Matthew Eckelman

Climate change is straining America’s health care system: Study

“It’s a mix for every state. There’s no state that’s at the top, “Matthew Eckelman, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University and report co-author, told ABC News. “What it tells us is that each state has some work to do.”

We built a fake metropolis to show how extreme cold could wreck cities

Power plants aren’t built for extremes, said Matt Eckelman, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University. They operate best in the middle of the temperature range for which they were designed.

How bad are incandescent light bulbs for the environment?

Only two to three percent of the electricity powering the bulb actually is converted to visible light, says Matthew J. Eckelman, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University.

Hidden harm: US healthcare emits more greenhouse gas than entire UK

Their new study, published in PLoS ONE, estimates that damage from pollutants connected to healthcare leads to an annual loss of 405,000 to 470,000 years of healthy life, or so-called disability-adjusted life years. The loss equates to roughly the same number of Americans as die every year from preventable medical errors: 44,000 to 98,000, the […]

Concrete is not as strong of a building material as we thought

Some of our favorite building materials are also the most vulnerable. Think of glass–floor-to-ceiling windows are awesome, until they fall 18 stories onto the street. But we typically think of concrete as solid. Concrete structures from ancient Rome, like the Pantheon and the Colosseum, are still standing almost 2,000 years later. However, a new study […]

For concrete, climate change may mean a shorter lifespan

When climate change comes for Boston, many expect it to come by sea, in the form of rising tides and massive storm surges that will sweep Logan Airport into the Atlantic. The city is already beginning to plan its defense, with proposals for “amphibious architecture,” levees, storm baffles, and pumping stations. But a new study […]