The U.S. Department of Energy has tapped Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to receive one of four grants to advance hydrogen storage technologies to be used in fuel cell electric vehicles. Lawrence Berkeley lab, based in Livermore, will be one of 4 universities sharing $7 million to fund projects in California, Washington, and Oregon for a 3-year project to help lower costs and increase performance of hydrogen storage systems with new materials and tanks that are safe and efficient. The investments are a part of the Department's commitment to U.S. leadership in advanced fuel cell technology research to help domestic automakers bring more fuel cell electric vehicles into the mainstream market.
"Targeted investments in cutting-edge hydrogen storage technologies will spur American ingenuity, accelerate breakthroughs, and increase our competitiveness in the global clean energy economy," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "As we focus on energy security, strengthening our portfolio to include domestically-produced hydrogen and American-made fuel cells for transportation and energy storage applications will create new jobs and reduce carbon pollution."
By partnering with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and General Motors, scientists will use a theory-guided approach to synthesize novel materials with high hydrogen adsorption capacities. The team will develop and test "metal-organic framework" materials that have surfaces allowing high density of hydrogen, as well as materials with pores engineered to enable hydrogen storage at near-ambient temperatures.
As part of DOE's portfolio of zero-emission electric vehicle technologies that reduce dependence on foreign oil, innovations from these projects will break down technical barriers to storing hydrogen onboard fuel cell electric vehicles. The research may also advance energy storage applications that could enable more efficient use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.
Source: Mary Holman, SF Great Neighborhoods Examiner