Photo by Flickr user Changhua Coast Conservation Action.

Seeking to understand and transform the world’s energy systems, MIT researchers and students investigate all aspects of energy. They discover new ways of generating and storing energy, as in creating biofuels from plant waste and in holding electricity from renewable sources in cost-effective, high-capacity batteries. They create models and design experiments to determine how we can improve energy efficiency at all scales, from nanostructures and photovoltaic cells to large power plants and smart electrical grids. They analyze how people make decisions about energy, whether as individual consumers or whole nations, and they forecast what the social and environmental consequences of these decisions might be.  

In fact, the study of energy is so important and so pervasive at MIT, the MIT Energy Initiative has devised an undergraduate Energy Studies Minor which develops the expertise needed to reshape how the world uses energy. The Energy Studies Minor consists of a core of foundational subjects, complemented by a choice of electives which allow students to tailor their Energy Minor to their particular interests.

Many of the Energy Minor subjects are represented on OCW, and listed below. In addition to its core and elective courses, some other energy courses which are not officially part of the Energy Minor program are also listed.