The U.S. electric utility industry faces a critical juncture as new technology and declining prices allow a more "distributed" system of small-scale generators, renewable energy installations and energy efficiency strategies, according to a group of high-level energy industry executives and regulators who met at Princeton University.
Developing sustainable energy sources and protecting the environment require a diversity of expertise, from science and technology to public policy and economics. Princeton engineers contribute particular strengths in materials science, nanotechnology, combustion science, water resources and environmental sensing. Beyond these areas, however, the school fosters collaboration between many fields, including the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. That is the aim of the new Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment as well as the Siebel Energy Grand Challenge. Other key elements of these efforts are the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Engineering Research Center on Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment.
Energy and Environment Headlines
The Innovation Forum brings together teams of faculty members, postdocs and graduate students to pitch ideas for commercializing early-stage research to a panel of judges.
Climate change is likely to push nations to adjust their trading patterns to make more efficient use of water, according to new research from a team that integrated separate models of hydrology, climate change and trade policy.
