About

Justin Johnson is a member of The Alliance for Inclusive Design at NC State University, which focuses on advancing inclusive design through collaborative research and industry practice. The Alliance aims to influence research, industry standards, and practical applications of inclusive design, working with colleagues across NC State University, partner universities, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and professional design firms. While specific details about Justin Johnson's individual research focus, background, or key contributions are not provided in the available page text, his association with the Alliance indicates a commitment to promoting inclusive design practices within the built environment.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Political Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Security
• Natural resource economics
• Environmental science
• Economics
• Reliability engineering
• Waste management
• Ecology
• Systems engineering
• Business

Selected publications

• Power system costs and emissions from data center and cryptocurrency mining expansion in the United States

  Environmental Research Letters · 2026-05-12

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Rapid growth in electricity demand from data centers and cryptocurrency mining could significantly alter the trajectory of the United States' power sector. We use an energy system optimization model to evaluate how projected demand through 2030 may influence electricity generation, power infrastructure investment, emissions, and costs under a range of scenarios. We model power sector capacity expansion and dispatch decisions across 26 interconnected power regions, incorporating policy constraints and spatial variation in renewable resources and transmission infrastructure. We find that data center and cryptocurrency demand could increase 2030 power sector CO2 emissions by up to 28% relative to a future with no data center growth, driven by increased generation from natural gas and coal plants. Regional effects vary substantially: coal-fired generation rebounds to meet demand in Northern Virginia, while Texas accommodates growth primarily through natural gas generation. Electricity costs, as measured by demand-weighted locational marginal prices, rise by up to 57% in some regions, with a national average increase of 6% to 29% across the modeled scenarios. Outcomes are highly sensitive to natural gas prices. Lower natural gas prices are associated with lower emissions before considering data center demand (with natural gas displacing coal), but result in large incremental emissions attributed to data centers as coal power utilization increases to meet the increased load. In contrast, higher natural gas prices shift a greater share of new demand toward cost-competitive renewable resources, thereby moderating emissions impacts. Reinstating federal incentives for renewable electricity would dampen both the cost and emissions attributable to data center demand. Distributing new data center and cryptocurrency demand more broadly across the grid reduces regional price spikes, but has little effect on national average electricity costs. Overall, these findings highlight the need for proactive planning and targeted policy to ensure that growing data center electricity demand does not strain efforts to achieve near-term climate and affordability goals.

  PublisherDOI

• Policy implications of net-zero emissions: A multi-model analysis of United States emissions and energy system impacts

  Energy and Climate Change · 2025-04-22 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  emissions relative to a reference scenario with current policies. Spending on energy across the economy decreases relative to today for many models under reference and net-zero policies, especially as a share of GDP, due primarily to end-use electrification and energy efficiency.

  PublisherDOI

• Marginal abatement costs for greenhouse gas emissions in the United States using an energy systems approach

  Environmental Research Energy · 2025-02-13 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Deep decarbonization requires fundamental changes in meeting energy service demands, with some efforts increasing overall costs. Examining abatement measures in isolation, however, fails to capture their interactive effects within the energy system. Here we show the abatement costs of decarbonization in the United States using an energy system optimization model to capture technological interactions, multi-decadal path dependence, and endogenous end-use technology selection. Energy-system-wide net-zero CO 2 -eq emissions are achieved in 2050 at a cost under $400 per tonne CO 2 -eq, led by emissions reductions in power generation, end-use electrification of ground transportation, space heating, and some industrial applications. Differences in mitigation costs and CO 2 geological storage potential lead to regional heterogeneities in mitigation rates and residual emissions. The marginal abatement cost curves show that additional decarbonization comes at higher incremental costs, this cost penalty decreases over time, and substantially greater abatement occurs in future time periods at the same abatement cost.

  PublisherDOI

• Accounting for Police Whistleblowing

  Crime & Delinquency · 2025-11-17

  articleSenior author

  We examine how police whistleblowers make sense of their decisions to speak about or report misconduct in the context of the police code of silence. Specifically, we use the sociology of accounts as a theoretical framework and interviews with 24 former and current officers who self-identified as police whistleblowers to understand how they accounted for their decisions to report. Participants either initially rejected the whistleblower label, emphasizing a lack of intent, or accepted the label, describing themselves as good officers who value the ideals of policing. Findings have implications for understanding how organizational culture can facilitate or constrain internal reporting of misconduct.

  PublisherDOI

• State-led climate action can cut emissions at near-federal costs but favors different technologies

  Nature Communications · 2025-05-19 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In the absence of comprehensive federal greenhouse gas mitigation policy, state-led strategies may play a pivotal role, particularly following the 2024 United States presidential election. Using a detailed energy system optimization model, we examine the outcomes of 23 climate-minded states pursuing net-zero emissions targets compared to a federal carbon cap achieving equivalent CO2-eq reductions. Here we show that state-led decarbonization results in distinct technology choices, a 0.7% increase in system costs, and nationwide emissions reduction of 46% — substantial, but insufficient for ambitious climate goals. This pathway relies more on electrification, with 952 terawatt-hours more generation in 2050, reallocating 17.2% of emissions to the power sector. Some regions favor solar, wind, and storage, while direct air capture emerges as critical, particularly in California and the Northeast. Inter-regional trading supports and complicates mitigation efforts, underscoring the need for careful policy design. Overall, our findings highlight how state-led and federal decarbonization approaches can yield differing energy portfolios to achieve similar emissions reductions. In the absence of federal decarbonization, states can drive significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions at comparable costs to federal action, with particular reliance on electrification of end uses and a decarbonized power grid.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The impacts of residential space heating electrification and climate change on variable renewable energy capacity credits in Texas

  Environmental Research Energy · 2025-11-24

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract The capacity credit of a variable renewable energy (VRE) resource reflects its ability to contribute to meeting peak demand or provide generation during critical peak demand periods. Accurate estimation of these capacity credits can help inform system planners about how much dispatchable capacity can be retired without a reduction in reliability. Previous research has explored marginal changes in the capacity credit of wind and solar as a function of new capacity added to the system (i.e. renewable energy ‘eats it own lunch’), but the impacts of potential future changes in load profiles-driven by technology adoption and/or climate change has not been thoroughly explored. This study investigates how the capacity credit of VRE resources could be affected by space heating electrification (widespread adoption of heat pumps (HPs)) and climate change (increasing summer temperatures), focusing on the electric reliability corporation of Texas (ERCOT) as a case study. As a proxy for capacity credit, we measure the average capacity factor during peak and near-peak load hours. We explore multiple HP adoption scenarios and climate change scenarios over an 80 year span (2020–2099). One of our findings is that cooler climate scenarios, combined with the adoption of standard-efficiency HPs, leads to an increased frequency of peak load hours occurring during winter nights, during which solar resources have nearly zero capacity factors. This raises questions about how parallel decarbonization efforts (e.g. electrification) could influence the capacity value of VRE resources and, consequently, the reliability of different decarbonization pathways.

  PublisherDOI

• Technical and environmental feasibility of renewable metal hydride-based off-grid energy systems

  International Journal of Hydrogen Energy · 2025-04-29 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Economic and environmental comparison of emerging plastic waste management technologies

  Resources Conservation and Recycling · 2024-03-14 · 15 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Framing Climate Change Communication to Align with Cultural Cognition and Political Ideology

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of CO₂-Enabled Sedimentary Basin Geothermal

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2024-01-12 · 15 citations

  articleSenior author

  The expansion of renewable energy and the large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) can decarbonize the power sector. The use of CO2 to extract geothermal heat from naturally porous and permeable sedimentary basins to generate electricity (CO2-plume geothermal (CPG) system) presents an opportunity to simultaneously generate renewable energy and geologically store CO2. In this study, we estimate the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts of CPG systems through 12 scenarios in which CPG systems are combined with one of six CO2 sources (e.g., bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and iron and steel facilities) and operate in two geological settings. We find the life cycle GHG emissions of CPG systems ranging from −0.25 to −6.18 kg CO2eq/kWh. CPG systems can achieve the highest emissions reductions when utilizing the CO2 captured from BECCS. We evaluate uncertainty through a Monte Carlo simulation, demonstrating consistent net reductions in life cycle emissions and a local, one-parameter-at-a-time sensitivity analysis that identifies the CO2 capture capacity as the high-impact parameter of the results. Through the production of electricity, CPG systems can provide additional environmental benefits to the deployment of large-scale CCS.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• UNS: Environmental Impacts of Using Distributed Energy Storage for Power System Reserves

  NSF · $167k · 2017–2019

• Optimal Use of Grid-Connected Energy Storage to Reduce Human Health Impacts

  NSF · $335k · 2019–2024

• UNS: Environmental Impacts of Using Distributed Energy Storage for Power System Reserves

  NSF · $310k · 2015–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Joseph F. DeCarolis

  North Central State College

  18 shared

• Anderson Rodrigo de Queiroz

  16 shared

• Aditya Keskar

  North Carolina State University

  14 shared

• Johanna L. Mathieu

  12 shared

• Gregory A. Keoleian

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  11 shared

• Aranya Venkatesh

  Carnegie Mellon University

  10 shared

• Hadi Eshraghi

  North Carolina State University

  10 shared

• Daniel Sodano

  North Carolina State University

  10 shared

Labs

• The Alliance for Inclusive Design Practice and ResearchPI