Research Guides: ENSP 400: Capstone in Environmental Science and Policy: Toward Net Zero

Toward Net Zero

Toward Net Zero: Reducing Prince Georges County Department of Parks and Recreation Division of Maintenance and Development Carbon Emissions Through the Strategic Integration of Electric Equipment into its Landscape Maintenance Operations

To conduct an analysis of the environmental, financial, and practical implications of converting a fossil fuel based small equipment inventory to an all-electric fleet of equipment.
The Division of Maintenance and Development has a strong interest in transitioning their small engine lawn and garden equipment, to an electric fleet of equipment.

Library Research:

What are the environmental benefits and drawbacks that result when converting from gas to electric equipment?

What is the return on investment time for equipment that will potentially be transitioned from gas to electric?

What criteria should be used guide the purchase and use of electrical equipment?

Identify and apply published LCA research to equipment under consideration for the gas to electric transition.

Adopt published LCA’s to park usage rates and compare where feasible the LCA’s of gas and electric alternatives.

Make sure to search the Ebsco databases together to remove duplicates. Get into one database (the Academic Search Ultimate database is linked below) and then click on - Choose Databases - and add the others. Please see the Tab labeled Searching Multiple Databases
Academic Search Ultimate
Business Source Complete
Agricola
Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index
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Web of Science Core Collection database
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Possible search strategies:
"life cycle analysis" or lac
and
lawn or garden
and
equipment or mower*

Academic Search Ultimate
Multi-disciplinary database providing information for nearly every area of academic study. Includes an enormous collection of the most valuable peer-reviewed full text journals, as well as additional journals, magazines, newspapers and books. Multidisciplinary subjects including: social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language & linguistics, arts & literature, medicine, ethnic studies. 1965- present.
Web of Science Core Collection
The Web of Science Core Collection provides comprehensive coverage of the sciences, social sciences, and arts, and humanities across journals, books and conference proceedings. It indexes more than 5,700 major journals across 164 scientific disciplines. The best database for finding what papers have cited other papers. Cited references can be traced forward in time. Web of Science Training Materials available here: http://wokinfo.com/training_support/training/web-of-science

Since there are not that many scholarly articles on the life cycle analysis, several are listed below.

Be sure to look at the references used as well as going to goolge scholar (as a database) to see who has cited the original article.
See the tab labeled Citation Chasing.

Quantification of the environmental and economic benefits of the electrification of lawn mowers on the US residential market
Saidani, Michael, and Harrison Kim. 2021. “Quantification of the Environmental and Economic Benefits of the Electrification of Lawn Mowers on the Us Residential Market.” The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 26 (6): 1267–84
Estimating CO2 balance through the Life Cycle Assessment prism: A case - Study in an urban park
Nicese, F.P, G Colangelo, R Comolli, L Azzini, S Lucchetti, P.A Marziliano, and G Sanesi. 2021. “Estimating Co2 Balance through the Life Cycle Assessment Prism: A Case - Study in an Urban Park.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 57
A Comparative Life Cycle Analysis of Gasoline-, Battery-, and Electricity-Powered Lawn Mowers
Sivaraman, Deepak, and Angela S Lindner. 2004. “A Comparative Life Cycle Analysis of Gasoline-, Battery-, and Electricity-Powered Lawn Mowers.” Environmental Engineering Science 21 (6): 768–85.
Life cycle assessment: Past, present, and future
Guinée, Jeroen B, Reinout Heijungs, Gjalt Huppes, Alessandra Zamagni, Paolo Masoni, Roberto Buonamici, Tomas Ekvall, and Tomas Rydberg. 2011. “Life Cycle Assessment: Past, Present, and Future.” Environmental Science and Technology 45 (1): 90–96

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION. LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-06/060, 2006.
Reducing Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation Emission Footprint through Utilizing Electric Small Equipment
Prepared by: Gerardo Marquez, Greenest City Scholar, 2018
Prepared for: Carla Grimann, Fleet Supervisor, Vancouver Park Board, City of Vancouver, August, 2018

more... less...

This Greenest City Scholars report was prepared to support the City of Vancouver’s goal to become
the Greenest City in the world by 2020. As part of the Greenest City Action Plan (GCAP) goals, the
City is aiming to ‘green’ its operations by reducing GHG emissions from operations by 50% of 2007
levels and eventually eliminating fossil fuel dependency. Assuming this important target, the
Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation (Park Board) is aiming to reduce carbon dependency by
exploring the feasibility of switching from gas-powered to electric equipment.
Life Cycle Assessment applied to the case study of a lawn mower tractor
Bordin, Manuel. Life Cycle Assessment applied to the case study of a lawn mower tractor.
Final Theis, Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
Life Cycle Assessment of Lawnmowers - Two Mowers’ Case Studies
Xing Lan. Life Cycle Assessment of Lawnmowers - Two Mowers’ Case Studies
Master’s Thesis in Environmental Measurements and Assessments. CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Göteborg, Sweden 2010
Life Cycle Costing in Sustainable Public Procurement: A Question of Value
White Paper from Institute for Sustainable Development. 2009
Possibly Useful: Environmental Effects of Battery Electric and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles
CRS Report, June 16, 2020.
"Increased deployment of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and other alternative-fueled vehicles in the United States could have
a variety of effects on energy security, the economy, and the environment. In an effort to address certain environmental concerns, including climate change, some Members of Congress and some stakeholder interest groups have expressed interest in the promotion of these technologies—
specifically BEV technologies. This interest may include an analysis of the environmental effects of BEVs from a systems perspective, commonly referred to as “life cycle assessment” (LCA)

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