Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment

The center was founded in 2008 following a $100 million grant from business executive and investor Gerhard Andlinger, a Princeton alumnus. The center is known for its research partnerships with businesses to study environmentalist energy technologies, bio-sourced fuels and materials, and other topics. The center was affected by Princeton’s 2022 decision to no longer accept grants from conventional energy companies, which it partially reversed in 2024, as the center has engaged in projects with a variety of energy companies such as ExxonMobil. ² “About the Andlinger Center Building.” Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Accessed January 6, 2025. https://acee.princeton.edu/about/building/[/note] ^{3 4}

Background

The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University was founded in July 2008 through a $100 million grant from Gerhard Andlinger, an Austrian-born business executive who graduated from Princeton in 1952. Andliner worked as executive vice president and president of ITT Europe and in the 1970s, formed his own private investment firm, Andlinger and Company, and “became renowned as an early practitioner of leveraged buyouts and management buyouts” overseeing over 100 acquisitions until his death in 2017. ⁵

The center seeks to “help transition the world away from fossil fuels through research and education that will produce the solutions essential to preserving the planet for future generations.” The center is housed in a dedicated 129,000-square-foot building that opened in 2016 with the assistance of Andlinger’s $100 million gift. It includes a variety of laboratories, gardens, and art installations. ^{6 7}

The center offers several fellowship and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and employs several full-time researchers and faculty members. ⁸

Corporate Partnerships

The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment accepts funding from companies in the energy sector and was affected by Princeton’s “fossil fuel dissociation” policy which it implemented in 2022 to divest and cease taking funds from traditional energy companies. The center launched an energy research fund to offset the lack of industry partners. The center distributes grants for specific projects from the fund. Examples of projects funded include “Quantum cascade lasers designed using machine learning tools,” “Climate resilience of the energy transition in Puerto Rico,” and “Current collectors for reservoir-free solid-state batteries.” ⁹

In 2024, Princeton partially reversed its divestment policy and stated that “it will resume accepting research funding from various fossil fuel companies that meet its dissociation criteria” if “funds will be used for research projects that aim to produce environmental benefits.” ¹⁰

Faculty and researchers associated with the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment welcomed the policy change, stating that they had productive and “science-based” relationships with many energy companies such as ExxonMobil, with one researcher stating that “We were able to have this communication with the researchers and scientists at ExxonMobil, and I believe that this is how one can impact and effect change,” she said. “In fact, Exxon Mobil folks have told me that it was through interactions with the faculty members at the Andlinger Center that the concept of net zero is now part of their conversations.” ¹⁰

In 2020, ExxonMobil reported it had renewed its partnership with the center and that research projects included “CO2 capture, power generation and new innovative materials.” ¹¹

Net-Zero America

Net-Zero America is a project of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, which aims “to inform U.S. policy and investment decisions around achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.” ¹