Macro-Energy Systems: Toward a New Discipline

Abstract

Patricia J. Levi is a doctoral candidate in the Management Science and Engineering department at Stanford University. Her research uses tools from economics and operations research to improve regulations and policy that reduce environmental impacts in the electricity sector. She earned a SM in Technology & Policy (2016) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was also a researcher at the MIT Energy Initiative. Simon Davidsson Kurland is a postdoctoral researcher at Chalmers University of Technology, where he explores the potential for decarbonizing energy and transport systems and their associated energy and material flows. He was previously a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, focusing on net energy analysis of photovoltaics and battery systems. He has an MSc in Energy Systems Engineering and a PhD in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development from Uppsala University, Sweden. Michael Carbajales-Dale heads the Energy-Economy-Environment (E3) Systems Analysis group. He joined Clemson University in August 2014 as an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences department. Before joining Clemson, Mik was an Energy Systems Analyst with Stanford’s Environmental Assessment & Optimization Lab and with the Global Climate & Energy Project (GCEP). His research focuses on the long-term, large-scale evolution and dynamics of the energy-economy system, especially how development of energy resources affects social development and the effects of a future transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy technologies. John P. Weyant is Professor of Management Science and Engineering, Director of the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF), a Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy, and an affiliated faculty member in the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University. His current research focuses on developing improved methods for diagnostics and uncertainty characterization in energy and environmental modeling, energy technology assessment, and strategic planning methods. He serves on many scientific advisory boards and has been awarded lifetime achievement awards by the US Institute for Energy Economics, the International Association for Energy Economics, and the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium. Dr. Adam R. Brandt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University. His research focuses on reducing the greenhouse gas impacts of energy production and consumption. Primary research interests include life cycle assessment of petroleum production and natural gas extraction, with a particular interest in unconventional fossil fuel resources such as oil sands, oil shale, and hydraulically fractured oil and gas resources. He also researches computational optimization of low-emissions technologies, such as carbon dioxide capture, solar thermal, and solar photovoltaic output prediction. Dr. Brandt received his PhD from the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley. Sally M. Benson is a professor of energy resources engineering in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, co-director of the Precourt Institute for Energy, and Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford University. Formerly, Benson was at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she held a variety of key positions, including Deputy Director, Associate Director for Energy Sciences, and Director of the Earth Sciences Division. Benson is regarded as an authority on carbon capture and storage. She also uses energy systems analysis to help guide decisions about the most promising pathways for clean energy development.