ORNL was a partner on about 10 other successful proposals.
As global energy demand grows over this century, there is an urgent need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and imported oil and curtail greenhouse gas emissions, said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. Meeting this challenge will require significant scientific advances. These Centers will mobilize the enormous talents and skills of our nation’s scientific workforce in pursuit of the breakthroughs that are essential to make alternative and renewable energy truly viable as large-scale replacements for fossil fuels.
The 46 EFRCs, to be funded at $2 to $5 million per year each for a planned initial five-year period, were selected from a pool of some 260 applications received in response to a solicitation issued by the DOE Office of Science in 2008. Selection was based on a rigorous merit review process utilizing outside panels composed of scientific experts.
The two ORNL Energy Frontier Center projects are the Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport (FIRST) Center and the Energy Frontier Center for Defect Physics in Structural Materials.
Energy storage and material properties are key pieces to the nation’s energy puzzle, said Michelle Buchanan, ORNL associate laboratory director for Physical Sciences. ORNL has a unique blend of scientific expertise, facilities and leadership needed to address these challenges. We are honored to receive these awards and eager to go to work.
The $25 million FIRST center will bring together a multi-disciplinary research team of labs and universities to provide unprecedented knowledge of how fluids and solid materials interface at a subatomic level.
