Benjamin F. Hobbs, Theodore M. and Kay W. Schad Professor of Environmental Management in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, uses systems analysis and economics to improve electric utility planning, operations, and policy, as well as management of environmental and water resources systems.

Hobbs holds a joint appointment in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, is the founding director of JHU’s Environment, Energy, Sustainability and Health Institute, and co-directs the USEPA Yale-JHU Solutions for Energy, Air, Climate, and Health (SEARCH) Center, an interdisciplinary team that studies how power generation trends, climate change, and public policy interact to affect air quality.

Hobbs’ lab collaborates with IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the University of Texas at Dallas, and two power grid operators on a project aimed improve significantly solar forecasting, using artificial intelligence and data analytics, to enable the nation’s grid operators know precisely, and in advance, how much power to produce for any given day and hour.

Hobbs also is evaluating the performance of so-called “green infrastructure” for reducing water pollution and storm runoff in cities; investigating emerging energy transitions in the U.S. and the resulting air pollution and health outcomes, and managing the uncertain and variable power output from wind turbines.

Press

ROSEI Leadership Councilmember Profile: Benjamin Hobbs, ROSEI

Johns Hopkins Announces Major Solar Power Commitment, JHU Hub

New Climate Report is an Immediate “Call to Action,” JHU Hub

Solving Climate Change Conundrums, JH Engineering magazine

Curbing Air Pollution, JH Engineering magazine