Energy Technology and Policy Assessment (ETAPA)

Dr. Sarah Marie Jordaan

Associate Professor, Life Cycle Assessment / Industrial Ecology

The Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design (TISED)

Department of Civil Engineering

McGill University

What we do

Decisions about energy technology and the advancement of innovation can either adversely or positively impact our economy and the environment. Both life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) are pillars to the quantitative sustainability research we undertake. We develop novel LCA methods to understand the changing regional and temporal patterns of energy infrastructure and the subsequent environmental outcomes. Our analyses examine project-level economics of both new innovations but also existing technology alternatives that can mitigate impacts. Technology innovation plays a pivotal role in our policy research. We investigate the policies that encourage the development and deployment of more sustainable energy technology innovations.

Wind turbines

Solar panels

Coal-fired power plant

Natural gas-fired power plant

Life cycle assessment (LCA) of electricity generation technologies

LCA quantifies environmental burdens of products and processes from materials extraction through waste disposal (cradle-to-grave or even cradle-to-cradle). Data gaps and uncertainties remain in our understanding of the life cycle of electricity generation, from individual technologies to the scale of grids. We focus on improving LCA models in light of these factors.

Spatiotemporal energy systems data for the United States: land use of energy transitions

Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, we are developing a cross-functional, integrated energy systems data set that will be leveraged to better understand the land use of energy systems and their transitions. This research builds upon our seed funded project, This project falls under the LCA component of ETAPA's research, contributing to inventory analyses and existing methods.

Techno-economic analysis (TEA) of carbon capture and conversion to value-added products

As technologies advance, TEA informs decision-makers about the benchmarks to be reached for economic viability. We conduct TEA of novel technologies being developed at Johns Hopkins University with our collaborators that capture carbon dioxide and transform it into valuable products.

Energy technology innovation and policy

Both public and private sectors play a role in technological advancements, from invention to diffusion throughout the economy. We examine the role of policies and investments in technology innovation, with comprehensive reviews and analyses.

Figure attributions

Infrastructure images obtained using EIA shapefiles of power plants and Worldview Imagery.
LCA process diagram from Surana and Jordaan (2019), see publication list for full details.
Energy innovation diagram from Jordaan et al. (2017), see publication list for full details.
Images of coal plant and transmission lines sourced from Pixabay.