Dr. Ruirui Zhang, a professor at Framingham State University with a PhD in sustainable production and consumption, co-developed a powerful new software tool that quantifies the carbon footprint of clothing throughout its life cycle. 

This project was initiated as faculty practice project created in collaboration with Dr. Hao Zhang from James Madison University’s College of Integrated Science and Engineering in 2023.

"These are straightforward tools designed to help students understand how carbon emissions, and both individual and enterprise behaviors, are connected to sustainability and climate issues,” says Dr. Zhang. “The calculator traces emissions from cradle to cradle, making complex concepts like carbon neutrality tangible and relevant to everyday life.”

As the tool evolved, its potential to help institutions and companies track emissions and write sustainability reports became clear. This led to the founding of Dynimos, now available at dynimos.com.

Dynimos’ clothing life-cycle carbon calculator allows users to enter basic product information (e.g., material, weight, manufacturing methods: knitting or weaving, sourcing locations, disposal methods, etc) to generate a detailed breakdown of the item’s total life-cycle carbon footprint.

The carbon calculator “offers a quick and accessible tool for users to estimate carbon emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3,” says Zhang. “It’s a digital calculator, just like the one you’d bring to a statistics exam. It’s very simple to use, yet powerful in helping users predict and validate the carbon emissions generated from their energy use.” 

To learn more, you can watch this demos:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XlMZaPTik4.

Dynimos also offers an ESG reporting tool that guides users in disclosing environmental, social, and governance data to stakeholders.  

In addition to being used at Framingham State University, Dynimos tools are now integrated into courses at Louisiana State University, James Madison University, Thomas Jefferson University, institutions in the Cal State System, and even elementary schools. For example, at LSU, the tool supports an advanced global sourcing course by helping students evaluate the emissions of various sourcing options.

To sustain and expand the project, Zhang is seeking funding. 

“I’d love to share these tools further within the FSU community and beyond,” she says, “but we need support to cover data storage and operating costs.”

The name Dynimos reflects Zhang’s personal values and inspirations. “It’s a tribute to composer Ennio Morricone’s concept of Dynamic Immobility,” she explains. “Morricone used the term to describe a creative tension between theory and spontaneity.” 

Morricone argues that music can only become a true energetic potential when it incorporates freedom, chaos, and improvisation, something unpredictable. According to Morricone, Dynamic Immobility (this becoming) is the interplay of immobility and organized improvisation, where law and order interact with chaos and chance.

“Sustainability is inherently paradoxical,” Zhang continues. “It’s about navigating conflicting demands (i.e., social, environmental, economic) across borders and systems. Like Morricone’s idea, sustainability requires both structure and innovation. There is no final answer, but rather a constant process of becoming. That’s the spirit of Dynimos—balancing boundaries with creativity to achieve meaningful sustainability.”

Please contact Dr. Ruirui Zhang if you are interested in learning more about using these tools rzhang [at] framignham.edu (rzhang[at]framignham[dot]edu)