an LCI on a system that encompasses the life-cycle of toner in order to determ...

Mathematical models for soil water retention characteristic [h(θ)] and unsaturated conductivity function [K(θ)] from particle-size distribution (PSD) and bulk density data are indirect and empirical approaches to estimate these hydraulic functions. Often times, mathematical models are fit to sparse PSD data sets to provide the input for h(θ) and K(...

One- and two-dimensional experiments were conducted to examine differences in the behavior of gasoline and gasohol (10% ethanol by volume) as they infiltrate through the unsaturated zone and spread at the capillary fringe. Ethanol in the spilled gasohol quickly partitions into the residual water in the vadose zone and is retained there as the gasol...

One- and two-dimensional experiments were conducted to examine differences in the behavior of gasoline and gasohol (10% ethanol by volume) as they infiltrate through the unsaturated zone and spread at the capillary fringe. Ethanol in the spilled gasohol quickly partitions into the residual water in the vadose zone and is retained there as the gasol...

Estimating unique soil hydraulic parameters is required to provide input for numerical models simulating transient water flow in the vadose zone. In this paper, we analyze the capability of six soil hydraulic functions to provide unique parameter sets for sandy soils from multi-step outflow data. Initial parameter estimates and experimental boundar...

Several models have been developed to estimate the water retention curve (WRC) on the basis of the similarity in shape between the WRC and the particle-size distribution (PSD) of a soil. Shortcomings of these models are (i) their adoption of empirical equations for the PSD and WRC and (ii) use of regression equations for the WRC parameters that do...

The application of existing correlations for nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) dissolution, which were developed in small, one-dimensional columns, to larger-scale, heterogeneous or multidimensional systems has shown the predicted dissolution behavior depends greatly on the correlation used. Variation among existing correlations is due to the system s...

The recovery of coal tar or creosote, which are dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs), from the subsurface has been used as a means of site remediation at several former manufactured-gas plant sites and wood-treating facilities. Surface-active components in these complex DNAPL can have acid/base and surfactant characteristics that can significant...

Direct pumping and enhanced recovery of coal tar and creosote dense, non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) from the subsurface have had mixed results because these DNAPLs are viscous fluids that can potentially alter aquifer wettability. To improve the inefficiencies associated with waterflooding, the research presented here considered the use of a po...

An accurate mathematical representation of particle-size distributions (PSDs) is required to estimate soil hydraulic properties or to compare texture measurements from different classification systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of seven models (i.e., five lognormal models, the Gompertz model, and the Fredlund model) to...

An accurate mathematical representation of particle-size distributions (PSDs) is required to estimate soil hydraulic properties or to compare texture measurements from different classification systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of seven models (i.e., five lognormal models, the Gompertz model, and the Fredlund model) to...

The primary hypothesis of this work is that surface-active chemicals and/or microorganisms present in the unsaturated zone can significantly alter interfacial phenomena governing the migration of DNAPLs, thereby affecting the accessibility of a DNAPL during remediation efforts. The surface-active materials are present in complex NAPL mixtures and a...

The wettability of a subsurface system contaminated by coal tar or creosote is a major determinant of the capillary forces and, hence, the distribution and recoverability of these contaminants. The objective of this paper was to identify mechanisms that control the wetting characteristics of coal tar and creosote in the subsurface. Asphaltenes sepa...