Type of energy used by new university, easily understood (7)
I believe the answer is:
nuclear
'type of energy' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'by new university easily understood' is the wordplay.
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'easily understood' becomes 'clear' (I've seen this before).
'n'+'u' is 'nu'.
'nu'+'clear'='NUCLEAR'
'used' is the link.
(Other definitions for nuclear that I've seen before include "source of energy" , "Such power available" , "sort of family" , "Relating to atomic cores" , "These weapons release atomic energy" .)