Industrial development and our patterns of consumption demand ever more energy. And continuing global population growth means more and more people have access to energy-guzzling products. Fossil fuels are the main source of rising greenhouse gas emissions. Strenuous research efforts are being made to find other options, such as biofuels and renewable electricity, but also to create more energy-efficient manufacturing processes and products.
Many researchers turn their gaze to the greatest energy source of all – the sun. The sunlight that reaches the earth in one hour contains more energy than we humans consume in a year. The question is how to capture, convert and store solar energy so it can be used to best effect.
Several of the researchers funded by the Foundation are working on that question. The topics they are researching include creating efficient, flexible solar cells, converting solar energy into electricity, liquid fuels and hydrogen gas.
Others are developing new, sustainable batteries with a long life or that can store energy from wind power from a storm for days of dead calm, or solar energy from day to night.
Some are attempting to create new materials and make use of thermoelectricity. This would allow surplus energy from our bodies, engines, smokestacks, etc. to be used to charge mobile phones, sensors or other electrical equipment.
Some are studying some of our commonest metals to see whether they offer alternatives to fossil fuels. Others are examining organic electronics or paper-based materials as a basis for fuel cells, electrocatalysts for combustion and production of hydrogen peroxide.
Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation supports preeminent basic research. The list below shows researchers in renewable energy who have been funded by the Foundation.
