Energy projects
The fuels of the future will be clean, renewable, and secure. ASU has long been a leader in renewable energy, particularly in developing of solar energy in a variety of useful forms. Current projects include cutting-edge and applied research in photovoltaic materials and systems, photosynthetic biofuels, and algae-based fuels, as well as research on policy and decision-making related to renewable energy.
Adaptation and Self-Regulation in Multichromophoric Molecules »
This research project involves the synthesis and study of complex molecules consisting of covalently linked chromophores, electron donors and acceptors, and photochromic molecules that change their structure upon exposure to light.
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Advanced Photovoltaics Center (APC) »
APC focuses on disruptive and revolutionary technologies for photovoltaic power conversion based on non-traditional ultra-high efficiency, low-cost solar cells. The research center leverages ASU's large scale prototyping capabilities.
Architecture and Distributed Management for Reliable Mega-Scale Smart Grids »
The objective of this research is to establish a foundational framework for smart grids that enables significant penetration of renewable DERs and facilitates flexible deployments of plug-and-play applications, similar to the way users connect to the Internet.
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Arizona Initiative of Nano-Electronics (AINE) »
The Arizona Initiative for Nano-Electronics (AINE) is a coordinated network of research centers focused on ASU research in nanoelectronics, including nanophotonics, molecular electronics, nanoionics and computational nanoscience. AINE's goal is to strongly impact future technology areas related to ultra-low power/ultra-high speed electronics, and hybrid biomolecular electronics at the interface between the biological and electronics worlds.
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Arizona Rooftop Solar Challenge »
The Arizona Governor's Office of Energy Policy will identify best practices in finance, permitting, and zoning to move toward voluntary statewide uniformity. The project will drive adoption of an online system in five jurisdictions that allows for over-the-counter/same-day permit review.
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Assessing Long-Term Technological Progress for Alternative Transport Energy Sources »
The objective of this research is to advance modeling of technological progress of alternative energies by developing and applying new methods to (1) estimate long-term bounds on economic and environmental performance, (2) assess life cycle economic and environmental costs, and (3) assess uncertainty in technological forecasting
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Biodesign Institute »
The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University spurs scientific breakthroughs that improve health, protect lives and sustain our planet. Our research is aimed at predicting, preventing and detecting the onset of disease, developing renewable energy and reducing environmental damage and developing innovations that safeguard our nation and the world.
Bioenergy and Photosynthesis, Center for »
The center carries out frontier multidisciplinary scientific research designed to use biological and biologically-based artificial systems to address societal energy needs in a sustainable manner, with an emphasis on solar energy conversion and bioinspired energy transformation to meet human needs, and investigates other aspects of photosynthesis that affect society and the environment.
Blue Tool: Infrastructure for Innovative Cyberphysical Data Center Management Research »
BlueTool will promote the use of holistic cyber-physical concepts to foster the development of energy-efficient and sustainable data centers.
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Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER) »
Through interdisciplinary projects integrating natural sciences, social science, and engineering, the Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research project examines the effects of urbanization on a desert ecosystem and vice versa.
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Charge Transport through Single Redox Molecules and Water Bridges »
In this study, Professor Nongjian Tao and his research group at Arizona State University will develop single molecule break-junction techniques to study electronic conductance through polyaromatic hydrocarbon molecules and molecular bridge structures formed from water.
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Computational Nanoscience, Center for (CCN) »
The Center for Computational Nanoscience (CCN) brings together the faculty across campus who are currently involved in modeling and simulation. As device design is a critical factor in nanoelectronics incorporated into solar photovotaic devices, CCN is working to understand the quantum- mechanical effects in nanostructures with the goal of improved solar electronics device design.
Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) »
The Decision Center for a Desert City conducts climate, water, and decision research and develops innovative tools to bridge the boundary between scientists and decision makers and put their work into the hands of those whose concern is for the sustainable future of Greater Phoenix.
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Decision Theater (DT) »
The Decision Theater is an immersive, interactive, 3D-visualization facility for collaborative decision making.
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Energize Phoenix »
Energize Phoenix will transform the neighborhoods and commercial districts along a 10-mile stretch of the Phoenix METRO Light Rail line into a Green Rail Corridor that will become a model of energy efficiency and sustainability.
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Energy Ethics in Science and Engineering Education »
This project examines energy ethics issues for the responsible conduct of science and engineering and in the intersections of science, engineering, technology, and society, emphasizing potential scenarios for the U.S., while acknowledging the critical roles other nations and international institutions play in the future of energy. It develops new research and educational activities involving graduate students in interdisciplinary research programs.
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Energy, Science, and Policy Initiative (ESPI) »
ESPI's objective is to to establish a strong program of research and policy engagement to understand and analyze the social dynamics of past, present, and future energy systems.
