Alternative Energy/IP Profile of Universities working in AE
Answer the questions:
What are the 5 top Universities in this field?
coming soon
Correlate them with their main outputs (Data. Narratives. Tools)
coming soon
Understand and identify cases where these universities are “experimenting” or “adopting” commons based approach. Are they adopting OA policies, for instance? Are they adopting Social Responsible License approaches?
coming soon
Identify these cases and treat them as entities that will also be placed in our mapping device (the quadrants)
coming soon
Identify what universities are the “Microsofts” of the field and what companies are the “IBMs” of the field (Use the questionnaire to guide your research when appropriate - Carol will select specific relevant questions)
coming soon
Background for Questions:
The Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC)
The EFRCs are 46 Centers established at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the nation that are funded by the DoE and the Office of Basic Energy Science (BES) to accelerate the rate of scientific breakthroughs needed to create advanced energy technologies for the 21st century. The EFRCs will pursue the fundamental understanding necessary to meet the global need for abundant, clean, and economical energy.
- What are the goals that the DoE/BES hopes to attain with these grants?
Background: The following information is taken from the U.S. Department of Energy Funding Opportunity Anouncement (FOA), which is found Here
"Context - The 21st century brings with it staggering challenges for advanced energy technology. Limited supplies of traditional fossil energy resources and a clear consensus on the negative global effects of traditional fossil fuel utilization demand the discovery of transformative energy technologies for the development and effective utilization of new energy sources that are abundant, clean, and economical. Incremental advances in current energy technologies will not fully address the energy challenges of the 21st century. History has demonstrated that radically new technologies arise from disruptive advances at the frontiers of scientific thought. The incredible development of information technology of the 20th century provides the most recent example. What might a vision of 21st century energy technology look like? Imagine a virtually unlimited supply of electrical power from solar-energy systems, modeled on the photosynthetic processes utilized by green plants, and power lines that could transmit this electricity from the deserts of the southwest to the Eastern Seaboard at nearly 100 percent efficiency. This is but one of many visions of a new energy future that can only come from continuing to push the frontiers of science.
Establishing the Energy Research Directions: The Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program supports fundamental research in focused areas of the natural sciences in order to expand the scientific foundations for new and improved energy technologies and for understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of energy use. BES has long invested in innovative basic research aimed to achieve this mission through its core research areas. In 2001, the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) conducted a far reaching study to assess the scope of fundamental scientific research that must be considered to address the DOE missions in energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, improved use of fossil fuels, safe and publicly acceptable nuclear energy, future energy sources, and reduced environmental impacts of energy production and use."
- Is there any strategy and a timeline around these grants?
The EFRCs are funded at $2-5 million per year each for a planned initial five-year period. The grants are renewable for a second 5 year period.
- How many centers applied?
A pool of some 260 applications was received in response to a solicitation issued in 2008 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science.
- What are the criteria for selection as an EFRC?
- is there any coordination among the centers that is suggested/mandated by EFRC?
- how the grants treat the knowledge and the IP coming from these centers research?
- does the EFRC ask for any privileged access/use of the knowledge/IP coming from these grants?
- does the EFRC ask the centers to communicate/coordinate in any fashion among each other and with the EFRC...? such like grantees meetings/conferences/workshops?
- does the EFRC ask/suggest/mandates open access such as the NIH policy?
- does the EFRC ask/suggest.mandates that the Centers grant research exemptions for the other centers-grantees?
University Trends
Big Oil putting more money into alternative energy programs
"cash-strapped universities are finding themselves more and more dependent on oil dollars for funding"
http://www.enn.com/top_stories/spotlight/39338
Leading Solar Power Universities
University of Michiganâ Center for Sustainable Systems at the School of Natural Resources and Environment
- Home page: http://css.snre.umich.edu/
- Renewable Energy: http://css.snre.umich.edu/main.php?dataTable=projects&format=formats_proj.htm&sortField=unsorted&sortOrder=ASC&selectType=contains&selectOperator=&pr_project_id=&pr_research_sector_sub=&pr_research_sector=ENERGY&pr_keyword=*&pr_project_title=&pr_research_team=*&pr_project_sponsor=*&rangeStart=1&max=10¤tAction=find&firstTime=
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT Energy Initiative
- "The MIT Energy Initiative pairs the Institute's world-class research teams with key players across the innovation spectrum to help accomplish two important goals: improving today's energy systems and creating tomorrow's global energy marketplace."
- Home Page: http://web.mit.edu/mitei/index.html
- Many important discoveries in the field of solar photovoltaic electricity production.
Colorado State University, Solar Energy Applications Laboratory
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Solar Energy Laboratory
- "The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering's Solar Energy Lab (SEL) is the oldest of its kind in the world."
- http://sel.me.wisc.edu/
Leading Wind Power Universities
University of North Dakota: Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC)
- "EERC is a research, development, demonstration, and commercialization facility"
- "EERC receives no state-appropriated funding, and the majority of EERC contracts are with nonfederal entities."
- http://www.undeerc.org/
- http://www.undeerc.org/wind/
University of Massachusetts, Amherst - Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: The Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RERL)
Texas Tech University, Wind Science and Engineering Research Center
Leading Tidal Power Universities
Oregon State University, The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center
- "The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC) is a DOE-funded partnership between Oregon State University and the University of Washington.
- U.S. Department of Energy Announcement: http://www.energy.gov/news/6554.htm
- http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2008/Sep08/waves.html
University of Washington, The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center
University of Hawaii, National Renewable Marine Energy Center
- Press Release: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/cgi-bin/uhmnews2?20080924115400
University of Alaska, Fairbanks - Alaska Hydrokinetic Energy Research Center