Sam F. Savitz is a Senior Research Associate at the EFI Foundation, where he provides research and analysis on large-scale carbon management, bioenergy, nuclear issues, and federal climate policy.
Savitz has served as project lead for the EFI Foundation’s work on carbon dioxide removal (CDR), carbon capture and storage (CCS), and bioenergy technologies. He led the EFI Foundation’s multi-year study of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technologies and a report series on emerging “Frontiers of CDR” in the terrestrial, marine, and mineralization domains. He contributed to the Clearing the Air and CO2-Secure reports on designing federal programs for CDR research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) and procurement. He has also conducted research on several other technology areas, including nuclear power and spent fuel management, hydrogen, low-carbon transportation, and global energy trade dynamics. In 2023, he was selected as a Future Climate Leader by the Aspen Institute for his work at the EFI Foundation.
Savitz specializes in research on U.S. federal climate policy and programs, including leading the EFI Foundation’s analyses of major energy legislation and federal RD&D spending. He has also researched carbon pricing, clean energy standards, and state policy in California and New England; he participates in the EFI Foundation Research Team’s internal working group on social equity in the low-carbon transition. He has overseen multiple stakeholder workshops and public events, participated in working groups with partners at other nongovernmental organizations, and has provided project management, editing, modeling, and data visualization work across several EFI Foundation projects. He was one of the inaugural co-chairs of the Foundation’s Social Committee.
Savitz joined the Energy Futures Initiative in 2018. Prior to that, he worked for U.S. Representative Nita Lowey’s (NY-17) offices both on Capitol Hill and in White Plains, NY on constituent outreach and research in support of the office’s legislative staff. Savitz also worked for the nonprofit Atomic Heritage Foundation, where he researched and wrote about the Manhattan Project and early atomic energy history for the website and oral history collection.
Savitz holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, where he studied Global Affairs (International Security Track) with a focus on gender and sexuality issues. For his undergraduate collaborative capstone project, Savitz worked with the U.S. Department of Justice on designing an anti-corruption and rule-of-law program for DOJ’s work in Liberia.
He lives in Washington, D.C., and enjoys playing ultimate Frisbee, exploring the District’s many public monuments, and cheering for the Washington Spirit and his home-state Connecticut Sun.
