Energy Transition

Background:

We need a market transition plan to move to the future world balancing economic and environmental objectives. Design options with trade-offs of innovation, market investment and public engagement (policy). For the 1X budget, the US energy use is ~100 Quads and is supplied by >80% fossil fuel. Replacing 80 Quads of fossil energy with solar at $2/watt and 25% capacity factor approximately ~$20 trillion investment (order of magnitude+) is required. To realize significant emissions reduction, basic research benefits will only be realized following deployment of new assets, practices and behaviors in the market. The education/innovation model of the past century is being disrupted. Technology is accelerating the rate of change, cycle-times are decreasing. New business models are disrupting established supply chains. The cloud, big data, AI, machine learning are changing HOW problems can be solved more efficiently. Technology enables an integrated model where a University is a node in an infinite mesh knowledge network. Shared global practices replace local redundant activities allowing for design of new local value-added activities. As the workforce becomes more dynamic, with long-tenure positions less common, intellectual capital management is vital for maintaining a core knowledge. Pace of change has created the need for life-long learning. New skills training is emerging with a growing list of online and alternative offerings.

What:

  • Build and implement a scalable, translatable energy transition process

Outcomes:

  • Market alignment with external partners in sectors such as buildings, agriculture, chemicals, manufacturing and transportation.
  • “Virtual systems” bridging market to research in key energy spaces through an interface of data, machine learning, AI and data mining capabilities (Each element will include a big data integration layer with all data types–technical, business and market).
  • Student engagement through shared project methodology that integrates real-time emissions measurements with education, sharing/benchmarking across all campuses and Universities, globally.
  • Enable new knowledge creation for virtual books, assets and derived insights. Build a globally shared energy training using best-in-class content. Extend multi-campus learning model underway with burning-glass.com.