Precourt Institute for Energy Affiliates

Impacts on local ecology of biofuel expansion. Impacts on climate of using more land for biomass energy. Regional impacts of climate change and energy policy in the Western Hemisphere.

How China and the U.S. could deploy solar energy more efficiently if each one played to its economic strengths. Making wind and solar power affordable. 

Synthesis of functional organic and polymer materials for numerous energy applications, such as nanostructured polymers for low-cost, stretchable batteries and PV cells, and thin-film organic PV cells. Printable, electrically conductive gel for potential use in energy storage and biofuel cells. Nitrogen-doped porous carbon for CO₂ capture.
 

Sequestering CO₂ in deep underground formations. Permeability of CO2 and brine, especially sensitivity to injection flow-rate and various fluid properties. Net energy analysis of emerging technologies, such as PV and energy storage. Energy systems analysis to guide decisions about providing energy while reducing GHG emissions.

Reducing the environmental impacts of energy systems. Methane leaks from US natural gas system. Analysis of CO2 capture technologies. Life-cycle analysis of transportation fuels. Modeling global oil depletion, or "peak oil," and transitions to oil substitutes.

Fundamental and applied electrochemistry: solar fuels, fuel cells, and batteries.

Fabrication of nanoscale materials, and study of their electronic, photonic, electrochemical and catalytic properties. Applications include lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors, CIGS solar cells, transparent electrodes and using carbon nanotubes in microbial fuel cell electrodes.

Efficient, low-polluting transportation engines (piston and turbine) by taking reactants to extreme states of energy density, and advanced electric generation. Sootless diesel engine. Coal-fired power with CO2 capture via combustion in supercritical saline aquifer water.

The population-resource-environment crisis, including a revision of humanity's energy systems, energy's effect on biodiversity, and the potential for reduction in energy consumption.

How different scenarios of expanded biofuels production in rich and poor countries will affect global and regional food prices, farmer incomes, food consumption by the poor, and climate.

Integrating large-scale solar projects with biofuel production in deserts. Impacts on climate of converting land use from food to biofuel crops. Climate benefits of converting biofuel crops from annual plants to perennials. Global potential of bioenergy.

Trip estimation techniques to better manage hybrid vehicle batteries. Energy interests in transportation systems, energy efficiency and education of scientists and non-scientists in energy policy and technology.

Using control systems to reduce the environmental impact of automobiles. Unmanned electric vehicles. Homogeneous charge compression ignition engines.

Chemical kinetics, such as determination of bond dissociation energies. Rate constants for reactions of OH with fuels. Optimization of synthetic oxygenated fuels. Hydrogen effects on climate, stratospheric ozone and air pollution.

The next generation of of policies, programs and technologies to conserve electricity in buildings. Use of deep data to deliver energy efficiency. New business models for U.S. electric utilities in an environment of no growth for electricity consumption. Integrating clean energy goals with water, air quality and transportation goals. Implementation of the Obama administration's proposed rules to reduce CO₂ emissions from coal-fired power plants. Modernizing California's electric grid. Streamlining California's sustainable energy bureaucracy. 

Innovation, energy and resource economics. Designs for new investment vehicles and modification of existing ones.

 

Developing new computational methods to design and analyze renewable energy, including solar thermal devices. Using current supercomputers and next-generation high performance systems for multidisciplinary optimization to increase wind turbine power output and reduce noise. Modeling natural ventilation in energy efficient buildings using high-fidelity simulations.

Genetically engineering E. coli bacteria to increase production of fatty acids, or biodiesel, from a biological matter feedstock for use as a transportation fuel.

Surveys documenting public beliefs about global warming and preferences for energy policy for more than 15 years. Monitoring and interpreting processes of opinion formation and change.

Increasing output and reducing costs at large wind farms by positioning smaller, mixing turbines among the primary turbines in conjunction with other new management approaches. The effects of aircraft on climate and pollution. Combined cooling, heating and power system for the home with thermoacoustic Stirling engine.

Nanoscale materials and devices for energy conversion, transport and storage, especially thermoelectric devices and recovery of waste heat. The future of stationary power: electricity grid and natural gas infrastructure, system integration and innovative technologies, finance, policy and business models. Energy's impacts on climate change.

Atomic and molecular manipulation for energy-efficient nanotechnology. Designer materials and nanoelectronics. Local response of novel superconductors. Carbon-based devices.

Energy in the context of sustainability. Balancing water and energy demands.

Environmental rhetoric and environmental ethics, with a particular focus on sustainable energy.

Energy disaggregation software, which separates a whole-home meter signal into appliance-level data, to help residents reduce energy use through finer understanding of their consumption.

Understanding interface phenomena, including adsorption, surface chemical reactions, heterogeneous catalysis, and photo- and electro-catalysis. Applications include solar fuel production, syngas reactions, biomass conversion, fuel cells, and battery processes.

Quantum confined solar cells, including quantum dots, thin barrier layers and transparent electrodes. Solid oxide fuel cells. Photosynthetic membranes and their catalytic behavior.

Using master limited partnerships and real estate investment trusts to encourage renewable energy investment through fairer taxation. Using energy cost information in calculating terms of building mortgages.

Global energy system analysis. Energy policy and energy supply issues. Nuclear energy. Reliability versus cost trade-offs in wind energy investments in California. Science policy. 

Energy efficient and sustainable building design. Reducing plug loads to achieve net-zero energy buildings. HVAC energy efficiency. Efficient computing and data center energy management.

Determining the electronic structure of transition metal complexes, which are utilized in oxidation catalysis and fuel cells to facilitate and control oxygen activation and reduction. Hydroxylation of methane (and other simple hydrocarbons) using copper and iron to produce methanol, which could reduce oil dependence and GHG emissions.

A tool for commercial building owners to screen, prioritize and execute optimal energy efficiency retrofit projects.

Magnetic nanotechnology, spintronics and integrated inductors, with applications in energy conversion and storage.

Cleaner energy production from fossil fuels. Membrane and sorbent design and testing for CO₂ capture. CO₂ reduction catalysis for fuels. Hydrogen storage and production. Speciation and capture of heavy metals released from coal combustion. Economic and energetic analysis of capturing CO₂ from ambient air using technologies such as direct-air capture and accelerated weathering of relevant crushed minerals.