More than half of the premature deaths associated with electricity use in most of California and the Northwest occur in other western states that supply electricity to the West Coast.

Stanford researchers worked with chili farmers in India for more than four years to develop a solar-powered technology to improve the quality, quantity, and profitability of dried agricultural produce. A new study addresses not only technical challenges, but also barriers to adoption. (Source: Precourt Institute for Energy)

The White House has launched a new energy division of its Office of Science and Technology Policy and appointed Sally Benson, a well-known energy expert at Stanford University, to a high-level position to coordinate climate change policy.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has launched a new Energy Division and hired Sally Benson as Deputy Director for Energy and Chief Strategist for the Energy Transition.

Jef Caers, Sally Benson and Tapan Mukerji have been awarded a 2021 Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) seed grant to prototype an intelligent agent for CO2 sequestration in saline aquifers.

Inês Azevedo, Sally Benson, Adam Brandt and Jacques de Chalendar received funding to explore how policies and people shape the needed transition to sustainable energy systems and its distributional/equity consequences.

Sally Benson, an expert in low-carbon energy systems, discussed flexible standards for clean electricity. "Mandate the goals", she said, "not how states get there."

Sally Benson suggested, “making it cheaper for businesses to invest in carbon capture and storage is the best way to immediately reduce fossil fuel emissions.” 

Sally Benson said she hopes her research on lowering emissions will go beyond campus. “For me, what’s important isn’t just that we reduce ours. What we do doesn’t matter unless we can provide tools that others can use to replicate our success,” Benson said. 

Stanford University experts are cautiously optimistic that the Biden administration can change the U.S. trajectory on nuclear waste, and they offer their thoughts on how it can be done.

"This is the symptom of a larger issue, which is deregulation," said Stanford professor Sally Benson in an interview about Texas' power crisis. "In a world where the climate is changing quickly – and how, when and where people use energy is changing quickly – it's not clear that the market can keep up."

Sally Benson, ERE MS student Rebecca Gerkin and E-IPER MS-MBA student Victoria Wills moderated the Jan. 27th Global Energy Dialogues about how Amazon is transforming its business and partnering with other corporations to meet its Climate Pledge. 

Programmers write code, find what is not working, and then debug their program. It’s the same with climate change, Microsoft’s chief environment officer said in a conversation hosted as part of Stanford's Global Energy Dialogues.

Sally Benson, Inês Azevedo and Simona Onori are among the co-PIs on the StorageX Initiative, which has expanded beyond batteries to include other means of storing electricity in heat and carbon-neutral fuels.

A new study outlines how capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide from power plants, oil refineries and other facilities could help California meet its climate goals.

"Early efforts to address climate change focused on decarbonizing the electricity and transport sectors," said Stanford's Sally Benson, co-leader of a plan for carbon capture in California. "Fewer people thought about what deeper decarbonization might imply for the broader economy and jobs."

In a Sept. 30 Stanford Global Energy Dialogues panel, Sally Benson and Chris Field discussed the importance of addressing tradeoffs, working across sectors, and incorporating urgent climate action in approaches to carbon removal.

Inês Azevedo, Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, Scott Fendorf, Rob Jackson, Simona Onori, and Sally Benson were among the recipients to receive funding for energy research projects based on ideas for building a sustainable, affordable, and secure energy future.

The series will focus on how the energy sector can help the world recover from the economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Arun Majumdar and Sally Benson, co-directors of Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy. 

Stanford scientists have developed a precise way to measure U.S. power plant emissions 24/7. The new tool will enable grid operators and big electricity consumers to reduce their carbon footprint in real time.

“This idea that you can just be off the grid, we are hearing that more and more,” Sally Benson says about backup power sources. Under some circumstances, the systems may do more environmental harm than good.

Many Americans are ambivalent about natural gas, which produces less carbon dioxide than oil or coal but results in emission of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas in the short term. Stanford experts weigh in on the subtleties of the issue. 

“She has been a catalytic leader,” Sally Benson says of Greta Thunberg.

