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Energy Systems Analysis Group

People

The Energy Systems Analysis Group (ESAG) includes core members plus visiting researchers and students, in addition to collaborators worldwide. ESAG’s alumni (former students and postdoctoral fellows) work in industry, government, academia, and non-governmental organizations.

members

Eric D. Larson, Senior Research Engineer, Group Head (Larson full CV)

Larson’s research intersects engineering, environmental science, economics, and public policy. His energy systems modeling and analyses aim at identifying sustainable, engineering-based solutions to major energy-related problems. His work assesses resource, economic, and environmental implications of prospective technology developments and helps inform public and private decision making in the U.S. and elsewhere. He has published extensively on the design and analysis of advanced biomass and fossil fuel conversion technologies with CO2 capture and storage. He was part of the Princeton team contributing to the National Research Council report, America’s Energy Future: Technology and Transformation (2009). He was a Co-Convening Lead Author of the fossil energy chapter of the major international study, The Global Energy Assessment (2012). He co-led Princeton’s Net-Zero America project (2021), and he is active in the global Rapid Switch initiative established by the Andlinger Center. Larson is an Affiliated Faculty member with the High Meadows Environmental Institute and the Center for Policy Research on Energy and Environment in the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. He also holds an appointment as a senior scientist with Climate Central, a non-profit, non-partisan science and media organization that informs diverse audiences about climate change and potential solutions.

Chris Greig, Theodora D. ’78 & William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist (Greig full CV)

Chris commenced a 25-year career in industry in 1986 as the co-founder of a successful process technology and contracting company, which he sold in 1999 to a major European engineering company.  From 1999 to 2011, he held senior project and executive roles in the construction and energy resources sectors, including as CEO of ZeroGen, a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. In 2011 he joined the faculty of the University of Queensland (Australia), where he led both the UQ Energy Initiative and the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation. He also served as Chairman of the Energy Policy Institute of Australia, Deputy Chairman of Gladstone Ports Corporation, and Non-Executive Director of two ASX listed engineering companies. He was a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and Environment at the Andlinger Center from 2018 to 2020 and joined Princeton University as a Senior Research Scientist in August 2020.  He also holds an Adjunct Professorship at UQ.  Chris has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UQ and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.  His research interests lie in energy transitions, economics and policy, energy for development, mega-project implementation, and CO2 capture and storage systems.

Fangwei Cheng, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Cheng CV)

Fangwei’s research interests include energy system modeling, life cycle assessment, and techno-economic assessment of low and negative carbon-emission technologies. She is currently part of both the Zero carbon Energy systems Research and Optimization (ZERO) Lab and the Energy Systems Analysis Group. She obtained a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Wuhan Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia. For her Ph.D. dissertation, she integrated machine learning, life cycle assessment, and techno-economic assessment to evaluate different negative-emission technologies.

Loïc De Weerdt, Postdoctoral Research Associate (De Weerdt CV)

Loïc’s research interests include the transition towards a carbon-neutral circular economy, techno-economic evaluations of green microgrids, investments under various types of uncertainty, social welfare maximization, waste management, and sustainable development. He has a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and undergraduate degrees in environmental economics and in European Union law.  For his Ph.D. dissertation, he analyzed the market acceptance of circular plastics in Europe. Previously, he was also a member of the Flemish Circular Economy Policy Research Center, a hub of researchers that focus on policy-oriented research questions.

Tubagus Aryandi Gunawan, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Gunawan CV)

Arya’s research includes designing, modeling, optimization, and analysis across a wide range of energy technologies and systems. He is interested in the techno-economic-environmental performances of current and future clean energy supply chains. He obtained a BEng in chemical engineering from the University of Indonesia, an MSc in energy engineering from the Technical University of Berlin, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the National University of Ireland (Galway). As part of his Ph.D. dissertation, he developed an online decision support tool for deploying renewable hydrogen in large cities across Northwest Europe. He additionally was involved with the modeling of solar-based synthetic liquid fuels production at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Ganesh Hegde, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Hegde CV)

Ganesh’s research interests include energy system modeling, energy inequality, policy analysis, and understanding technology-development linkages. He is currently working on India’s energy pathways for achieving Net-Zero carbon emissions. Ganesh has a master’s degree in Power and Energy System Engineering from Bangalore University and a Ph.D. from IIT Bombay. His Ph.D. dissertation explores rural electrification policy evolution in India while analyzing electricity consumption inequalities in the country. He is an amateur chess and badminton player, an avid reader, and an outdoor enthusiast.

