NSF
announces first round of awards for novel energy research program
In 2011, the National Science Foundation
(NSF) created the Sustainable Energy Pathways (SEP) program to spark innovative
energy solutions that meet societal needs without creating burdens for future
generations.
NSF envisions such solutions being
domestically generated, at a reasonable cost, and not dependent on rare
resources--while avoiding adverse environmental or societal consequences, not
contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and preserving essential ecosystems.
Following a peer review evaluation
process, NSF has now selected 20 multi-disciplinary SEP teams that
will carry out highly integrated basic science and engineering research to
introduce new and sustainable energy solutions.
"SEP is the first NSF program to
generate basic scientific research and innovation on sustainable energy in the
context of environmental, economic and societal acceptance," says SEP
co-Chair George Maracas. "This life cycle, or systems, approach is
implemented by forming research teams with expertise in several disciplines
that collaborate on a plan for sustainable energy.
"Critically, the basic science is
coupled to knowledge of how the innovations can be developed, adopted, and
possibly scaled up to be incorporated into society."
The SEP award portfolio is highly
diverse. Its projects include: development of novel solar cells, such as those
that replace rare earth elements with earth abundant elements; energy storage
solutions including innovative battery technology; novel catalysis approaches
to generate renewable fuels; wind turbine, wave and geothermal energy
conversion technologies; and new approaches to building design and human
behavior studies that will allow designers to maximize energy efficiency
without significantly affecting comfort level.
Each of the SEP projects addresses three
fundamental considerations: fundamental scientific knowledge; social, economic
and environmental factors; and education and workforce development.
"The SEP program is unique in how
it broadly crosses disciplines to find sustainable energy solutions," says
Zeev Rosenzweig, SEP co-chair. "The projects bring together
mathematicians; chemists and materials scientists; geoscientists; computer scientists;
chemical, electrical, mechanical and bioengineers; and social, behavioral and
economics scientists in unique combinations.
"Because of the program's emphasis
on integrating the social sciences and education components, we are able to
support teams that tackle not just scientific and technological challenges, but
also address societal, economic, behavioral, and environmental factors. The SEP
teams will also introduce novel public outreach approaches to inform the public
why sustainable energy pathways are needed and train a new generation of
students that will be better equipped to handle the complexity of sustainable
energy systems."
The SEP teams are led by a diverse group
of experienced and beginning investigators who are inspired by both the
challenges of sustainable energy and the broadly cross-disciplinary approaches
that those challenges require.
Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature
of the effort, the grantees are supported by 17 NSF divisions, part of a
broader portfolio of cross-cutting programs within the agency's Science,
Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative.
The grants collectively address several
core goals:
•Create fundamental knowledge to
characterize and understand existing energy systems and their limitations and
form a basis to imagine, invent and deploy novel energy systems;
•Explore alternative energy sources,
technologies and systems that can sustain a high quality of life for Earth's
inhabitants;
•Investigate novel pathways for human
energy futures built on a comprehensive understanding of risks and stressors
associated with environmental, biospheric and societal responses associated
with new energy pathways;
•Develop human capital to address the
trans-disciplinary challenge of building a sustainable energy future;
•Foster the critically important public
understanding of sustainable energy.
"We are proud to offer our strong
support for the launch of the SEP program, which epitomizes both NSF's
commitment to funding transformative fundamental research and to meeting the
global challenges of the 21st century," says Celeste Rohlfing, acting assistant
director for NSF's Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. "The
program's strong educational component will ensure that the next generation of
the scientific workforce is prepared to continue the work of building a
sustainable energy future."
The projects each receive up to four
years of NSF funding at a rate of up to $500,000 per year, for a total program
allocation of $37,000,000.
- NSF -
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment