Graduation Date: June 2010
Degree(s): M.S. Management Science and Engineering; B.S. Environmental Engineering with Honors

Michelle worked on two major research projects this summer. For the project on clean technology deployment, she identified motivations, status quo, and barriers to implementing energy efficiency and renewable technologies at the facility level, and investigated the barriers to the scale-up of energy service companies (ESCOs) in China. She based her findings on desktop research, surveys to industrial partners, phone interviews, and a trip to China where she visited and interviewed employees at eleven industrial companies in six cities. In addition, she completed a report on China’s energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) management mechanism and designed a CO2 calculation tool based on China’s new energy consumption report, and discussed the venues for promoting this tool. Both projects provided groundwork for WRI’s three-year research project on China’s clean energy deployment project funded by US-AID.

"I learned what roles an environmental NGO plays in promoting clean energy in this society. NGOs are having a stronger voice in policy debate now, but they also have limitations such as limited budget and resource accessibility. More importantly, I learned that American NGOs can play an important role in facilitating sustainable energy development in developing countries such as China."

"Michelle was extremely helpful in further scoping project opportunities in China. Her scoping work was a contribution in helping WRI to secure a major grant for work in China over the next three years."