News
Jonathon Free (PhD'16), a postdoctoral associate at the Duke University Energy Initiative, penned this piece on rural electrification for the Society for the History of Technology. Rural electrification, Free writes, is "the final stage of the most significant energy transition of the twentieth century" and "helped blur the boundaries between urban and rural life and folded American farmers into a new culture of consumerism in the process." Read the full piece here.
Technology developed to help neurosurgeons control electric currents during noninvasive brain stimulation could also lead to safer, more efficient batteries for electric cars and solar panels, thanks to seed funding from the Duke University Energy Initiative.
The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions' Martin Doyle told the Las Vegas Sun that water is "easily the most undervalued natural resource we have, aside from maybe air quality.” Water markets would help value that resource, but water trading is currently limited to one-off deals between two parties, deals governed by state regulations. “We don’t actually have—and pardon the pun—very liquid markets, because there are so many different people and entities that have a potential say in each individual transaction,” said Doyle.
Corning—the world's largest fiberoptic manufacturer— risks painful financial hits from power outages at its Concord, NC plant, even when the interruptions are brief. Enter a Bass Connections in Energy & Environment team.
CBC News cites a study co-authored by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions' Brian Murray indicating that support for British Columbia's carbon tax increased after it was implemented, perhaps after it failed to result in economic ruin.
Aubrey Zhang (MPP '18), a graduate student at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, is contributing to the search for global energy access solutions. Find out what she's been up to, why she chose the Master of Public Policy program at Sanford, and what advice she'd offer to prospective applicants.
With five new university consortium partners and a renewed five-year funding award, North Carolina State University will continue to host the Department of the Interior's Southeast Climate Science Center, broadening its access to expertise and renewing its commitment to the science needs of the region. Duke University is among the new partners, with research led by Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions Ecosystem Services Program director Lydia Olander.
A Duke University undergraduate team has taken top honors in the North American division of Schneider Electric’s 2017 Go Green in the City case competition, which focuses on sustainable energy approaches in urban environments. The students trace their own energy management solution back to a 2015-16 Bass Connections in Energy team. Led by Jim Rogers, former Duke Energy CEO, and Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, the Bass Connections team designed student projects focused on off-grid electricity access, which were then funded through Duke Engage.
The Nicholas Institute's Martin Doyle and Lauren Patterson write that we live in a water world that is data rich, but information poor. Public agencies—from the federal government to state to local municipalities—collect tremendous amounts of data, but those data are used for narrow, specific purposes. If those same data were shared openly, Doyle and Patterson say, and then integrated in a common digital platform, there would be game-changing opportunities.
A Duke University undergraduate team has taken top honors in the North American division of Schneider Electric's 2017 Go Green in the City case competition, which focuses on sustainable energy approaches in urban environments. In October, rising juniors Ankit Rastogi and Zui Dighe will head to Paris to compete with 11 other teams from across the world for the international prize. Learn more about the team's solution—and how "the Duke experience" has supported their success.