Research Programs

The Carbon Mitigation Initiative's (CMI) research covers the areas of carbon science, carbon technology, carbon integration.

CMI Science

CMI Science focuses on how terrestrial vegetation and the oceans soak up carbon and thereby determine the fraction of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted into the atmosphere that actually stays there. CMI science features close collaboration with Princeton’s neighbor, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) of the US Department of Commerce. Together CMI and GFDL are improving the understanding of how climate variability and departures from the historical frequency of extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes, impact business and society. Another initiative is providing simplified models for understanding the movement of ice through narrow straits, which can affect flow and mixing in the ocean.

CMI Technology

CMI Technology explores the integration of intermittent renewable energy (wind and solar) into electricity grids, as affected by carbon policy and renewable energy policy—including the evolving roles for energy conversion in conjunction with CO₂ capture and storage. Capture studies include both biological and fossil fuel inputs. Storage studies emphasize leakage pathways and also investigate storage in shales. Work also continues that is directed toward maximizing energy storage in batteries.

CMI Integration

CMI Integration introduces new conceptual frameworks that are useful for climate change policy, including efforts to make emerging statistical analyses of extreme events more accessible; improve the risk-assessment framework for the current scientific understanding of sea level rise; and expand discussions of climate change mitigation and adaptation from global-scale intervention to small-scale urban planning and engineering. In addition, there is new work on the limited potential for CO₂ reuse after capture and chemical activation.