Initiatives, Centers & Programs
The following centers, programs, and initiatives are significant strands in the fabric of energy research across Stanford University.
Aqueous Battery Consortium
The Aqueous Battery Consortium is a large group of scientists from 15 research institutions seeking to invent a reliable, safe, environmentally sustainable, long-lasting, and inexpensive battery powerful enough to support a local electricity grid. The consortium is led by the Precourt Institute for Energy and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Bits & Watts Initiative
The Precourt Institute's Bits & Watts Initiative develops innovations for the electric grid needed to enable reliance on intermittent power and distributed energy resources, while keeping the grid secure and affordable.
Climate & Energy Policy Program
The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment's Climate & Energy Policy Program operates at the interface of policy analysis, academic research and education, and stakeholder engagement.
Energy Modeling Forum
The Energy Modeling Forum in the Department of Management Science & Engineering improves understanding of energy/environment problems and solutions. It examines the strengths and limitations of alternative models and analytical approaches.
George P. Shultz Energy Policy Working Group
The Hoover Institution's George P. Shultz Energy Policy Working Group takes a balanced approach toward sustaining the economic, environmental, and security dimensions of energy policy.
Global Climate & Energy Project
The Global Climate & Energy Project was a $225-million sponsored-research program that helped launch multi-disciplinary energy research at Stanford. It funded research projects at Stanford and at leading institutions around the world.
Hydrogen Initiative
The Precourt Institute's Hydrogen Initiative supports research to accelerate the use of hydrogen in achieving sustainable, affordable, secure energy for all people.
Natural Gas Initiative
The Precourt Institute's Natural Gas Initiative investigates how to use natural gas to its greatest benefit. Members of this affiliate program support Stanford research in engineering, science, policy, geopolitics, and business.
Program on Energy & Sustainable Development
Freeman Spogli Institute's Program on Energy & Sustainable Development draws on economics, political science, law and management to investigate how real energy markets work. It informs policy makers around the world on the impacts of those markets.
SLAC-Stanford Battery Center
The SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, a joint effort of SLAC and the Precourt Institute, aims to bridge the gaps between discovering, manufacturing and deploying innovative energy storage solutions.
Visit SLAC-Stanford Battery Center
Stanford Center for Carbon Storage
The Stanford Center for Carbon Storage, an industrial affiliate program in the Doerr School's Department of Energy Science & Engineering, uses a multidisciplinary approach to address critical questions related to flow physics, monitoring, geochemistry, geomechanics, and simulation of the transport and fate of CO2 stored in geologic formations.
Stanford Environmental & Energy Policy Analysis Center
The Stanford Environmental & Energy Policy Analysis Center analyzes and evaluates policies to address issues such as climate change, air pollution, vulnerability to oil supply disruptions and energy conservation.
Stanford Institute for Materials & Energy Sciences
The Stanford Institute for Materials & Energy Sciences, which is jointly run by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford's Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, researches combinations of complex and novel materials for clean and economical energy.
Visit the Stanford Institute for Materials & Energy Sciences
STEER
STEER, a partnership between the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center and the Precourt Institute for Energy, uses deep technoeconomic analysis, supply chain modeling, and market demand forecasts to guide “What to build” for the energy transition.
StorageX Initiative
The Precourt Institute's StorageX Initiative addresses gaps between academic and industrial R &D by accelerating the development, translation and adoption of energy storage solutions.
Strategic Energy Alliance
Large global companies support energy research and education at Stanford through the Precourt Institute's Strategic Energy Alliance as sponsored research, pooled funds and gifts.
SUNCAT Center for Interface Science & Catalysis
The SUNCAT Center, which is jointly run by SLAC and Stanford's Department of Chemical Engineering, explores atomic-scale design of catalysts critical to future energy technologies, like artificial photosynthesis, batteries, fuel cells and cleaner fuels.
Sustainable Finance Initiative
The Precourt Institute's Sustainable Finance Initiative works to accelerate funding for the decarbonization of global systems by developing advanced policies and financial mechanisms, educating leaders, and engaging global policy and finance.
Technology Transfer for Defense
The Precourt Institute's Technology Transfer for Defense program transitions academic technologies from the lab to the marketplace and transitions emerging technology products into defense capabilities.
Visit Technology Transfer for Defense
TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy
The TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, housed in the Stanford Sustainability Accelerator, has a portfolio of programs and activities that empower students, researchers, and innovators. They support the translation of research in sustainability toward commercialization and as deployable solutions. In education, it awards graduate fellowships, summer internships, and project grants.