EESI: Energy

ENERGY

Bio-based Chemicals & Fuels -- Fossil Fuels --Nanotechnology -- Solar Power -- Energy Policy

Rice University is positioned to make a practical difference in solving energy problems we face today, in expanding future energy choices, and in ensuring that our students understand the scientific, environmental and societal dimensions of energy use. The Energy & Environmental Systems Institute works with Rice institutes, centers, programs and individual researchers dedicated to solving 21^st century energy challenges, including:

The Rice Energy Program, a joint multidisciplinary program developed with the Baker Institute for Public Policy, includes activities addressing energy science and technology policy, research on emerging technologies, environmental implications of energy production and use, and sustainable strategies for fulfilling the world's energy needs. The program promotes informed policy choices by educating policymakers and the public about important trends -- both regional and global -- that shape the nature of energy markets. It supports projects in thirteen departments and five centers at Rice University.
The Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology is home to one of the most prominent energy research initiatives at Rice: development of quantum wires. Q-wires are carbon-based nano-tubes capable of transporting energy vast distances with little or no power loss. Combined with solar power as an energy source, quantum wires could satisfy power demands in a sustainable manner and on a global basis.
The Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) . Aiming to transform nanoscience into a field with the impact of a modern-day polymer science, CBEN focuses on research at the interface between "dry" nanomaterials and aqueous media such as biology and the environment, developing the nanoscience workforce of the future, and transferring discoveries to industry.
The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship is Rice University's flagship initiative devoted to the support of technology entrepreneurship. It has assisted in launching over 150 new technology companies and has raised more than $300 million in early stage funding. During the past five years, the Alliance has conducted over 70 programs attended by more than 13,000 individuals. Over 12,000 individuals subscribe to the Rice Alliance Digest email newsletter.
The Shell Center for Sustainability, launched by EESI in 2003 with funding from the Shell Oil Foundation and subsequent funding from the Shell Oil Company, promotes the development of technologies to advance environmentally sustainable economic growth. The Center supports faculty research on such critical matters as the formation of methane trapped within ice deposits below the sea floor, the interaction of stakeholders concerned with energy development, and the development of nanotechnology for renewable energy.
The Center for Computational Geophysics was established in 1998 to promote cross-disciplinary studies of the Earth requiring large computational resources. Comprised of faculty members and research associates from the Earth Science, Computational & Applied Mathematics, and Electrical & Computer Engineering Departments, the Center has research areas in petroleum, environmental, and academic seismology, lithosphere and whole mantle geodynamics, and fault mechanics.
Other centers and programs address cutting edge research related to fossils fuels, including the Brine Chemistry Consortium and the Processes in Porous Media Consortium.