To be successful in changing our energy systems for the better we have to create a cross-disciplinary landing pad, a place for all kinds of education and research associated with energy, sustainability, and climate change. We cannot work alone. We have to challenge one another.
Professor Ian Coxhead, UW–Madison Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics
The challenge of transitioning the world to clean energy systems is one of the biggest and most complicated of our time. That’s why Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI) experts are committed to understanding the political, social, and economic contexts in which energy is used, as well as the natural environments in which new technologies are deployed.
Our cross-disciplinary research on sustainability and society brings together diverse areas of inquiry, including environmental studies, water issues, sustainable agriculture, economics, and policy and regulation. Our researchers also develop carbon sequestration technologies and explore the impacts of their implementation.
WEI experts measure the impact of new energy policies on people’s health and wellbeing, study the ways in which people interpret scientific information on energy, develop techno-economic models that help make clean energy sources more affordable and efficient, provide policy recommendations to state and federal lawmakers, and strive for technological solutions with real-world impacts on climate change and the clean energy economy.
Across all areas of our research, we seek out creative partnerships with industry leaders and other critical stakeholders, and focus on transformative research with a place and a purpose in the marketplace and in the world.