Dr. Sarah Jordaan's research is aimed at uncovering the environmental and economic trade-offs related to energy decisions, particularly those trade-offs related to the life cycle of energy technologies. Her expertise covers the intersection of science, technology, and policy, resulting in publications that focus on not only life cycle assessment but also more broadly on technology assessment, energy policy, and innovation.
Her former students, research associates, and postdoctoral fellows come from a broad spectrum of academic disciplines ranging from engineering to business, economics, and political science. Her courses are aimed towards educating students from all of these disciplines and enabling them to tackle the toughest problems in energy and environment using defensible approaches. Her students and scholars have carried on to advanced academic education, government, and industry.
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins SAIS, Dr. Jordaan was an Assistant Professor of Energy Policy and Politics at the University of Calgary. There, she supervised graduate students in completing their degrees in either political science or sustainable energy. She taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in political science and engineering. She has also supervised graduate students from Lehigh's Energy Systems Engineering program. She seeks to bridge disciplinary knowledge for students and prepare them to take on challenges in decision-making regardless of whether they want a career in academia, industry, the public sector, or working for a non-profit.
Professor Jordaan has over a decade of experience researching energy and the environment with award winning publications on climate policy and the water implications of energy technologies. Her foundations in government and public policy were strengthened at Harvard University with the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at the Kennedy School of Government and she gained greater insight into climate science at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. She has held positions with the Electric Power Research Institute, Shell Canada, the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at the University of California, San Diego, and the Ocean Sciences Center at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. She earned her PhD in 2010 at the University of Calgary in Environmental Design at the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Economy, and Environment. Her Bachelor's degree is in Physics with a minor in Computer Science from Memorial University.
Selected Publications
Surana, K. and S. M. Jordaan. (2019) The climate mitigation opportunity behind global power transmission and distribution. Nature Climate Change, 9: 660–665.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0544-3. denotes equal contribution.
Jordaan, S. M., G. A. Heath, J. Macknick, E. Mohammadi, D. Ben-Horin, V. Urrea and D. Marceau. (2017).
Understanding the life cycle surface land requirements of natural gas-fired electricity. Nature Energy, 2: 804–812.
Boersma, T. and S. M. Jordaan. (2017).
Whatever happened to the golden age of natural gas? Energy Transitions, 1:5.
Jordaan, S. M., E. Romo-Rabago, R. McLeary, L. Reidy, J. Nazari, I. M. Herremans. (2017).
The role of energy technology innovation in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 78: 1397–1409.
Kasumu, A., V. Li, J. W. Coleman, J. Liendo, S. M. Jordaan. (2018).
Country-level life Cycle assessment of liquefied natural gas trade for electricity generation. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(4): 1735–1746.
Jordaan, S. M., L. A. Patterson, and L. Diaz Anadon. (2018).
A spatially-resolved inventory analysis of the water consumed by the coal-to-gas transition of Pennsylvania. Journal of Cleaner Production, 184: 366–374.
*Please download the CV for a complete list of publications*
Climate change is anticipated to have catastrophic impacts on the planet and on human civilization over the coming century and beyond. Sea-level rise is expected to have severe consequences on coastal communities; weather extremes such as droughts, heat waves, and hurricanes are expected to intensify; and the combination of these impacts with warming temperatures is expected to influence human activities from agricultural production to the development and maintenance of energy systems. Globally, scientists have come to a consensus that greenhouse gas emissions contribute to present trends in climate.
Climate policies span a large spectrum of measures that include reducing emissions, adaptation to new climates, and geoengineering the planet’s climate trajectory. This course is global in nature and will focus specifically on the interactions between climate science, economics, and politics. The driving forces and political palatability of decision-making related to climate will be discussed as well as the subsequent policies that can be applied.
Classroom sessions will combine traditional lectures and seminars with active learning through classroom exercises and engaging discussion on course materials. Guest lectures may be confirmed for the latter half of the semester.
Students will learn to undertake research and participate in policy dialogue that critically evaluates the dynamics between climate science, economics, and politics across the world.
The nexus of scientific and technological innovation and public policy impacts virtually every issue on the agenda of national and international governments: the economy, public health, education, energy, environment, defense, diplomacy, and more. This course will introduce the complex relationships between science, technology, and public policy in the international sphere. The tools and methods policy analysts and science advisors use to assess issues critical to science, technology, and international affairs will be discussed. Students will learn practical knowledge that they can implement; for example, how governments solicit expertise, determine funding, and regulate science research and technological industries. The classroom sessions will include case studies, role-playing, structured debates, and exercises.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is technique that is widely used by businesses, government, and civil society to quantify environmental impacts of products and processes from cradle-to-grave (or even cradle-to-cradle). Studies employing this technique have uncovered surprising environmental findings, including the trade-offs between plastic and glass bottles, the upstream impacts of gasoline produced from the Canadian Oil Sands, and the hidden impacts of zero emissions vehicles. Results from this assessment tool can change decisions about products and processes due to hidden environmental impacts and benefits across the life cycle, but defensible methods must be employed. This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to LCA, an internationally recognized tool that is promoted by organizations such as the United Nations Environmental Program (through the Life Cycle Initiative). LCA methodology will be introduced, including goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation. Software employed in LCA will be introduced. While LCAs of different products will be examined, an emphasis will be placed on energy technologies. The classroom sessions will include in-depth discussions, exercises with and without software, and guest lectures to engage students with real-world LCA practice. The course has been restructured for students to iteratively develop their own real-world LCA on a product of their choice throughout the semester. While other products will be discussed, there will be an emphasis on energy technologies. Classroom sessions will combine traditional lectures and seminars with active learning through classroom exercises and engaging discussion on course materials. Guest lectures will be confirmed for the latter half of the semester.