The U.S. Department of Energy has granted $30.5 million to two Energy Frontier Research Centers at UT for research and development in energy efficiency.
President Barack Obama’s stimulus package will fund the $15 million awarded to the research center led by Paul Barbara, director of the Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology.
The research center, which includes a team of 18 faculty members from the College of Natural Sciences and Cockrell School of Engineering, will study solar energy on a molecular level as they look for a way to turn solar energy into a more efficient power source.
“For so long, people thought of oil as a harmless, over-infinite and cheap resource,” Barbara said on national energy consumption. “We have the opportunity to take advantage of natural resources.”
Barbara said the main reason why current solar devices are ineffective is due to high manufacturing costs of materials such as silicon. Silicon manufacturing also emits greenhouse gases, he said.
Jennifer Lyon, the associate director for the nanotechnology center, said they are exploring organic materials to use in solar cells, which can then be used to make large-area solar panels.
Organic materials are more environmentally friendly and less expensive than silicon, Lyon said.
Keith Stevenson, a chemistry professor on the research team, said batteries are an important aspect of energy efficiency because they are the primary devices for energy storage.
Using organic materials has the potential to be three to five times cheaper than using silicon, Stevenson said. A one- to four-megawatt battery the size of a small truck would be able to power a house and other high-power applications, he added.
“That’s equivalent to the energy generated by a coal-fired power plant,” Stevenson said.
The Department of Energy granted $15.5 million to the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, directed by Gary Pope.
The center hopes to develop a long-term solution for national energy security by developing a method to contain by-products of energy consumption, such as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The research team will partner with the Sandia National Laboratory to study the movement of greenhouse gases and stability of geological systems.
“Most people can agree energy is the biggest crisis in America and most of the 21st-century world,” Lyon said. “I’m glad both centers received money. It’s not going to take just one solution. We need to look at multiple approaches.”
The United States has the highest total energy consumption rate in the world followed by China, according to the World Resources Institute.
The institute also reported that in 2005, the average American consumed 7,885.9 kilograms of oil, compared to Great Britain with 3,894.6 and Japan with 4,135.3. Other developed countries with high per-person consumption include Canada and the Netherlands.
Consumption rates are rising, however, among developing countries, according to reports by the institute.
As developing countries continue to use more advanced technology, they will need an enormous amount of sustainable energy, Lyon said.
“Personally, I think people are more aware than ever before about the need to reverse over-consumption,” Lyon said. “Obama has been great in recognizing the importance of science and energy studies and their potential for creating jobs to help the economy.”
Be the first to comment on this article!