The Energy Matrix

In 2009, President Barack Obama requested 2.3 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. His larger 26.4 billion budget also included 280 million dollars for up to eight different “Energy Innovation Hubs”, each focused on a different challenge facing the energy world today. Although the plan has been scaled back to three hubs, they still remain ambitious projects in the global energy game, and the final one has recently been announced.The first, the Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub, was introduced in May of this year. Led by a team from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Hub represents a shift from previous testing and demonstration methods of nuclear research to the newer theoretical models. Using a variety of a high-power computers and existing modeling techniques, the Hub will be able to simulate an actual nuclear reactor and investigate questions concerning safety, power, and lifespan.The second Hub, Fuels from Sunlight, was announced in July. This Hub is divided between the Caltech campus in Pasadena and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley. Scientists from the “Golden State” will be investigating issues of sustainability and efficiency for biofuels (sunlight converted into plant material, and then again into fuel). The project combines scientists from the chemistry, physics, material sciences, biology, and engineering fields, with big results expected.The newest Hub will be the Energy Regional Innovation Cluster, which will be located at the Philadelphia Navy Yard Clean Energy campus. This project is more abstract than the other two and is focused on increasing building efficiency by integrating photovoltaics, advanced heating and cooling systems, monitoring networks, and more. Scientists from Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, Rutgers, the University of Pennsylvania, and Virginia Tech all have a hand in the project. The future looks bright with these three projects about to hit their stride.

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