Research in energy is motivated at the macro level by the rapid rise in worldwide demand for electricity and the threat of global climate change and on the micro level by the explosion in the number of mobile devices and sensors whose performance and lifetimes are limited by energy.
On the macro level, electronic loads, such as data centers, smart appliances, and electric vehicles, are poised to overtake traditional industrial loads in consumption share. Renewable energy will make up at least half of the generation mix and drive adoption of novel technologies such as storage, fuel cells, waste to power and distributed generation. Our research investigates techniques such as demand response and the use of energy storage to reduce peak demand and address variability of renewable energy.
On the micro level, we are exploring energy efficient devices, power electronics, system architectures, and network protocols, as well as ways to harvest energy from the environment for wearable devices and the Internet of things. More details on projects in energy are provides in the following research subareas.