Jennifer Morris and Angelo Gurgel, principal research scientists with the MIT Energy Initiative and the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy, are leading one of the five research teams that will receive $26 million over the next five years from Schmidt Sciences. The five international teams will bridge abstract global climate models to the realities of grids, cities, farms, factories, and communities. Morris’s and Gurgel’s project is called MATRIX. Recognizing that decarbonization doesn’t happen in a vacuum and shifting energy systems affect water supply, land use, food production, air quality, infrastructure, jobs, and inequality, MATRIX will build a flexible framework that tracks these ripple effects across the whole economy, down to the household level. Decision makers will be able to see the full picture of trade-offs before committing to a pathway. Initial focus areas are India and the Zambezi region of Southern Africa. The grants were funded through Schmidt Science’s Decarbonization and Energy Virtual Institute and were announced in early August.
