Energy Science

Where does charcoal come from—and is it sustainable?

Charcoal energizes everything from backyard barbecues to industrial metallurgy, but its environmental impact is worse than once thought. Research from the School of Arts & Sciences finds that policy changes could make charcoal more sustainable.

Marilyn Perkins

Marrying models with experiments to build more efficient solar cells

Penn chemist Andrew M. Rappe, in collaboration with former postdoc Arvin Kakekhani and researchers at Princeton University, has gained insight into how the molecular make up of solar cells can affect their properties and make them more efficient.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano , Michele W. Berger



In the News


Tampa Bay Times

Could Florida electric bills go up because of a fuel made from manure?

Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that federal and California state subsidies have led to a gold rush of companies trying to get into the business of renewable natural gas around the country.

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The New York Times

Why don’t we just ban fossil fuels?

Joseph Romm of the School of Arts & Sciences says that stronger action against fossil fuels is essential to save the planet.

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WESA Radio (Pittsburgh)

Pa. environmental, religious and other groups criticize Shapiro plan for ignoring climate change

A study by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design found that Pennsylvania would benefit overall from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

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Bloomberg

Just how climate-friendly are timber buildings? It’s complicated

Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that a life-cycle assessment is simpler than a land-use analysis but misses meaningful system-level insight, like the complexity inherent in a biological system like a forest.

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Vox.com

An oil executive is leading the UN climate summit. It’s going as well as you’d expect

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Ahmed al-Jaber’s comments about fossil fuels betray an ignorance of climate science and a dismissiveness about the need for rapid decarbonization.

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Salon.com

Humans are dangerously pushing the limits of our planet in ways other than climate change

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that dangerous extreme weather events will only get worse if we continue to burn fossil fuels and generate carbon pollution.

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