We all know that burning fossil fuels is not a responsible way of satisfying our ever-increasing energy and transportation needs, because of the risk of catastrophic climate changes ahead of us, not to mention the devastation of natural resources, without consideration for future generations. Every year, about 13 gigatons of CO2 are generated worldwide to produce electricity, and an additional 7 gigatons are released into the atmosphere by transportation. All this is obviously too much and must be drastically reduced in the future in order to stabilize the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere below ~ 400 ppm. The disastrous accident that took place in Fukushima in March 2011 shows (again) that nuclear technology can run out of control and that we must improve our ability to harvest and store energy from other sources, in particular the Sun.
Solar energy conversion is an attractive renewable energy, widely accepted by the general public and seen as a clean energy technology. Apart from photosynthesis, the Sun can produce heat, fuels (H2 and O2) as well as electricity. However, electricity generated by burning fossil fuels is still much cheaper than that originating from solar energy conversion and the temptation is very high to continue on that path, as is now being done in the USA with shale gas and oil extraction, in order to produce cheap energy. In other words, time is counted when it comes to finding cost-competitive alternatives to fossil fuels. On the other hand, while some CO2 sequestration strategies can be implemented on large power plants burning fossil fuels, their use on cars or other vehicles is not realistic. Hence there is a strong need for electrifying ground transportation, in order to replace internal combustion engines by electric motors (with otherwise much higher efficiencies). Improving fuel cells and energy storage devices is therefore a necessary task for the future, not only for transportation, but also for the storage of renewable intermittent energies.
This “Center for fostering renewable energy integrated system researcher” BK21FOUR project, which is the continuation of a WCU program and BK21PLUS, proposes a global approach to research and education related to the core areas of Energy Science and Technology. The project, which hosts 13 professors and 130 PhD students, is based on fundamental sciences and aims at fostering global specialists, who will lead the field of Energy Science and Technology in the future. Four core research topics, namely Energy Storage, Energy Conversion, Energy Systems, and Catalysis for Energy are being developed, which will provide basic knowledge and new concepts, thus helping to address the major concerns of modern societies concerning climate change, carbon-free economies, clean energy technologies and clean sustainable transportation.
Due to the variety of energy production, storage and utilization systems, as well as the complexity of global energy issues and their crucial importance for the future of our societies, interdisciplinary research and education efforts are required. We therefore welcome enthusiastic students from various disciplines such as physics, chemistry, material science and the related engineering fields. And for those of you who hesitate, remember that the fate of future generations relies on your creativity. This is your chance to make a difference, just grab it!
Head of DOES / Director of BK21FOURYoon, Won-Sub