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Environmental Biotechnology, Swette Center for (EB) »
The Center for Environmental Biotechnology focuses on developing microbiological systems that capture or develop renewable resources and also prevent or clean up environmental pollution. Center researchers combine engineering with microbiology, molecular biology, and chemistry in order to gain an integrated understanding of how microbial ecosystems work and can be controlled to reclaim polluted water, generate energy from waste substances, and improve public health and sustainability.
Experimental and Computational Studies on CO2 Photoreduction to Fuels by Nanostructured Catalysts »
The overall objective of the proposed research is to use solar radiation to photocatalytically reduce CO2 to fuels (CO, methane, methanol, and other hydrocarbons) at high conversion efficiency through manipulation of catalyst composition and nanostructure.
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Flexible Display Center (FDC) »
The mission of the Flexible Display Center is to advance full-color, video rate, flexible display technology and catalyze development of a vibrant flexible display and flexible electronics industry to produce integrated electronic systems with advanced functionality. The FDC collaborates with government, academia and industry to provide comprehensive flexible electronics capabilities that bridge the high risk, resource intensive gap between innovation and product development in an information-secure environment for process, tool, and materials co-development and evaluation. Integral to the Center's mission is integrating the concept of sustainable microelectronics processing into all FDC activities.
Follow the Elements »
The Astrobiology Team at Arizona State University "follows the elements" to help guide the exploration for life beyond Earth, in our Solar System and on planets orbiting other stars.
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Herberger Institute Research Center »
The Center supports collaborative and creative research in design and the arts. Some of the Center's work includes creating consumer-driven product concepts that improve society and the environment, understanding the interconnections between urban design and energy demand and on emerging models for the post-petroleum city, and supporting organizations, neighborhoods, and professionals in their efforts to improve the growth of quality affordable homes and sustainable communities.
Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, Center for »
The Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology is focused on basic bacterial and viral infectious disease processes as well as the design and use of vaccines and protein therapeutics to combat infectious diseases. These include newly emerging pathogens and potential biological warfare agents. The Center is devising new and effective ways of producing advanced vaccines and therapeutics, and has also applied its expertise in the development of bacterial-based vaccines to genetically optimize cyanobacteria for biofuel production.
Laboratory for Algae Research and Biotechnology (LARB) »
The Laboratory for Algae Research and Biotechnology adds to the body of basic research on algae and cyanobacteria, while also conducting applied research into renewable energy production, environmental remediation, and human nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.
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LightWorks »
ASU LightWorks is a multidisciplinary effort to leverage ASU's unique strengths, particularly in renewable energy fields including artificial photosynthesis, biofuels, and next-generation photovoltaics.
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Materials World Network: Study at the Nanoscale of Photovoltaic Materials »
This Materials World Network project is a collaboration of groups from Argentina, Canada, Mexico and the US with the common goal of synthesizing and characterizing, at the single molecule/particle level, semiconductor-photosensitizer materials that can be used for photovoltaic and solar-to-fuel applications.
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Microbial Ecology to Optimize Beneficial Syntrophies to Improve Microbial Electrochemical and Dechlorinating Systems »
This research provides a novel approach to study biodegrading and bioenergy relevant mixed microbial communities. The results will provide fundamental understanding of the role of homoacetogens in electron and carbon flow in dechlorinating and ARB mixed communities. This will allow exploiting the use of complex renewable waste sources for bioenergy and bioremediation.
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Multi-Scale Particle-Based Simulation of Disordered/Ordered Interfaces for High Efficiency Solar Cells »
The goal of this project is to develop a novel modeling approach to simulating and understanding materials and interfaces.
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Nanophotonics, Center for (CNP) »
The Center for Nanophotonics gathers a large group of faculty members from various disciplines to foster new ideas and to carry out collaborative research with enhanced inspiration. It integrates a broad spectrum of research topics ranging from fundamental study of photon-matter interactions to practical optical sensors for medical and biological applications. The center coherently merges education and research by embedding one in the other. The center is committed to not only high standard scholarship development but also the promotion of its technology commercialization.
Next-Generation Thermal-Aware, Energy-Efficient Resource Management for Data Centers »
This project addresses the challenges in developing predictive and autonomic thermal-aware and energy-efficient task scheduling algorithms for heterogeneous High-Performance Computing datacenters.
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Novel Multijunction Solar Cells for Space and Terrestrial Applications »
The objective of this collaborative research project between Arizona State University and Notre Dame University is to explore novel multijunction solar cell designs that offer ultra-high efficiencies for both space and terrestrial applications.
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Photothermal Energy Conversion in Nanofluids »
The interaction of thermal radiation with nanofluids, which are nanoscale colloidal suspensions, has not been extensively examined. This research deals with fundamental thermal transport phenomena that occur when sufficiently intense thermal radiation is incident upon a nanofluid. Specifically, the irradiation will cause localized heating of the suspended nanoparticles, and, in turn, induce heating or boiling of the liquid. This proposal addresses the relevant phenomena through a series of experiments and analyses.
