BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES

Serving the Present, Shaping the Future

Determining the Basic Research Needs for Our

Energy Future:
Strategies of Science Management

6th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment

Energy for a Sustainable and Secure Future

Patricia M. Dehmer
Director, Office of Basic Energy Sciences
Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy
http://www.science.doe.gov/bes/
January 26-27, 2006
 A Snapshot of Global Electric Power Usage
Artificial night sky brightness from the Defense Meteorological Satellite
Program (DMSP)

The U.S. has 4.6% of the world’s

population, produces 16.8% of
the world’s energy, and
/visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=1438l consumes 23.4% of the world’s 2
 Radiance-calibrated Artificial Night Sky Brightness for
the U.S.
>2/3 of the U.S. population has lost naked-eye visibility of the Milky Way

P. Cinzano, F. Falchi (University of Padova), C. D.

Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center,
Boulder), The first world atlas of the artificial night
sky brightness, Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society 328, 689 (2001). Copyright
Royal Astronomical Society. Reproduced from the 3
 Centuries of Fossil Fuel Usage in North America
85% of U.S. energy is from fossil fuels; 69% of petroleum is imported; nearly
60% of all primary energy is waste

40 Petroleum
U.S. Energy Consumption by Source
Jet engine,1930s-
40s
Quadrillion Btu

30
Hydroelectric
Power Natural Gas

20 Incandescen Four-stroke
t lamp, combustion
1870s engine,
1870s Coal Nuclea
r
Electri
10 c
Power
Wood
Watt
Steam
0 Engine,
1782

1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

Mayflower, 1620

First U.S. CP-1 reactor, 1942

oil well, 4
REA, 1935
 What Will the21st Century Bring?
21st century technologies will exert control at the atomic, molecular, and
nanoscale levels.
High Tc
supercondu
40 Petroleum ctor
Quadrillion Btu

30
Hydroelectric
Power Natural Gas

20 Solid-state lighting and many

other applications of quantum Peta-scale
confinement
Coal Nuclea 2H2O
computing
4H+ + 4e-
r Bio-inspired
Electri nanoscale O Mn
Mn
O
10 c assemblies Mn O
Mn O
O
O Mn
–
Power self- O Mn Mn O
O Mn O
Wood repairing
and defect- photosystem II
tolerant
systems.
0
1850 1900 1950 2000
There are 2 imperatives for change in
the 21st century:
World-wide supply and distribution of
 petroleum reserves
Environmental impacts of fossil
fuels 5
DOE’s R&D Portfolio – Integrating Science and
Technology

6
DOE’s Office of Science

7
 DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences

 The Energy Policy Act of 1992 gave the Basic Energy

Sciences program two roles: (1) fundamental research for
the DOE mission and (2) the operation of major scientific
user facilities for the Nation.
1. BES evolved a research portfolio to interface with EERE,
FE, NE, TD, RW, EM, and DP (now NNSA).
2. BES plans, constructs, and operates the largest suite of
major scientific user facilities operated by a single
organization in the world for “materials sciences and
related disciplines” (as termed in the 1984 NRC Seitz-
Eastman Report). These enable us to “see” atoms and
to fabricate materials both top down and bottom up.

 Strategic planning activities for the energy security mission:

 Basic Research Needs to Assure a Secure Energy
Future workshop (2002)
 Follow-on workshops (2002-continuing)
8
 A Comprehensive Decades-to-Century Energy Plan

Research for a Secure Energy Future

Supply, Distribution, Consumption, and Carbon
Management

Decision Science and Complex Systems Science

No-net-
Carbon Carbon Energy
carbon Distribution/
Energy Managemen Consumptio
Energy Storage
Sources t n
Superconduc Sources
tivity
Energy Conservation,
Solid-stateEnergy Efficiency, and Environmental Stewardship
lighting
CO2 Nuclear Transportati
Coal Sequestrati Fission Electric Grid
on
on
Geologic Nuclear Electric
Petroleum Buildings
Fusion Storage
Terrestrial

