Daniel Posen

Assistant Professor

Canada Research Chair in System-Scale Environmental Impacts of Energy and Transport Technologies

Background

My research focuses on system-scale environmental sustainability analysis. This work draws on a range of tools from Engineering, Science, Economics, and Public Policy to provide quantitative analysis to guide environmental policy and decision making. My work is grounded in the tools of life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle thinking, with application to a wide range of systems including fuel and chemical production, biobased products, electric vehicles and vehicle fleets, electricity generation, and infrastructure systems.

Education and Designations

PhD Engineering & Public Policy, and Civil & Environmental Engineering (2016)
Carnegie Mellon University
MSc Economics (2012)
London School of Economics
MRes Green Chemistry: Energy and the Environment (2010)
Imperial College London
BA Chemistry with Certificate in Applied Mathematics (2009)
Princeton University

Please note that this page is not updated frequently.

For more recent information, please consult my profile on the
Sustainable Systems research group page.

Research Interests

Life cycle assessment and life cycle thinking

Greenhouse gas mitigation strategies

Alternative fuels and chemicals, including carbon capture & utilization, biofuels, bio-based products, and electrification

Sustainability consequences of technology deployment at scale

Interactions between climate science and greenhouse gas mitigation

Economic modeling of fossil fuel and energy markets

Public policy, decision support models, and uncertainty in environmental decision making

Publications

Selected Publications

Note: Please see updated information on the Sustainable Systems Research Group website.

Posen, I. D.; Griffin, W. M.; Matthews, H. S.; Azevedo, I. L., Changing the Renewable Fuel Standard to a Renewable Material Standard: Bioethylene Case Study. Environ Sci Technol 2015, 49, (1), 93-102. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es503521r

Posen, I. D., Jaramillo, P., & Griffin, W. M. (2016). Uncertainty in the Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Production of Three Bio-based Polymer Families. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(6), 2846-2858. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05589

Faria, F., Klima, K., Posen, I. D., & Azevedo, I. M. L. (2015). A New Approach of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Outreach in Climate Change, Energy, and Environmental Decision Making. Sustainability: The Journal of Record, 8(5), 261-271. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/SUS.2015.29023

Selected Media

"We Need More Than Just Electric Vehicles”, IEEE Spectrum Magazine, August 20, 2022. https://spectrum.ieee.org/electric-cars-2657880896
“Our Annual Holiday Listener Question Show – Is Scrapping an old gasoline-powered car and replacing it with a new electric one always better for the environment?”, CBC Radio, Quirks & Quarks, January 1, 2022.
“Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Environment?”, Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2021. https://www.wsj.com/graphics/are-electric-cars-really-better-for-the-environment/
“Core Concept: Bioplastics offer carbon-cutting advantages but are no panacea”, PNAS, March 23, 2021.
“Ninety Percent of U.S. Cars Must Be Electric by 2050 to Meet Climate Goals”, Scientific American E&E News, September 29, 2020. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ninety-percent-of-u-s-cars-must-be-electric-by-2050-to-meet-climate-goals/
“Researchers Analyze Greenhouse Gas Emissions Through the Life Cycle of Plant-Based Plastics.” Carnegie Mellon University News, June 23, 2016. http://engineering.cmu.edu/media/feature/2016/06_23_plant_based_plastics.html
“A life-cycle look at plant-based plastics.” Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), March 18, 2016. http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/web/2016/03/life-cycle-look-plant-based.html
“Carnegie Mellon Researchers Call for Broader U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard.” Carnegie Mellon University News, April 7, 2015. http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/april/renewable-fuel-standard.html
“Is it Time to Broaden the Scope of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard?” Blog post in The Energy Collective, March 23, 2015. http://theenergycollective.com/daniel-posen/2208606/it-time-broaden-scope-us-renewable-fuel-standard

Teaching

Course Code	Title & Description	Session	Day(s)	Start Time	End	Section
CIV580H	Engineering and Management of Large Projects	Winter 2023	Scheduled by the Office of the Faculty Registrar.
CIV1322H	Quantitative Methods for Decision-Making	Winter 2023	Tuesday Thursday	10:00 12:00	12:00 14:00	LEC0101 LEC0101
CME368H	Engineering Economics and Decision Making Engineering Economics and Decision Making The incorporation of economic and non-monetary considerations for making decision about public and private sector engineering systems in urban and other contexts. Topics include rational decision making; cost concepts; time value of money and engineering economics; microeconomic concepts; treatment of risk and uncertainty; and public project evaluation techniques incorporating social and environmental impacts including benefit cost analysis and multi-objective analysis. Exclusion: CIV368H1. View full course description in the Engineering Undergrad Academic Calendar.	Fall 2020	Scheduled by the Office of the Faculty Registrar.

News Mentions

Grad student profile: Mengqing Kan, PhD candidate

In advance of the coming Graduate Research Days, February 24 & 25, CivMin contacted previous participants to get their point of view on the event and their research goals at U of T. Our Q&A is with PhD candidate Mengqing Kan. Can you please tell us a little about yourself?My name is Mengqing Kan. […]

CivMin has two of seven U of T Engineering researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs

Two Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering (CivMin) professors are among seven University of Toronto Engineering researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs (CRC). The announcement from the Government of Canada was made Wednesday, Jan. 12. Prof. Heather MacLean and Prof. Daniel Posen are the Department’s newest recipients of a CRC. MacLean receives a CRC in […]

CivMin profs win Skule™ Student Choice Awards

Created by the University of Toronto’s Engineering Society, in order to recognize instructors who went above and beyond during this global health crisis, the Student Choice Awards are the first to be fully curated and operated by students. CivMin was recognized with eight of 29 total mentions of recognition, and two of the […]

Contact

Daniel Posen
Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering
University of Toronto
35 St. George St.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M5S 1A4

Guidance for how best to reach me:

For prospective students and postdocs, please review information here.
For students in my class, please use course discussion board or Quercus inbox.
For others at U of T, please use Microsoft Teams
For all others, email is fine, but please note that you may need to send your message multiple times

Office: GB334

Tel: 416-978-4571
Fax: 416-978-6813

daniel.posen@utoronto.ca