Goretty Dias

Associate Professor, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development

Research interests: sustainability assessment of product systems, particularly emerging technologies, and biobased systems

Biography

Professor Goretty Dias is part of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development within the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She holds a PhD in Atmospheric Science from the University of Guelph, and has 30 years of experience in greenhouse gas measurement and analysis, environmental modeling, and product life cycle modeling.

Goretty’s research bridges the natural and social sciences in order to provide holistic evidence-based solutions for sustainability issues occurring throughout the supply chain for various products and services. Using an interdisciplinary lens, she combines environmental sciences, industrial ecology, and sustainability science, to study food and agricultural systems and emerging technologies. Her current research includes sustainability assessment of emerging technologies, including: Controlled Environment Agriculture Technologies (e.g. aquaponics, hydroponics, vertical farms, etc.); bioproducts; and alternative sources of protein. She also does extensive research in understanding the environmental impacts of food systems and dietary patterns.

Education

PhD, Atmospheric Science, University of Guelph
BSc, Physical Geography, University of Guelph

Research

Professor Dias' main research interests are in sustainability assessment of product systems, particularly emerging technologies, and biobased systems, whether they be food or bioproducts. Her focus is on developing and applying tools that support life cycle sustainability analysis, an approach that includes more traditional environmental life cycle assessment and life cycle costing, but uses other tools and methods that provide a more holistic assessment of sustainability of products.

Goretty usually collaborates on inter- and transdisciplinary teams to deal with complex problems in sustainability. She combines knowledge and experience in natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences to understand biomass-based systems, and applies theories and tools from the field of industrial ecology to quantify resource use and environmental and social impacts arising from economic activities.

Publications

Obnamia JA, Dias GM, MacLean HL, Saville BA. Comparison of U.S. Midwest corn stover ethanol greenhouse gas emissions from GREET and GHGenius. 2019. Applied Energy. 235: 591-601.
Krishna B. KC, Dias GM, Weersink A, Veeramani A, Swanton CJ, Fraser D, Steinke D, Lee E, Sargeant J, Farber J, Dunfield K, McCann K, Madhur A, Campbell M, Rooney N, Raine NE, Van Acker R, Hanner R, Pascoal S, Sharif S, Benton T, Wittman H, Fraser EDG. 2018. When too much isn’t enough: Does current food production meet global nutritional needs? PLOS ONE, October 23, 2018,
Ayer NW, Dias G. Supplying renewable energy for Canadian cement production: Life cycle assessment of bioenergy from forest harvest residues using mobile fast pyrolysis units (2018) Journal of Cleaner Production, 175, pp. 237-250.
Dias GM, Ayer N, Kariyapperuma K, Thevathasan N, Gordon A, Sidders D, Johannesson G. 2017. Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal Energy Production from Short-Rotation Willow Biomass in Southern Ontario, Canada. Applied Energy. 24, 15 October 2017, 343-352
Veeramani A, Dias GM, Kirkpatrick S. Carbon footprint of dietary patterns in Ontario, Canada: A case study based on actual food consumption. Journal of Cleaner Production · June 2017.
Urrutia-Schroeder I, Dias GM, Clapp J. 2019. Material and visceral engagements with Household Food Waste: Towards Opportunities for Policy Interventions. Under review in Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, 150: 104435 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344919303301
Kirkpatrick SI, Vanderlee L, Dias GM, Hanning RM. 2019. Can dietary guidelines support the transformation of food systems to foster human and planetary health? UNSCN Nutrition issue “Food environments: Where people meet the food system.” 44:122-128.