Oceanic
Natural Gas Renewables Hydrogen Industry
Carbon
Oil shale, tar Hydropowe
Recycle r Alternate
sands, Global Fuels
hydrates,… Climate Biomass
Change Geotherma
Science l
Wind

Solar

BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES Ocean

9
“Basic Research Needs …” Workshops Help Define
Research Directions
 Basic Research Needs to Assure a Secure
Energy Future
BESAC Workshop, October 21-25, 2002
The foundation workshop that set the model for the focused workshops that
follow.

 Basic Research Needs for the Hydrogen

Economy
BES Workshop, May 13-15, 2003

 Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy

Utilization
BES Workshop, April 18-21, 2005

 Nanoscience Research for Energy Needs

BES and the National Nanotechnology Initiative, March 16-18, 2004

 Basic Research Needs for Superconductivity

BES Workshop, May 2006

 Basic Research Needs for Solid-state Lighting

BES Workshop, May 2006

 Basic Research Needs for Energy Storage

BES Workshop, mid FY 2007

 Advanced Computational Materials Science:

Application to Fusion and Generation IV
Fission Reactors
BES, ASCR, FES, and NE Workshop, March 31-April 2, 2004

 The Path to Sustainable Nuclear Energy:

Basic and Applied Research Opportunities for
Advanced Fuel Cycles 10
Many Crosscutting Science Research Areas Emerged
from the Workshops
 New materials discovery, design, development,
and fabrication, especially materials that
perform well under extreme conditions
 Science at the nanoscale, especially low-
dimensional systems that promise materials
with new and novel properties
 Methods to “control” photon, electron, ion, and
phonon transport in materials for next-
generation energy technologies
 Structure-function relationships in both living
and non-living systems
 Designer catalysts
 Interfacial science and designer membranes in
both chemistry and materials sciences
 Bio-materials and bio-chemical interfaces,
especially at the nanoscale where soft matter
and hard matter can be joined
 New tools for:
 Spatial characterization, especially at the atomic
and nanoscales and especially for in-situ studies
11
 Temporal characterization for studying the time
 Summary of the Steps in Research Coordination

 Conduct formal workshops to identify the “Basic Research

Needs …”
 Engage the applied research, development, and deployment communities
 Understand the technology gaps
 Engage the basic research community
 Identify the science that underpins the technology gaps
 Produce thorough, standard-format report that details technology gaps,
current status, proposed basic research directions, cross-cutting fundamental
research themes, and basic-research grand challenges
 Mitigate suspicion and skepticism within all communities involved

 Develop a basic research agenda that addresses both the

short-term show stoppers and the long-term grand
challenges from the workshop reports
 Coordinate basic and applied research, early and often
 Solicitations
 Proposal reviews
 Results from the basic, applied, and development communities
 Collocation of research

 Engage in outreach
 Inform decision makers about the work
 Continue to engage the basic research community at professional society
meetings 12
 Basic Research in Support of a Hydrogen Economy

Basic Research for Hydrogen Production,

Storage, and Use
(A BES Workshop, May 13-15, 2003)

Workshop Chair: Millie Dresselhaus

(MIT)
Associate Chairs: George Crabtree
(ANL)
Michelle Buchanan (ORNL)

Breakout Sessions:
Hydrogen Production
Tom Mallouk, PSU & Laurie Mets,
U. Chicago
Hydrogen Storage and Distribution
Kathy Taylor, GM (retired) & Puru
Jena, VCU
Fuel Cells and Novel Fuel Cell Materials
Frank DiSalvo,
Pre-Workshop Cornell
Briefings by EERE:& Tom Charge to the workshop: Identify
Zawodzinski, CWRU fundamental research needs and
Hydrogen Storage JoAnn Milliken
Fuel Cells Nancy opportunities in hydrogen
Garland production, storage, and use,
Hydrogen Production Mark Paster with a focus on new, emerging
Workshop Plenary Session Speakers: and scientifically challenging
Steve Chalk (DOE-EERE) -- overview areas that have the potential to
George Thomas (SNL-CA) -- storage
Scott Jorgensen (GM) -- storage have significant impact in science
Jae Edmonds (PNNL) -- environmental and technologies. Highlighted
Jay Keller (SNL-CA) – hydrogen safety
areas will include improved and
new materials and processes for
hydrogen generation and
storage, and for future 13
 The Hydrogen Economy

solar automotive
H2O wind fuel cells
hydro

nuclear/solar  gas or consumer

thermochemical H2 hydride H2 electronics
cycles storage

stationary
electricity/heat
bio­ and  fossil fuel
reforming generation
bio­inspired
+
carbon capture

production storage use 

in fuel cells

9M tons/yr 4.4 MJ/L (Gas, 10,000 psi) $3000/kW

8.4 MJ/L (LH2) ~ $300/kW
mass producton

150 M tons/yr $30/kW

(light trucks and cars in 2040) 9.72 MJ/L (Internal Combustion Engine)
(2015 FreedomCAR Target)

14
Basic Research R&D Plan: BES Hydrogen Workshop
Report
“Bridging the gaps that separate the
hydrogen- and fossil-fuel based economies
in cost, performance, and reliability goes
far beyond incremental advances in the
present state of the art. Rather,
fundamental breakthroughs are needed in
the understanding and control of chemical
and physical processes involved in the
production, storage, and use of hydrogen.
Of particular importance is the need to
understand the atomic and molecular
processes that occur at the interface of
hydrogen with materials in order to
develop new materials suitable for use in a
hydrogen economy. New materials are
needed for membranes, catalysts, and fuel
cell assemblies that perform at much
higher levels, at much lower cost, and with
much longer lifetimes. Such breakthroughs
will require revolutionary, not
High priority research areas as identified by the workshop report:
evolutionary, advances. Discovery of new
- Novel Materials for Hydrogen Storage
materials, new chemical processes, and
- Membranes for Separation, Purification, and Ion Transport
new synthesis techniques that leapfrog
- Design of Catalysts at the Nanoscale
technical barriers is required. This kind of
- Solar Hydrogen Production
progress can be achieved only with highly
- Bio-Inspired Materials and Processes
innovative, basic research.”
15
 Why Basic Research?
(1) Short-term showstoppers and (2) Long-term grand challenges as the
basis for disruptive technologies

The Two Hydrogen Economies

fuel cell splitting

operation water

solid state
storage
energy payoff

Mature:
Incremental:
breakthroughs in
within reach of
basic science/materials/
commercial technology
chemistry/biosciences

gas/liquid combustion in
storage heat engines
fossil fuel
reforming

research need

Courtesy George Crabtree 16

 New Paradigms: Disruptive Technologies

“All the elementary steps

of energy conversion
(charge transfer,
molecular
rearrangement, chemical
reactions, etc.) take
place on the nanoscale.
Thus, the development of
new nanoscale materials,
as well as the methods to
characterize, manipulate
and assemble them,
creates an entirely new
paradigm for developing
new and revolu-tionary
energy technologies.” “Nanotechnology: Energizing Our Future”
OSTP Series on Hot Topics in Science and Technology, August 10, 2005

17
A Single Recommendation Emerged from the First “Basic
Research Needs …” Study

RECOMMENDATION: Considering
the urgency of the energy problem,
the magnitude of the needed
scientific breakthroughs, and the
historic rate of scientific discovery,
current efforts will likely be too
little, too late. Accordingly, BESAC
believes that a new national energy
research program is essential and
must be initiated with the intensity
and commitment of the Manhattan
Project, and sustained until this
problem is solved.

February 2003
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End

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