Mark Z. Jacobson

Mark Z. Jacobson

Mark Z. Jacobson is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Precourt Institute for Energy. He is also the Director at the Atmosphere/Energy Program and co-Founder, The Solutions Project, 100.org, and the 100% Clean, Renewable Energy Movement.

His career has focused on better understanding air pollution and global warming problems and developing large-scale clean, renewable energy solutions to them. Toward that end, he has developed and applied three-dimensional atmosphere-biosphere-ocean computer models and solvers to simulate air pollution, weather, climate, and renewable energy. He has also developed roadmaps to transition states and countries to 100% clean, renewable energy for all purposes and computer models to examine grid stability in the presence of high penetrations of renewable energy.

Academic Appointments

Administrative Appointments

  • Director, Atmosphere/Energy Program, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2004 – Present)

Honors & Awards

  • World Visionary CleanTech Influencer of the Year, CleanTech Business Club (2022)
  • #1 academic influencer worldwide on smart grids, Onalytica (2019)
  • #2 sustainability influencer worldwide on environmental sustainability, Onalytica (2019)
  • All-electric showcase award, Silicon Valley Clean Energy (2019)
  • World’s 100 most influential people in climate policy, Apolitical (2019)
  • Judi Friedman Lifetime Achievement Award, People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE) (2018)
  • Cozzarelli Prize, National Academy of Sciences (2016)
  • Grist50, Innovators, organizers, and visionaries who will lead us toward a more sustainable future, Grist (2016)
  • Ascent Award, American Geophysical Union (2013)
  • Atlas Award Honoring Climate Heroes, Atlas Awards (2013)
  • Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing, Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (2013)
  • Global Green Policy Design Award, Global Green (2013)
  • Partial share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize as a research contributor and reviewer for IPCC, Norwegian Nobel Committee (2007)
  • Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing, Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (2005)
  • Henry G. Houghton Award, American Meteorological Society (2005)
  • New Investigator Award, NASA (1999-2002)
  • Career Early Development Award, National Science Foundation (1995-1998)

Professional Education

  • PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, Atmospheric Sciences (1994)
  • MS, University of California, Los Angeles, Atmospheric Sciences (1991)
  • MS, Stanford University, Environmental Engineering (1988)
  • BS, Stanford University, Civil Engineering (1988)
  • BA, Stanford University, Economics (1988)Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

653: Mark Z. Jacobson: Roadmaps for 100% clean renewable energy

After I shared episodes on the hazards of solar and wind, as well as my experiment disconnecting my apartment from the electric grid in Manhattan (in month 8 as I type these words), a listener pointed me to Mark Jacobs. I can’t believe I hadn’t found him yet.

I dove into Mark’s prolific research and writing. He makes plenty free on his site. As a professor of engineering at Stanford with great passion, he researches what he’s talking about and makes it all available. He’s not just talking or hoping for the best.

His research helps form the Green New Deal. He contributed to the IPCC work that won the Nobel Prize. Coincidentally, he criticized podcast guest Mark P. Mills article I linked to in More Hopeful Calculations for the Energy Transition.

We talked about his roadmaps for transitioning the world, countries, states, cities, and towns to 100% clean, renewable wind, water, and sunlight in all energy sectors and his books, 100% Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything (2020) and No Miracles Needed (2023).

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