Energy Innovation

Email:
dhart@gmu.edu

Twitter:
@ProfDavidHart

Phone:
703-993-2279

Fax:
703-993-8215

Senior Fellow, ITIF

Energy systems are among the most complex and consequential technological systems. They have manifold impacts on both society and the environment, shaping economic and social opportunities and threatening harm on a planetary scale. Tracing the evolution of these systems and conceiving societal interventions that will nudge them in new directions is the primary focus of my research.

I have served since July 2016 as a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and was director of the Center for Clean Energy Innovation until October 2022. The Center’s mission is to provide non-partisan analysis that helps to accelerate the transition of the domestic and global energy systems to low-carbon resources.

A closely linked project, co-authored with Ron Whitfield and Francis Brown is “Pathways to Decarbonize the PVC Value Chain,” which was published by Mason’s Center for Energy Science and Policy in September 2022.

Recent ITIF work includes:

Reports and briefings: “Decarbonizing the Chemical Industry: Policy Insights From a Case Study of PVC,” October 3, 2022 (link); “Further Energizing Innovation in Fiscal Year 2023” (with Hoyu Chong), May 13, 2022 (link); “Active Carbon Management:  Critical Tools in the Climate Toolbox” (with Stefan Koester), April 18, 2022 (link); “The 2021 Global Energy Innovation Index: National Contributions to the Global Clean Energy Innovation System” (with Chad A. Smith), October 18, 2021 (link); “Unworkable Solution: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms and Global Climate Innovation” (with Stefan Koester and Grace Sly) September 20, 2021 (link); Clean and Competitive: Opportunities for U.S. Manufacturing Leadership in the Global Low-Carbon Economy” (with Peter Fox-Penner, Colin Cunliff, and others) June 21, 2021 (link).

Op-eds and commentaries

Jumpstarting FESI: Seeking Bold New Ideas for a New Energy Innovation Foundation,” May 31, 2023; “Why Young Researchers Are Vital to Climate and Innovation Policy and How to Support Them,” (co-authored with Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez), April 5, 2023; Comments to DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions Regarding the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI), March 23, 2023; “FESI for Regions: How the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation Can Contribute to Place-Based Energy Innovation,” March 17, 2023; “Petrochemicals Without Fossil Fuels: A National Climate-Tech Initiative” (with Henry C. Kelly), March 3, 2023; “Can U.S. Leadership Bridge the Clean Energy Global Demonstration Gap?” (with Nicholas Montoni and Hannah Boyles), September 21, 2022 (link); “The Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation: A Flexible New Tool to Build the Economy, Strengthen Science, and Fight Climate Change,” (with Kerry C. Duggan), August 2, 2022 (link); “Innovation Uptake: The Final Frontier for Energy Policy,” Real Clear Energy, January 20, 2022 (link); “One Year Later, A Glass Half Full: Energy Innovation Under the Biden Administration,” January 14, 2022 (link).

This work builds on the co-authored books Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission (Columbia University Center for Global Energy Policy, 2020), and Unlocking Energy Innovation:  How America Can Build a Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Energy System (MIT Press 2011).