On October 1, 2007 the Ford Motor Company announced a grant of $5 million to be distributed annually in $1 million increments to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative (MITEI). In so doing, Ford became the Initiative’s first sustaining member and will have a seat on the MITEI Executive Committee, a body charged with steering the program’s strategic direction.
“The development of new transportation technologies is critical for meeting the world’s energy needs,” said Professor Ernest Moniz, the directory of the Energy Initiative. “As the first mover for the automotive technologies of the 20th century, Ford Motor Company transformed the world. This research collaboration is designed to support Ford’s commitment to providing similar transformational technologies for a new century.”
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The grant’s funds are specifically ear-marked for what is being termed as “accelerated” research into the development and implementation of “green automobiles.” A spokesman for Ford said “energy-related issues pose some of society’s greatest challenges.” The venerable auto giant, while beset with economic challenges of its own, has committed itself to working with MIT on arriving at sustainable energy solutions.
There are currently seven brands in the Ford family of automobiles including Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover. Of those the available hybrids include the Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, and Mazda Tribute. Presumably Ford hopes the research conducted at MIT will not only improve the performance of existing hybrid technology, but will also move “outside the box” to expand the available options in directions like hydrogen fuel cells, all electric, and even solar. The MIT Energy Initiative lists one of its points of focus as the development of “alternative energy sources that can supplement and displace fossil fuels, including the economic, management, social science, and policy dimensions needed for this transformation.”
The MIT Energy Initiative was established on an institution-wide basis in 2006 to improve energy systems currently in use while seeking to secure a cleaner and more efficient global future for energy users and providers. In remarks made during her 2005 inauguration, MIT President Susan Hockfield said, “Tackling the problems that energy and the environment presents will require contributions from all our departments and schools . . . bringing scientists, engineers and social scientists together to envision the best energy policies for the future.”
MIT and Ford have a collaborative relationship dating back more than a decade. This latest grant money, however, will be used for research specifically targeting environmentally-friendly technology as well as funding MIT Energy Fellowships for young scholars whose work has a “green” transportation focus.
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