Sharon J. W. Klein (E 2011)
(she/her)
About
Sharon Klein received her doctorate in Engineering & Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 2011. Her thesis, titled “Environmental and Economic Implications of Thermal Energy Storage for Concentrated Solar Power Plants,” “examines the questions of whether renewable energy policies should include provisions to encourage TES (thermal energy storage) for CSP (concentrated solar power).” Klein is now an Associate Professor of Energy Economics at the University of Maine, where she teaches courses on the technical, economic, environmental, and social implications of energy systems and policy. She currently has a Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station appointment, where her research focuses on “evaluating the role of community renewable energy and energy efficiency (especially community solar and community window insert builds) in increasing awareness, acceptance and adoption of sustainable energy alternatives in the US.” Her main research focus right now is how communities make decisions about energy and climate resilience and the environmental, economic, and social implications of their choices, especially in vulnerable communities, as well as how state and federal policies can support more locally-grown solutions to climate and energy that advance energy equity and justice.
First Author Publications from PhD
Wagner, S.J., & Rubin, E.S. (2014). Economic implications of thermal energy storage for concentrated solar thermal power. Renewable Energy, 61, 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.08.013
Klein, S.J.W. (2013). A multi-criteria decision analysis of concentrated solar power with thermal energy storage and dry cooling. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(24), 13925-13933. https://doi.org/10.1021/es403553u
Klein, S.J.W., & Rubin, E.S. (2013). Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, water and land use for concentrated solar power plants with different energy backup systems. Energy Policy, 63, 935-950. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.08.057
Wagner, S.J., & Rubin, E.S. (2012). Evaluating renewable energy systems along the hybrid spectrum: concentrated solar power. International Conference on Clean Energy (ICCE). Quebec, Canada.