About
Mission
The mission of WISER is to continue to improve the quality of life in our nation while preserving our natural resources and the environment for future generations. Fulfillment of this mission will reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign energy and, at the same time, provide our nation with sufficient affordable domestic sources of clean energy.
Goals
The goals of WISER are to:
- Continue to develop state-of-the-art interdisciplinary education and research programs, and commercialize technologies in partnership with industry, national and research laboratories, and other universities
- Establish IIT as a national leader in energy and sustainability, complementing Chicago’s emergence as a sustainable city
Strengths
As a university-wide initiative, WISER capitalizes on IIT’s:
- International recognition in specific areas of energy production and efficiency, power, and environmentally related research and education
- Leadership role in energy policy and forecasting
- Original formulation of the Energy/Environment/Economics paradigm
- Current and emerging strengths across several disciplines: engineering, science, architecture, design, business, law, and psychology
Philosophy
The WISER approach to sustainability utilizes a least-cost strategy to:
- Provide reliable, secure, and affordable energy
- Improve energy efficiency and conservation
- Continue the ongoing decarbonization of the global energy system
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Minimize wastes and pollutants WISER researchers believe that the endpoint of this evolution will be the electrification of most stationary energy uses with such high-tech renewables as photovoltaics, solar-thermal and wind energy, and the use of non-fossil hydrogen as the dominant transportation fuel. In other words, sustainable energy systems must meet two criteria:
- The primary energy sources must be renewable or essentially inexhaustible.
- The system must cause no CO2 emission or potentially harmful, dissipative material flows into the biosphere.
Activities
More than 40 faculty members are currently involved in energy and sustainability research and education initiatives from different colleges and institutes at IIT. In addition, different academic units offer courses and Interprofessional Projects (IPROs) in specific topics that attract numerous graduate and undergraduate students. WISER activities are grouped according to the following research areas
of core competency:
- Energy production: clean coal, methane production from unconventional sources, biofuels, and renewable energy (hydrogen, fuel cells, and batteries)
- Energy efficiency, conservation, and sustainability: hybrid systems, optimum energy conversion, climate change, sustainable buildings, nuclear energy safety,
water resources, air pollution, and rubber recycling 
Power: small hydro, power reliability, security, and grid design
The broad array of current research and education programs in the WISER core competency areas are described in detail on this website and in the WISER booklet, Creating a Pathway to Sustainability (pdf).