TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy
This center will build on a talented young faculty group working on advanced photovoltaics by adding depth to that effort and by focusing on the many research opportunities at the intersections of nanostructured materials, energy conversion devices, and energy storage. This new center will also allow us to work on societal, economic, and policy questions that are also critically important. While we need technology breakthroughs, we also need to foster sustainable energy use through markets and the regulatory environments in which they work. An essential early step is putting a price on carbon emissions, through a carbon tax or a cap and trade system, for example. But after that we need to have markets that price energy in a way that reflects its impacts and better ways to help people understand how their own choices in energy use can contribute to a sustainable energy future.
