Energy & Innovation
Learn more about this work across four areas of impact:
CMU researchers are forecasting the rising energy demands of AI data centers to inform policymakers and planners, developing strategies to reduce consumption for greater environmental and grid resilience, and exploring how to build the power infrastructure needed to sustainably support this growth.
- AI and its Growing Energy Demand
- AI-Driven Discoveries to Catalyze Energy Storage
- Sustaining AI Growth Needs Energy and Carbon Efficient Computing Infrastructure
- Accelerating Safe Microreactor Deployment with AI-Powered Knowledge
- Building American Strength and Resiliency in Critical Minerals for Energy Storage
- ‘AI Fast Lanes’ for an Electricity System to Meet the AI Moment
- Building the Robust Transmission Capacity Necessary to Power America
- How AI Can Unlock Fusion Energy
- Unlocking Energy Efficient AI
- Open Source AI May Reduce Energy Demands
Innovation in AI can enable important new capabilities, but this technological revolution can also bring potential new impacts - from increased energy bills to additional pollution to strained resources. CMU researchers are exploring these challenges and forging paths forward to a future where AI infrastructure can be developed sustainably, and in a way that responds to the needs of local communities.
- Powering Environmentally Sustainable AI
- Building Public Trust: Developing a Framework for Measuring and Reporting the Impacts of AI
- Using AI to Assess Veterans’ Exposure to Harmful Forever Chemicals
- AI is CMU’s Secret Weapon for Greener Buildings
- Measuring AI’s Energy and Environmental Footprint
- Data Center Growth Could Increase Electricity Bills 8% Nationally and as Much as 25% in Some Regional Markets
- Identifying the Workers We Need and Where To Find Them
Advances in AI mean increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats. CMU is well positioned to meet these challenges with innovative solutions spun out of the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute, which coordinates cybersecurity research and education across all university departments; and the Software and Engineering Institute, a research center that is leveraging AI to create a more resilient power grid.
- Using AI to Defend Against Cyber Threats
- CMU Research Helps the Air Force 'Fuel More Fight'
- AI and National Security: Harden the Grid to Win the Race
- Securing the Grid: A Call for Rigorous Modeling and Standardization
- Securing the Future of Robotics and Autonomous Systems
- CMU Research Helps the Navy Power Up
At CMU, our discoveries don’t stay in the lab. We pride ourselves on cutting edge research and technology - such as inventing new materials for next-generation energy systems and in launching start-ups based on our research.
Our new initiative to build a national network of AI-enabled autonomous laboratories is designed to hypercharge American innovation, shortening scientific problem solving from years to weeks.
- AI Materials Design: Enabling the Physical US Energy Infrastructure
- From Research to Commercialization: Encouraging Energy and Climate Tech Entrepreneurship
- Carnegie Foundry: Bridging the Gap from Lab to Market in AI, Robotics, Energy Innovation & Deep Tech Commercialization
- The CMU Startup Speeding Grid Innovation
- Unlocking American Research Dominance: Opportunities and Chokepoints in AI for Science
- Supercharging American Innovation: Harnessing Advances in AI and Robotics to Transform Science
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, a joint center with CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, provides university, government, and industrial researchers access to the most powerful systems nationwide.
CMU Energy Week
Scott Institute for Energy Innovation's flagship event brings leaders and investors from across the nation for action toward decarbonizing our energy economy.
CMU's Software Engineering Institute
The Software Engineering Institute is leveraging AI to create a more resilient power grid.