Achieving an energy-efficient, low-carbon future requires more than technological innovation alone, as it depends on rigorous analysis, systems-level understanding, and effective policy design. Researchers at IEE are currently advancing data-driven approaches to understanding the complex interactions between energy, climate, water, materials, industry, and society in order to inform equitable and impactful energy transitions. Energy Analysis & Policy encompasses the development of analytical frameworks, modeling tools, and policy-relevant research that evaluate pathways toward deep decarbonization and long-term sustainability. Faculty researchers employ systems modeling, lifecycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and empirical social science methods to quantify the environmental, economic, and societal impacts of emerging technologies and energy systems.
Researchers are addressing critical challenges associated with rapidly growing digital infrastructure and AI-driven energy demand, including the impacts of data centers on power systems, water resources, emissions, and climate goals. By developing advanced energy demand models and sustainability analyses, the initiative helps policymakers, industry leaders, and researchers better understand the implications of evolving computing technologies and identify opportunities for more efficient and sustainable growth. The initiative also examines the broader social, political, and economic dimensions of clean energy transitions. Faculty investigate barriers to renewable energy adoption, strategies for decarbonizing industrial systems, sustainable management of water and material resources, and approaches to expanding clean energy access while supporting economic resilience and environmental justice.
The efforts of the 2035 Initiative at IEE research provides the scientific foundation and policy insights needed to guide energy-efficient and equitable transitions across interconnected energy, environmental, and technological systems.
Lead Faculty
Eric Masanet: Professor, Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies
Eric Masanet's research develops energy and materials systems models to identify technology and policy pathways for decarbonizing industrial systems. From 2015-2017, he led the Energy Demand Technology Unit at the International Energy Agency in Paris, where he oversaw energy analyses of the global industrial, transport, and buildings sectors. He is currently a Lead Author of Chapter 5 (Demand) for Working Group III of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report and a member of the Research Advisory Board at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). He is also the former Editor in Chief of Resources, Conservation, and Recycling, the leading peer-reviewed journal on sustainable resource systems.
Matto Mildenberger: Associate Professor, Political Science
Matto Mildenberger is Assistant Professor of Political Science. His research explores the political drivers of policy inaction in the face of serious social and economic threats posed by global climate change. Straddling comparative political economy and political behavior, Mildenberger's work focusses on comparative climate policymaking and the dynamics of US climate opinion. His current book project compares the politics of carbon pricing across advanced economies, with a focus on the history of climate reforms in Australia, Norway and the United States. Other ongoing work explores public environmental behaviors, political ideology, and the relationship between economic and environmental policy preferences. A previous book, Dependent America? How Mexico and Canada Construct US Power (Toronto 2011, with Stephen Clarkson), explored the political economy of North American trade and security relationships.