Cecelia Isaac, Associate Professional Specialist (Isaac CV)

Cecelia is a GIS researcher and analyst. She focuses on critical infrastructure with an emphasis on the electrical grid. Her past projects include research into social segregation as it relates to resident wellbeing in metropolitan areas, political campaign messaging by region, and hurricane recovery in Gulf states. She has a B.A. in English and Chinese from the University at Albany, SUNY and an M.S. in Geographic Information Science from the University of Minnesota. Previously, she worked at U-Spatial as GIS coordinator on hazard mitigation reporting for Minnesota counties. At Princeton, she supports ESAG as well as the Zero carbon Energy systems Research and Optimization (ZERO) Lab.

Hongxi Luo, Postdoctoral Research Associate (Luo CV)

Hongxi’s research interests include process modeling, life cycle assessment, and techno-economic assessment of energy systems. He is currently working on the assessments of different thermochemical conversion of biomass coupled with carbon capture and storage to mitigate climate change. Hongxi received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri – Columbia and East China University of Science and Technology, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia. Previously, Hongxi worked as a R&D manager to optimize the environmental and economic performances of full-scale sludge pyrolysis plants and develop practical applications of sludge-derived biochar in the context of circular economy.

Aniruddh Mohan, Andlinger Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow (Mohan CV)

Aniruddh studies the role of emerging technologies in transport, electricity, and carbon removal for achieving deep decarbonization. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and masters and undergraduate degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Manchester respectively. His doctoral dissertation highlighted the trade-offs between automation and electrification for light vehicles and the societal costs and benefits of electrifying ride-hailing services. Previously, he was an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation International Climate Protection Fellow at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in Germany.

collaborators

Consonni, Stefano

Stefano Consonni is a professor at the Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Visitor-in-residence appointments with ESAG in 2002, 2007, and 2018.

Daraeepour, Ali

Ali is a research scientist at Duke University (as of September 2021).
In residence with ESAG: March 2018 – February 2021 (Postdoctoral Research Associate).

Kreutz, Thomas G.

Tom Kreutz was the senior energy systems modeler with ESAG for two decades prior to his retirement in 2019. Kreutz’s interests are in modeling advanced energy conversion systems, in particular: production of hydrogen, electricity, and CO2 (for sequestration) from coal, residential scale, natural gas-fired PEM fuel cell cogeneration, fuel cell hybrid vehicles: power system design and vehicle performance modeling, reforming liquid fuels to hydrogen for mobile and stationary power applications, gasification of biomass and black liquor for combined cycle generation of electric power, and fuel cells, gas turbines, and hybrid/combined cycles for electric power generation. (Kreutz full CV)

Ku, Anthony

Andlinger Non-Resident Visiting Fellow, 2020 –
CTO, NICE-America

Li, Zheng

Zheng Li is the dean of Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
In residence with ESAG in September 2001 and January 2002 (Visiting Scholar).

Mayfield, Erin

Erin is the Hodgson Family Assistant Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College (as of September 2021).
In residence with ESAG: June 2019 – July 2021 (Postdoctoral Research Associate)

Pascale, Andrew

Andrew is a senior research fellow at the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (as of September 2021).
In residence with ESAG: January 2019 – January 2021 (Postdoctoral Research Associate).

Socolow, Robert H.

Socolow, Professor Emeritus of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is interested in the characteristics of a global energy system responsive to global and local environmental and security constraints. His specific areas of interest include carbon dioxide capture from fossil fuels and storage in geological formations, nuclear power, energy efficiency in buildings, and the acceleration of deployment of advanced technologies in developing countries.

Williams, Robert H.

Robert H. Williams founded and led the Energy Systems Analysis Group during a 41-year career at Princeton University that concluded in early 2017. He is currently Senior Research Scientist, Emeritus, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. He is interested in fuel cells for transportation and stationary power applications, advanced gas turbine technologies for power generation, advanced technologies for producing hydrogen and other clean synthetic fuels from carbonaceous feedstocks, fuels decarbonization and CO2 sequestration, various renewable energy technologies, and nuclear energy (mainly proliferation and economic aspects). (Williams full CV)

Zhang, Chuan

In residence with ESAG: July 2019 – December 2021 (Post-doctoral Research Associate).

alumni

These individuals have had past association with the Energy Systems Analysis Group. Under each name, the years spent as part of the ESAG and position in the Group or at Princeton University are given, followed by the last known institutional affiliation.

Clinton J. Andrews

1992-1997, Assistant Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
Rutgers University, Boustein School, Urban Planning and Policy Development Program

Michael J. Antal

1975-1982, Assistant Professor, Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
University of Hawaii, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Birgir Arnason

1983 MSE, Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department

Samuel F. Baldwin

1986-1989?, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies.
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewables.

David L. Bohac

19?? MSE, Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
Energy Conservation Center?, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Valentina Bosetti

2008-2009 Visiting Fellow, Princeton Environmental Institute, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Italy

Herbert F. Bormann

19??-19??, Visiting Senior Research Scientist, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies.
Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies?

Michiel Carbo

2008-2009, Visiting Graduate Student, Energy Systems Analysis Group
Biomass, Coal and Environmental Research Department at the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN).