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Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) »
The multidisciplinary expertise of PSERC's researchers includes power systems, applied mathematics, complex systems, computing, control theory, power electronics, operations research, non-linear systems, economics, industrial organization and public policy. A key strength is ironment. In addition a strength of the research work in this area also relates to market tools and policy issues that will enable the integration of the new energy sources into power system operation and planning.
PSERC Collaborative Proposal for a Phase III Industry University Cooperative Research Center Program »
The proposed work addresses important improvements and advancements in the transmission and delivery of electricity.
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Pyrite (FeS2) Thin-Films for Photovoltaics »
The overall goal of the proposed research is to develop a fundamental understanding of the electronic and defect properties of doped and undoped pyrite thin films for solar photovoltaics.
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QESST: NSF Engineering Research Center for Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies »
A major societal challenge is to generate terawatts (TWs) of electricity with minimal environmental impact. The Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies (QESST) Engineering Research Center will transform the existing electricity generation system towards a sustainable and ubiquitous one by developing photovoltaic (PV) technologies with higher efficiency and novel functionality.
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Quantifying the Effects of Groundwater and Hydrology on the Trophic Structure in Desert Riparian Ecosystems »
Water and energy are essential ingredients of life and key commodities for humans and other living organisms that make up food webs. Curiously, although the role of energy in determining the inner workings of food webs has been thoroughly explored, water has been mostly ignored in food web ecology. The goal of this project is to fill this critical research gap by working to understand how the balance between supply and demand of energy and water affects patterns of abundance and biodiversity in terrestrial food webs.
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Rationale Design of Enhanced Catalytic Nanometers »
Synthetic nanoscale motors represent a major step towards the development of practical nanomachines. Despite impressive progress, manmade nanomachines lack the efficiency and versatility of their biological counterparts. Extending the scope of synthetic nanomotors to diverse and realistic conditions requires deep understanding of their fundamental physical mechanisms. This proposed collaborative research aims at gaining such understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms of catalytic nanowire motors.
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Reinvent Phoenix: Cultivating Equity, Engagement, Economic Development and Design Excellence with TOD »
The City of Phoenix will create a new model for urban development – one that increases quality of life while maintaining desirability and attainability for the entire spectrum of incomes, ages, family sizes, and physical and developmental abilities along the light rail corridor.
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Science Master's Program: Solar Energy Engineering & Commercialization »
More rapid development of solar energy is stymied by the high (but declining) costs of solar energy systems, the relatively low efficiencies of such systems, regulatory hurdles that impede development, and uncoordinated governmental policies. Overcoming such obstacles demands a new kind of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) workforce – one skilled in technical subjects at the heart of solar energy technologies, but also well versed in the socio-economic (e.g., social, economic, behavioral, policy) and commercial aspects of solar energy. Arizona State University (ASU) is addressing these needs through a new professional Science Master's Degree in Solar Energy Engineering & Commercialization.
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Single Molecule Light Emitting Device »
The present project aims at studying how the optoelectronic properties of these systems change when the device is decreased to nano- and molecular-scales, and exploring single molecule light emitting device and optical sensing applications.
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Sn-Containing Group-IV Semiconductors for Energy Applications in Photovoltaics and Thermoelectricity »
The project addresses fundamental research issues in a topical area of electronic/photonic materials science having energy related technological relevance.
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Solar Power Lab »
Arizona State University's Solar Power Lab serves a staging ground for the new technologies and ideas that will move us forward in our quest for a more sustainable society.
Sustainable Algal Biofuels Consortium »
The primary objective is to evaluate biochemical (enzymatic) conversion as a potentially viable strategy for converting algal biomass into lipid-based and carbohydrate-based biofuels. Secondary objective is to test the acceptability of algal biofuels as replacements for petroleum-based fuels.
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Sustainable Infrastructures for Energy and Water Supply (SINEWS) »
The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the sustainability and resilience of the water and energy systems, and to offer solutions that span infrastructure design, management of the physical environment, and socio-economic policy.
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Understanding Supramolecular Architectures in Photosynthesis by Space and Time Resolved Spectroscopy »
Seventy percent of mankind's current energy needs are met by burning fossil fuels. This is already problematic since oil and gas supplies are limited and because of the adverse environmental effects of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Moreover this situation is set to get worse as current predictions estimate that our energy needs will double by 2050. Mankind is therefore facing a major challenge to find new sources of clean renewable fuels. Photosynthesis is a biological process able to use solar energy to produce such fuels.
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Urban Form and Energy Use Explored Through Dynamic Networked Infrastructure Model »
Engineering and design of urban form is an important strategy for managing climate change and other environmental impacts of energy, as well as being key to the livability of cities. This project aims to clarify connections between urban form and use and energy use in the built environment and transport.
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