Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) Exploratory Programs
With ideas that are so new, fundamental discovery is often the first step needed in research. As part of its strategy to build a diverse portfolio of innovative technologies, GCEP provides up to $100,000 in funding for research activities of an exploratory nature that test the feasibility and application of potential step-out ideas. During a one-year performance period, these activities focus on novel approaches and innovative concepts associated with technologies that lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale.
Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) Exploratory Programs
| Funding Year | Research Topic | Description | Principal Investigtors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Exploring How Combined Restrained and Unrestrained Reaction Can be Used to Realize High-Efficiency (>70%) Engines | Achieving efficient engine operation is one of the clearest, most-economical paths to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Consumption of... |
Chris Edwards, mechanical engineering |
| 2012 | Atomically Engineered Oxide Heterostructures for Solar Water Splitting Catalysis | The solar water-splitting reaction to hydrogen and oxygen has potential to greatly reduce the production of greenhouse gases. The generated hydrogen... |
Harold Hwang, applied physics/photon science |
| 2012 | Ultrafast Rechargeable Nickel/Zinc Batteries | The demand for batteries is rapidly increasing as more mobile electronic devices, ranging from cell phones to EVs, enter daily use. By 2016, the... |
Hongjie Dai, chemistry |
| 2012 | Safe Wireless Power Transfer to Moving Vehicles | Electric vehicles (EVs) offer superior energy efficiency while offering an enormous potential for reducing CO2 emissions, if the electricity is... |
Shanhui Fan, electrical engineering |
| 2012 | High-Efficiency Engines | Achieving efficient engine operation is one of the clearest, most-economical paths to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Consumption of... |
Chris Edwards, mechanical engineering |
| 2012 | Solar Water-Splitting Catalysis | Using the sun to split water into hydrogen and oxygen has the potential to greatly reduce the production of greenhouse gases. The generated hydrogen... |
Harold Hwang, applied physics |
| 2011 | Continuous Passive-Seismic Monitoring of CO2 Geologic Sequestration Projects | The tomographic inversion of the virtual-source data obtained by processing five days of passive seismic data recorded over the Valhall oil... |
Biondo Biondi and Sjoerd de Ridder, geophysics |
| 2011 | Electrochemical Dinitrogen Fixation | Materials that catalyze efficient electrochemical N2 fixation would open up the possibility of using an N2/NH3 cycle to store and utilize... |
Matthew Kanan and Thomas Veltman, chemistry |
| 2011 | Real-Time Monitoring at CO2 Sequestration Sites: Fast Data Assimilation and Risk Evaluation | The availability of effective and reliable monitoring is recognized as a requirement for the acceptance of geologic sequestration of CO2.... |
Sivaram Ambikasaran, civil and environmental engineering; Eric Darve, mechanical engineering; Peter Kitanidis, civil and environmental engineering; Judith Yue Li, civil and environmental engineering
|
| 2011 | Solid-state Photon Enhanced Thermionic Emission for Solar Energy Conversion | Global climate imperatives require a worldwide shift away from greenhouse gas- emitting activities such as fossil fuel combustion.... |
James Harris, electrical engineering; Nicholas Melosh, materials science and engineering |
| 2011 | Carbon-based Sorbents for Selective CO2 Capture | The objective of this project is to develop affordable, regenerable carbon-based materials that can selectively capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted... |
Zhenan Bao, chemical engineering; Daniel Stack, chemistry; Jennifer Wilcox, energy resource engineerin |
| 2010 | Next Generation High-Efficiency Low-Cost Thin Film Photovoltaics | This research investigates ion-beam assisted deposition (IBAD) of textured templates that can be used to make efficient crystalline-Si thin-film... |
Bruce Clemens and Alberto Salleo, materials science and engineering |
| 2010 | AGILE: Axially Graded Index LEns as a non-tracking solar concentrator | The constant brightness theorem, says that the optical power flow per unit of area and solid angle cannot be increased though a passive optical... |
Reinhold H. Dauskardt, materials science and engineering; Olav Solgaard and Nina Vaidya, electrical engineering |
| 2010 | Efficient, Highly Productive Hydrogen Production from Glucose | Our long term objective is to develop efficient and cost-effective technology for the production of hydrogen from glucose, xylose, and other... |
Cem Albayrak, chemical engineering; Sylvie Long, bioengineering; Phil Smith, chemical engineering; James R. Swartz, chemical engineering and bioengineering |
| 2010 | Manufacturable Nanostructured Solar Cells with Efficient Light Trapping and Charge Carrier Collection | Photovoltaics, which utilizes the largest possible energy source to generate electricity, represents one of the most attractive approaches towards... |
Yi Cui, materials science and engineering; Shanhui Fan, electrical engineering |
