Thomas E. Graedel

About

Thomas E. Graedel is the Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Industrial Ecology and Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at Yale University. His research is centered on developing and enhancing industrial ecology, which is the organizing framework for studying the interactions of modern technological society with the environment. He has made significant contributions to the theory and practice of industrial ecology, which earned him election to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2002. His work involves designing processes and manufacturing products to minimize and optimize environmental interactions, with a focus on flows of materials within the industrial ecosystem and developing analytical tools to assess the environmental characteristics of products, processes, and urban infrastructures. Graedel has co-authored foundational textbooks in the field, including 'Industrial Ecology' and 'Greening the Industrial Facility,' which are used in courses at Yale. His environmental assessment matrix, developed during his work with AT&T, is now a standard tool for streamlined life-cycle assessments. Additionally, his research includes characterizing regional and global material cycles, such as those for copper and zinc, using GIS techniques to display spatially-resolved data, providing a basis for resource sustainability assessments and policy initiatives.

Research topics

• Environmental science
• Chemistry
• Natural resource economics
• Business
• Computer science

Selected publications

• Buildings as a global carbon sink

  Nature Sustainability · 2020-01-27 · 938 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• Prospects of metal recovery from wastewater and brine

  Nature Water · 2023-01-19 · 213 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• United States plastics: Large flows, short lifetimes, and negligible recycling

  Resources Conservation and Recycling · 2021-01-25 · 188 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The role of design in circular economy solutions for critical materials

  One Earth · 2021-03-01 · 134 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring future copper demand, recycling and associated greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-28

  Global Environmental Change · 2020-04-30 · 108 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Recycling Potential, Climate, and Metals of Modern Technology

  NSF · $417k · 2013–2016

• G8 Initiative: Catalysing the growth in metal recovery

  NSF · $254k · 2012–2015

• EAGER: Preparing the Yale Metal Life Cycles Database for Global Distribution

  NSF · $265k · 2016–2018

Frequent coauthors

• Barbara K. Reck

  Yale University

  102 shared

• M. Bertram

  International Aluminium Institute

  64 shared

• Nedal T. Nassar

  48 shared

• E. M. Harper

  Yale University

  45 shared

• Luca Ciacci

  University of Bologna

  42 shared

• Philip Nuss

  German Environment Agency

  41 shared

• Christopher W. N. Anderson

  Massey University

  38 shared

• Sabrina Spatari

  Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

  38 shared

Labs

• Industrial Ecology LabPI

Education

• PhD, Astronomy

  University of Michigan

  1969

• B.S., Chemical Engineering

  Washington State University

  1960

Awards & honors

• Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering for “out…

Similar researchers at Yale University

• Michelle L. Bellh-116
• Janet Currieh-98
• Peter Craneh-85