“It’s really astounding how carbon dioxide emissions have been cut,” says Anthony Kovscek, while Sally Benson notes how California pioneered energy efficiency after the 1970s energy crisis.

Shell is now a member of The Alliance, a research program in collaboration with industry to accelerate the transition to affordable, low-carbon, secure energy systems around the world. 

Sally Benson and Adam Brandt propose 'macro-energy systems,' a new academic discipline of the science of the energy transition, in a recent paper.

Stanford Earth's David Lobell, Rob Jackson, Erik Sperling, Dustin Schroeder, Sally Benson, Roz Naylor, Michael Machala, Rosemary Knight and Kate Maher have received funding for interdisciplinary research to solve major environmental problems.

“To guarantee 100 percent emissions reductions from renewable energy, power consumption needs to be matched with renewable generation on an hourly basis,” Sally Benson says.

Facebook has committed to reaching 100 percent renewables by 2020, and now it's investing in a solar project. But research from Sally Benson notes that doesn't necessarily equate to clean energy around the clock.

As power grids move away from fossil fuels, companies seeking to cut out carbon emissions will have to go beyond commitments to renewable energy – and data could help consumers gauge the most economical ways to meet their targets.

With a few changes to existing energy operations, Stanford could further reduce its carbon footprint and costs in a model that other large campuses, towns and even cities can benefit from, a new study finds.

Stanford Earth's Sally Benson says the biggest opportunity for carbon capture and storage will be dealing with hard to eliminate emissions.

Of the 65 million tons of carbon dioxide that is pumped underground in the United States every year, about 60 million tons is for enhanced oil recovery, says Stanford Earth's Sally Benson.

A panel of energy experts including former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz discuss investments and innovations that could help California get on track to meet its 2030 and 2050 climate goals.

Thinking about investing in rooftop solar? Probably a good idea environmentally almost anywhere, Stanford researchers find. Eyeing a home battery, too? Think again.

Making it cheaper for businesses to invest in carbon capture and storage is the best way to immediately reduce fossil fuel emissions, writes Stanford Earth professor and Precourt Institute co-director Sally Benson.

The sweeping plan to overhaul transportation, energy and other sectors failed a recent U.S. Senate vote, but remains a political lightning rod. Stanford experts discuss the science behind the politics.

"We just had to kind of bite the bullet and say, 'OK, if you're making cement or steel, you are capturing and sequestering that CO2,'" says Stanford Earth professor and Precourt Institute for Energy director Sally Benson.

Hawaii faces harder problems than California in trying to meet its renewable energy target, says Stanford Earth's Sally Benson, because each island has its own power grid and can't import electricity from other parts of the country.

The Feb. 14 panel looked at the major causes behind the shift in global emissions, implications for reaching the target in the Paris Agreement, and how efforts can be focused to reduce future emissions.

Stanford Earth professors Sally Benson and Rob Jackson explain why the transportation sector is a heavier lift than the power sector when it comes to curbing planet-warming emissions.

“All of negative emission is hard – even afforestation or reforestation,” says Stanford Earth's Sally Benson. “It’s not about saying, ‘I want to plant a tree.’ It’s about saying, ‘We want to plant a billion trees.’ ” 

The recent midterm elections could have far-reaching implications for the direction of federal- and state-level environment and energy policy. Stanford experts discuss ways forward, lessons learned and more.

A new analysis looks at what it would take for oil companies to start pumping millions of tons of carbon dioxide into their wells to boost crude production – and what it would mean for the climate.

Eight Stanford scientists share ideas for how the world can reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and make energy more sustainable, secure and affordable for all.

Stanford Earth professor Sally Benson co-leads a course that takes students to the Columbia River valley to understand the interplay between water, energy and people.

New study examines the potential for biomass growing sites, CO_² storage sites, and co-location. In the near term, the technology could remove up to 110 million tons of CO_², or 1.5% of total U.S. emissions annually. 

New awards fund range of projects from improved detection of gas leaks to conversion of natural gas into liquid fuels, and climate-related policy studies.