California Institute for Energy and Environment

The California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) is a dedicated group of experts working to define, plan, and manage public-interest energy research. CIEE puts leading researchers to work on energy challenges, yielding new ideas and technologies to meet California’s pace-setting energy goals. 

Overview

California has set itself far-reaching, fast-tracked goals for energy efficiency and stemming climate change — goals that can lead the way to new thinking and practices around the globe. CIEE’s work is moving California closer to achieving its groundbreaking energy-use and climate-protection goals.

Based in UC Berkeley, at CITRIS and Banatao Institute, CIEE’s experts initiate, plan, manage, and administer public-interest energy research. CIEE partners with the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, utilities, and other research sponsors to help form the agenda for research in energy science, technology, and policy — identifying the most critical avenues on the complex route to California’s energy goals. CIEE then brings to bear the expertise of world-class researchers, from UC and around the country, to do the innovative work that will pave the way to California’s success.

Research Areas

CIEE’s research projects range from managing expansive studies on California’s vulnerability to climate change to deploying energy-efficient and grid-responsive implementation solutions like the low-cost smart thermostat, new sensor technologies like the Anemometer, Hamilton, and micro-PMU, and the XBOS building management platform. CIEE conducts field tests, such as the Oakland EcoBlock, a block-scale community retrofit with in-home energy & water-efficient upgrades, electrification, solar, and storage, nurturing these projects to wide-scale use. Our current areas of focus include:

Energy Use in Buildings – CIEE is finding ways to scale up the deployment of new building technologies and enable quick, efficient retrofits of existing structures, reducing both energy usage and energy costs drastically.

Climate Change - CIEE is leading efforts to both understand the effects of climate change as well as identify strategies for mitigation and adaptation to help support decision-making by policy-makers and planners throughout California.

Workforce Development - In partnership with the Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) Center, CIEE is providing improved training for HVAC industry contractors and technicians, and is developing curriculum and setting standards for high-efficiency building technicians to meet the need for more resource-efficient building management professionals.

Experience

CIEE has a track record of more than 3 decades in managing energy research. To date, CIEE experts have received 470 research awards and managed 1,000 subawards at more than 160 universities, national labs, and research centers.

CIEE possesses unique expertise and experience in managing complicated, multi-disciplinary research on many fronts. Its research coordinators are nationally recognized in many fields, and its research administrators have earned a statewide reputation for effectiveness. Complex projects have involved multiple funding sources, teams of more than 20 researchers at several institutions, and urgent timelines. CIEE provides skilled management to keep projects on track, on budget, and on schedule — and to ensure that both sponsors and researchers capitalize on opportunities to advance California’s energy agenda.