Welcome to InfinitEnergy, an innovative partnership between colleges, universities, state and local governments, and commercial entities, all working to stimulate and promote the understanding of, innovation in, and use of alternative energy technologies. InfinitEnergy is neither a school, research group, commercial enterprise, nor governing body. It is the partnerships between these entities. Together the partners will develop a community-based applied alternative technology laboratory on the new Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Savannah.

Distinguishing Features of the Program:

• It is based on an overall multidisciplinary systems approach incorporating socio-economic/political, as well as technological elements to study alternative energy systems technology, deployment, and infrastructure.

• It is built upon an existing partnership between the Georgia Institute of Technology, a major research university; Savannah State University, a historically black university; Savannah Technical College, a job training two-year degree institution; and the Savannah Economic Development Authority, which has a proven record utilizing the strengths of its partners to achieve its goals.

• It consists of education, state and private sector partners that will work in cooperation to promote economic development around alternative energy technologies through legislation, job training, technology transfer and promotion of Savannah as an 'Alternative Energy City'.

• It is designed to allow the broader community to easily experience 'real-world' applications of alternative energy technologies through its public and private partners, thereby stimulating innovative thinking and fostering acceptance of clean energy technologies.

• It encourages diversity through the participation of multiple educational entities including the Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah State University, Savannah Technical College and the Savannah Chatham County Public School System, all of which will work together to introduce new and existing alternative energy technology curricula and continuing education certification programs to their student bodies and to the surrounding community in a concerted effort to train a knowledgeable workforce ready to meet the demands of this rapidly evolving economic sector.

• Its geographic location in the coastal region of Georgia is uniquely suited to facilitate the development of multiple sources of alternative energy technologies including biomass, hydrogen, solar, tidal, and wind.

• It is structured to produce relevant case studies around alternative energy technologies that can be used to educate the students and the public about alternative energy technology uses; stimulate public and industry interest in alternative energy technologies; and promote economic development by commercializing technology generated in case studies.

In much the same way that the steam engine sparked the imagination of a nation and transformed it into an industrial superpower, alternative energy technologies are ready to move from research settings into the fabric of the world economy. The InfinitEnergy partnership plans to bring change to the Savannah area, making it an example for the nation.

InfinitEnergy's parent organization is the Strategic Energy Initiative

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0332613. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.