Front Page | Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory

The Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory (CEPL) supports the educational and research missions of Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy. The CEPL administers both the Certificate program and the Master of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management (MSEEM) degree. In addition, it conducts research on:

smart cities and the intersection of data sciences, behavioral research, and public policy
clean energy financing and market-based policies
carbon mitigation and management opportunities in Georgia and beyond
local, national, and global energy transitions
transformation to smart grids and distributed energy resources: energy efficiency, electric vehicles, rooftop solar, and more.

Graduates are positioned for leadership careers that address sustainable energy challenges in various areas of professional life, including government agencies, universities, non-governmental organizations, business, and industry. Our policy and modeling interests span the triad of mitigation, adaptation, and geo-engineering, while also including issues of equity, employment, and other impacts of technologies and policies.

Multidisciplinarity, quantitative rigor, and strong conceptual frameworks underpin CEPL’s approach to policy analysis. Econometric models are employed to evaluate the impacts of existing programs. We use a unique ensemble of modeling tools including the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS), Input-Output approaches, Monte Carlo methods to characterize uncertainties, and GT-DSM and GT-Solar cost-benefit calculators. Together, these models are used to forecast the speed and market penetration of new and improved energy technologies and the ability of alternative policies to accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies and practices. An interest in institutional and consumer behavior underpins the CEPL research agenda.