The Energy Futures Lab celebrates becoming an Imperial institute and the opening of new premises

Solar cells

New hub for energy research opens at the Imperial College London <em>– News</em>

Wednesday 3 November 2009
By Colin Smith

Scientists who are developing new sustainable sources of energy and future energy technologies celebrate the opening of their new headquarters at Imperial College London today.

The Energy Futures Lab (EFL) is the College’s hub for interdisciplinary energy research and it has become one of four recently formed Institutes at the College, each of which is dedicated to tackling global challenges.

The EFL’s new headquarters, located in Dalby Court on Imperial’s South Kensington Campus, include a display area to showcase the EFL’s latest research and technological developments, plus new offices and meeting rooms.

The EFL brings together around 600 researchers at the College, who are working on some of the major energy challenges that the world is currently facing.

At the event this afternoon, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser Professor John Beddington, who is also an Honorary Principal Research Fellow at Imperial, will officially open the new space and meet EFL researchers to find out more about their work. Professor Nigel Brandon, Director of the EFL from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, says:

“By 2050 the world has to reduce its carbon dioxide output significantly and it has never been more vital for researchers to pool their resources and meet this global challenge head-on. Our new premises will provide an important focal point for scientists from across the College, where they can come together under one roof to discuss vital energy research. The new spaces also provide an important location for us to bring our international partners, industry and the Government together to push forward joint energy-related projects.”

Sir Roy Anderson, Rector of Imperial College London, adds: “Developing sources of clean and sustainable energy is the great challenge of our time. It will not be solved by scientists of a single discipline working in isolation, but by a critical mass of interdisciplinary excellence. I’m pleased to have this opportunity to say publicly to Nigel Brandon and everyone else involved at the EFL how proud we are of the work they are doing.”

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In the video right, Professor Nigel Brandon and EFL researchers talk about Carbon Capture and Storage, harnessing solar energy and zero emission vehicle projects that they are working on to provide secure and clean energy supplies and technologies for the future.

Examples of EFL projects are also detailed below, together with a photo gallery of some of the EFL’s projects.

Green Aviation
Fostering multidisciplinary research networks is a major focus of EFL work. The EFL is encouraging researchers to contribute their expertise to networks that cover a range of areas. These include pooling the resources of aircraft designers, advanced material, combustion and policy experts who are involved in the Green Aviation Network, which will find new ways for the aviation industry to reduce their impact on climate change.

Masters course in Sustainable Energy Futures
The EFL is also aiming to encourage the next generation of energy engineers, scientists, policy-makers and business leaders to focus on energy challenges. As part of this, the EFL has established the MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures, which is the first multidisciplinary masters course of its kind in Europe that provides a strategic perspective on energy issues. The £1.5 million Alan Howard Scholarship programme has also been established, which is currently supporting six researchers who are working on energy related projects.

Capturing and storing carbon emissions
In addition to running research projects such as these, engineers and scientists from EFL are working with international colleagues at Shell and Qatar Petroleum to fight climate change by finding new ways of reducing CO2 emissions. The $US70 million project is developing ways of extracting oil and gas more efficiently and methods for capturing and storing CO2, before it is emitted into the atmosphere, by trapping it deep underground in depleted oil and gas reservoirs.

Extracting energy with algae
Another project sees scientists working on a multi-million project where they are harnessing solar power to extract clean hydrogen energy from algae. Researchers are developing prototype reactors using algae to harvest hydrogen in order to power the home or family car.

Zero emission car racing
Undergraduates at the College are gaining hands-on experience by taking part in sustainable energy projects. As part of the Imperial Racing Green project and Racing Green Endurance project, students are designing, building and racing zero emission vehicles. The aim of these projects is to provide the car industry with graduates who can develop the next generation of zero emission vehicles.

Scroll through the slide show below to see a pictorial overview of some of the EFL research projects.

Energy Futures Lab

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