Past Research Projects:

Research on net energy contributions of alternative energy sources. The research resulted in a bill introduced in the US Senate to include net energy calculations in all new energy proposals
 
Research evaluating Florida energy policies including net emergy evaluations of alternative energy sources and recommendations for sustainable energy systems in the future.
 
Evaluation of the sustainability of shrimp mariculture in Ecuador
 
Evaluation of sustainable development and public policy options for Papua New Guinea
 
Evaluation of hydroelectric dam proposals on the Mekong River
 
Evaluation of the environmental impacts and costs and benefits of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska
 
Evaluation of development patterns and public policy options leading to guidelines for sustainable development of the coastal zone of Nayarit, Mexico.
 
Evaluation of issues related to international trade and resource utilization in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez
 
Evaluation and development of indices of sustainable development in the Amazon Basin

Current Research Projects:

Environmental Accounting and Systems Synthesis of Land Management Interventions at Multiple Scales in the Sahel Region of West Africa. Part of a UNEP project titled An Ecosystem Approach to Restoring West African Drylands and Improving Rural Livelihoods through Agroforestry-based Land Management Interventions. M.T. Brown and M. Cohen Principle Investigators

Development of Landscape Development Intensity (LDI) Coefficients for Wetlands in Little Bayou Meto Watershed in Lower Arkansas. Project funded by Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission. The objective of the project is to develop an appropriate land use classification scheme from existing Land use/land cover, collect energy and material flow data and calculate empower densities for land use classes, and develop LDI coefficients for land use classes from empower densities.

Evaluation of Natural Capital and Environmental Services of U.S. National Forests Using Emergy Synthesis. Funded by the USDA Forest Service.. The project objective is to evaluate natural capital and environmental services of the 191 million acres of the National Forest System of the U.S.A. using the concepts and methods of systems ecology and EMERGY (spelled with an "m") synthesis. The main storages (timber, other biomass, soils, wildlife, and economic assets) and the main ecological processes (gross primary production, nutrient cycling and capture, water and air quality regulation) will be evaluated using an eco-region approach.

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