CAIT’s EEP conducts research and projects on air quality, energy, emissions from mobile sources, and other environmental issues related to developing a flexible and sustainable transportation infrastructure that will support fuels of the future.

In the United States, the transportation sector is almost entirely dependent on petroleum (currently more than 95 percent) and accounts for 68 percent of the total oil consumption in the country. We are well aware by now of the impact this has on the environment. But oil dependency also leaves us vulnerable to supply interruptions and price volatility in world markets, and it threatens our security and financial stability.

EEP and other groups at Rutgers are working on developing modeling tools and metrics that will help guide decisions about our energy future. Developing alternative fuel sources is one strategy for reducing petroleum dependency and greenhouse gas emissions. But what will the fuel of the future be? No one knows. It is likely to come from a combination of fossil, renewable, and nuclear sources.

Our current infrastructure is in an important transition period as we move toward renewable and sustainable fuels: electricity, photovoltaic, biofuels, nuclear, or hydrogen. It is certain there will not be one new energy source, but a combination of many.

As we work toward new solutions, it is critical that the infrastructure we renew and rebuild be flexible and sustainable no matter what our transportation and energy futures hold.