Alfred Cavallo

1992-1997, Research Associate, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies. USDOE Lab, New York City

Fuat Celik

2002-2003, Research Associate, Princeton Environmental Institute, UC Berkley, Chemical Engineering Department

Haiping Chen

2010, Visiting Scholar, Energy Systems Analysis Group
Haiping Chen is a professor in the Energy and Power Engineering Department, North China Electric Power University, Beijing.

Jeffrey S. Chen

1995 MSE, Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
Lazard, Minneapolis

Stefano Consonni

1992 PhD., Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
Politecnico di Milano, Departimento di Energetica

Ben Court

2007-2011 PhD. MAE Princeton, Boston Consolting Group, Paris

Ogunlade R. Davidson

19??-19??, Visiting Researcher, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies.
University of Cape Town, Energy Development Research Center

John M. DeCicco

1988 Ph.D., Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
Environmental Defense, Washington, DC

Luca DeLorenzo

2004 MSE Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. BP, England

Mark A. Delucchi

1990?-1991?, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies
University of California – Davis, Institute for Transportation Studies

David Denkenberger

2003 MSE, Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Colorado

Richard (Rick) Diamond

10/86 to 6/87; Soc of Bldg Sci Educators Amer Lung Assoc Environ Wrkg Grp Harvard Grad Sch Design

Fred Dryer

Professor emeritus of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University
Educational Foundation Distinguished Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of South Carolina.

Richard Duke

Gautum S. Dutt

1976-1986, Research Engineer, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies
National University of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

Giulia Fiorese

2007 Visiting graduate student, Princeton Environmental Institute
Post-doctoral researcher at Dipartamento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano, and FEEM, Milano

Xiangbo Guo

2010, Visiting Scholar, Energy Systems Analysis Group
SINOPEC’s Research Institute for Petroleum Processing, Beijing

Ilkka Hannula

In residence with the ESAG: February 2011-January 2012 (Visiting Graduate Student).
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland; International Energy Agency

Pedro Haro

In residence with ESAG: September 2017 – February 2018 (Fulbright post-doctoral fellow).
Bioenergy Group, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Seville (Spain).

Simone Hochgreb

1991 Ph.D., Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
Cambridge University, England

Laura Iwan

1997 MSE, Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
Ballard, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia

Haiming Jin

1997-1998, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies.
SNC-Lavelin, Houston

Sivan Kartha

1994-1997, Post Doctoral Fellow, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies.
Stockholm Environmetal Institute, Boston, Massachussetts.

Ryan E. Katofsky

1993 MSE, Princeton, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
Navigant Consulting, Inc., Burlington, Massachussetts.

Willett Kempton

1985 – 1992, Research Anthropologist, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton.
University of Delaware, College of Earth, Ocean and Environment.

Joe Lane

In residence with ESAG: August 2019 – July 2021 (Associate Research Scholar).
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Andrea Lanzini

2010-2011, Visiting Graduate Student, Energy Systems Analysis Group
Assistant professor, the Energy Department of Politecnico di Torino (Italy).

Qiang Li

2012-2013, Visiting Scholar, Energy Systems Analysis Group
SINOPEC’s Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, Beijing

Guangjian Liu

2008-2010, Research Associate, Energy Systems Analysis Group
Assistant professor, North China Electric Power University, School of Energy & Power Engineering, Beijing, China.

Emanuele Martelli

In residence with ESAG: March 2007- August 2007, March 2009 (Visiting Researcher).
Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.

Luca Mastropasqua

2018, Visiting post-doctoral fellow, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
GECOS, Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Hans Meerman

2013-2017, Research associate, Energy Systems Analysis Group

Lars J. Nilsson

1994-1995, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies
University of Lund, Department of Energy and Environmental Systems Studies

Joan M. Ogden

1986-2003, Research Scientist, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies and Princeton Environmental Institute. Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy as well as an appointment in the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis.

Maurizio Spinelli

2014, Visiting Graduate Student, Energy Systems Analysis Group

Supramaniam Srinivasan

1997-2002, Visiting Senior Research Scientist at Center for Energy & Environmental Studies. Srinivasan’s research was in basic and applied electrochemistry, bioelectrochemistry, and electrochemical energy conversion and storage. Deceased

Samir Succar

2003-2008, Princeton, Electrical Engineering Department. NRDC, NY

Massimo Tavoni

2008-2010, Senior Researcher, Princeton Environmental Institute and Energy Systems Analysis Group
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)

Ernst Worrell

1995-1996, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for Energy & Environmental Studies.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California.

Yuan Xu

2006-2010, Ph.D., Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Industrial Performance Center

Yuan Xue

200? MSE Princeton Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.

Zhe Zhou

2010 Visiting graduate student, Princeton Environmental Institute
Ph.D. candidate, Thermal Engineering Department, Tsinghau Unversity, China