A Center for Energy

Economists, political scientists, public policy experts, architects and designers, lawyers, and scientists—all of these members of the Harvard community study energy and society’s dependence on it. Yet they do so with too little cooperation or communication. Indeed, in most cases, at least at Harvard, they only see each other when they trek to Tercentenary Theatre in academic garb each June. Such division is unnecessary and inefficient. Given the profound impact the academy can have on defusing potentially cataclysmic situations involving the global use of energy, Harvard should bring these scholars under one roof by creating a center for energy studies.

Once hubs for the confluence of ideas, modern universities have evolved into institutions fragmented by the bureaucracy of school, departmental, and research affiliations. Enter the peculiar institution of the research center, which circumvents arbitrary divisions on the organizational chart. The best example at Harvard is the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, which brings together over twenty schools and research centers across Cambridge and beyond, forcing together scholars who might otherwise not associate with each other by unifying funding sources, providing common leadership, and creating a forum for discussion and debate. It also singles out the singular importance of stem cell research. The Stem Cell Institute is not alone; Harvard boasts many research centers that unify scholars based on the questions they tackle rather than the methods they use.

Today, there is an area of study as crucial as stem cell research and Eurasian geopolitics that has yet to receive its deserved support from the administration: energy research. Of critical importance since the dawn of the industrial age, energy will only grow as a global concern in the 21st century as we consume more energy while exhausting our most dependable energy sources. If we are to have sustainable energy reservoirs in the future, we must focus our efforts on multiple fronts. Emerging technologies, strategies to streamline efficiency, and conservation initiatives must work in concert.

Researchers who tackle these critical issues, however, are scattered across the University. Because much can be gained both by Harvard and society at large by cooperation among scholars studying this critical issue, we propose the creation of a multidisciplinary center for energy studies, the likes of which academia has never seen.

Oxford’s Institute for Energy Studies is a good starting point. Bringing together all of the social sciences, it analyzes economic concerns, international relations, and environmental politics centered on energy-related issues. Harvard’s center, however, should leverage its world-class resources in the sciences, design, law, business, and government—perhaps even collaborating with neighboring institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—to address energy issues in a comprehensive manner.

Energy sustainability is among the most pressing issues that our society faces today, and Harvard should capitalize on its potential to provide groundbreaking solutions.