Research

The Energy and Sustainability Center is focused on pushing forward technologies that are essential to solving the major problems our society will face in the coming years. ESC is driven to find solutions that are sustainable and cost effective. Technologies that can be implimented to reduce polution while remaining affordable without the assistance of a government subisdy. ESC understands that technology is only effective when everyone can use and enjoy it, working hard to only reduce the person's impact on our environment while maintaining their standard of living and comfort. These technologies include:

Off-Grid Zero Emission Buildings - The OGZEB is designed to research new technologies for building construction. A test bed to track energy consumption and impact on a users enviroment. The OGZEB tests everything from stand alone technology to system integration.

Hydrogen Based Energy Storage System - Using the Earth's renewable energy resources is only advantageous when that resource is accessible; solar panels don't provide electricity at night and wind turbines do not produce electricity when there's no wind, etc. Hydrogen is the key to store energy when it's available for later use.
Solar-Thermal Tri-Generation System - The solar-thermal tri-generation system is designed to address the high-energy costs associated with power production, refrigeration, and heating in lesser developed areas or emergency situations.

Low-Cost Solar Instrumentation - ESC is designing and implementing an affordable pyrheliometer that will provide the important data, allowing engineers to make better decisions when designing CSP applications.

Biomass Gasification for H2 Production - ESC is developing the next generation of Biomass technologies that will allow the full potential of this technology to be realized.

Solar Simulator - A solar simulator allows us to test solar systems independent from current weather conditions and time of day allowing us to test technologies 24/7 allowing technologies to be developed on a shorter time scale.

Highly Efficient Water Electrolysis - ESC has demonstrated the ability to generate both hydrogen and oxygen near their thermodynamic limits, thus allowing for efficiencies above 99% and at a fraction of the cost of typical water electrolysis devices.

PEM Fuel Cells - ESC is taking the next step in fuel cell technology by completely redesigning the reactant delivery method increasing efficiency and reducing infastructure, driving down cost.

Solar and Waste Heat Desalination - The United Nations has estimated that 1.1 billion people lack access to potable water. With so many people living on the brink of illness, a great deal of attention has been drawn to designing and implementing new and innovative methods of water purification, particularly in developing countries.