Stanford University will get $30 million to establish a new institute on energy efficiency, the university announced today.

Alumnus Jay A. Precourt, an oil industry executive, made the commitment to fund what will be the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency. He has bachelor and master's degrees in petroleum engineering from Stanford. He also has an MBA from Harvard

He has worked for Hamilton Oil Co., Tejas Gas Corp., Shell Oil Co., Scissor Trail Energy LLC and Hermes Consolidated Inc., where he had been board chair and CEO until 1999.

The new institute will focus on research, decision-making and policy in the discovery and adoption of energy-efficient technologies.

Stanford President John Hennessy said Stanford has a long history of working with industry to develop new technologies. "This new institute will build on that history to promote economically efficient reductions in energy use," he said.

James L. Sweeney, professor of management science and engineering in the School of Engineering, will serve as the Precourt Institute's inaugural director.

"As someone who has been involved in energy work at Stanford for more than 30 years, I see the Precourt Institute as an enormous opportunity to move the university, the state and the nation forward on energy-demand issues," Sweeney said. "Our work should have international implications, from research and policy to educating and training the energy leaders of the future."