• A University of Michigan Initiative Takes on a Global Challenge
• The Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute
• Automotive Research Center
• Transportation Energy Center
• Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory
• Nuclear Energy
• Solar Energy
• Hydroelectric Energy
• Wind Power
• Energy Storage
• Bridges Across the University
• Natural Resources and the Environment
• Medicine
• Business
• Environmental Sustainability
• Public Policy
• The Legacy of the U-M Energy Initiative

A University of Michigan Initiative Takes on a Global Challenge

By Bill Clayton

For nearly three decades following World War II, the U.S. economy boomed. Family income for the poor, the middle class and the elite, adjusted for inflation, roughly doubled. But following the oil crisis of 1973, income and living standards for the vast majority of Americans leveled out. From that time forward, energy has been a force that drives not just the economy but international relations, global health and environmental stability.

Steve Forrest, William Gould Dow Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and the University of Michigan vice president for research, explained that this dependence is "a huge problem with potentially catastrophic consequences. The world's oil production is leveling off. Fossil fuels aren't sustainable. Yet we've erected our energy infrastructure on them. Society's number-one priority must be to shift away from such a dominant reliance on fossil fuels and make the move to clean, affordable and flexible energy resources."

Dave Munson, Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, picking up that thread, said, "Not only will we run out of fossil fuels, but the use of these fuels loads the atmosphere with carbon, which is leading to climate change. And U.S. dependence on fossil fuels has undesirable geopolitical consequences. I foresee that Michigan Engineering will play a major role, working with other units on campus to identify and improve alternative energy sources, and to develop strategies for carbon remediation."

Forrest, who also is a professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, noted that the University is "one of the few institutions, worldwide, that has both the breadth and depth of excellence to make a significant and broad impact on energy science, technology and policy. So, one of my early goals is to see Michigan's expertise in this area lead to its distinction both nationally and worldwide. To do this, we needed to create a focal point, and we did that by establishing the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute."

The Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute

Artist's rendering of the renovated Phoenix Memorial Laboratory, which will headquarter the MMPEI.

The Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute (MMPEI), formally presented this fall to U-M's Regents, will create a focal point for energy-related research and education, not just within the College of Engineering but throughout the University. Munson noted that the energy challenge "isn't a problem that's conducive to isolated research. We expect to see heavy collaboration between Engineering and units across campus, covering the basic sciences, natural resources, the environment, business, public health, law and public policy."

Gary S. Was, a professor in the departments of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, and Materials Science and Engineering, is the director of MMPEI, which is housed in the retooled Phoenix Memorial Laboratory, formerly home to the Ford Nuclear Reactor until it was decommissioned. He said that the Institute will "provide a unified voice and give us the means to identify the University's existing energy-related research, policy studies and educational activities and pull them together under one roof - the best research is interdisciplinary in nature and, compared to other top research institutions, we have a big advantage. We'll pinpoint our strengths and weaknesses - we know we have some gaps to fill - and, with the Institute's allure, we'll attract more of the world's leading researchers. And, of course, the Institute will help us to secure funding for our research efforts. In short, the Institute will function as a base from which to coordinate and ramp up energy-related research efforts in academic units, large research centers and individual labs throughout the University."

Automotive Research Center

Transportation consumes about one third of the global energy supply, most of it being petroleum. Dennis Assanis, Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Professor of Engineering, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and the director of the Automotive Research Center (ARC), said that with increasing uncertainty of petroleum reserves, the ARC is making energy a focal point for research and education.

The ARC is a seven-university consortium, led by the University of Michigan, and sponsored by the National Automotive Center at the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM). In its energy thrust, the ARC investigates clean-diesel, hybrid and fuel-cell powertrains that reduce fuel consumption and emissions; alternative fuels for vehicle propulsion; and advanced, lightweight designs. The ARC also works synergistically with other government and industry partners to explore innovative combustion strategies, including direct-injection low-temperature combustion in the homogeneous charge compression ignition engine (see related article on page XX) , and the development of novel catalysts.

"To tackle the immense energy challenges which lie at the interface of various engineering and scientific disciplines requires collaboration," said Assanis, who is also director of the W.E. Lay Automotive Laboratory, and co-director of the General Motors Collaborative Research Laboratory on Engine Systems Research. It's this kind of collaboration that makes the ARC the most sophisticated and successful university-based automotive research center in the country."

Transportation Energy Center

At the Transportation Energy Center (TEC), investigators are conducting interdisciplinary research that focuses on standard and extraordinary new fuels and the interface between mobile and stationary energy conversion systems. Johannes Schwank, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and director of the TEC, said, "We're delving into a wide range of projects - advanced energy storage technology, such as nanostructured materials for lithium ion batteries; novel energy-harvesting concepts to improve the efficiency of large-scale industrial processes; and the use of fuel processors and fuel cells as auxiliary power units." (See "Auxiliary Power Units to Reduce Idling in Diesel Engines" on page XX.)

The TEC, which receives major continual funding from the U.S. Army TACOM National Automotive Center and the Department of Energy, also conducts highly advanced research into the production of synthetic fuels from domestic resources such as coal and biomass. "They could play an important role in lowering our dependence on imported oil," Schwank said. "And they'll allow us to continue using our existing transportation infrastructure. Plus, the composition of these synthetic fuels can be custom-tailored to make them cleaner burning."

Schwank and his team are also processing gasoline, diesel and jet fuel in compact reactor systems to produce the ultimate renewable energy carrier: hydrogen. "In combination with a fuel cell, it holds great promise for on-vehicle auxiliary power and small-scale stationary power," he said. "However, there are many unanswered questions about hydrogen generation and storage. There is much fundamental research yet to do."

Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory

The Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory (HETL) is one of the most important units of the MMPEI. