Fuels
Clean low-carbon or carbon-zero fuels provide an energy storage strategy for a renewable energy-based grid. At times of surplus energy production fuels can be synthesized through electrically driven processes, which provide stability when the energy production is low, stabilizing the overall grid. Fuels are also particularly useful is hard-to-electrify sectors, such as transportation (aviation, shipping, heavy-duty road vehicles), or certain industrial processes (such as steel production) that require high temperatures that are currently hard to do through electrical means.
Clean fuels can also be part of the transition, where making use of existing infrastructure can have significant short-term benefits.
Researchers at RASEI are exploring how we can use electricity to make low- or zero-carbon fuels driven by renewably generated electricity and analyzing how these fuels can be integrated into the grid, transportation and industrial sectors to help drive down carbon emissions.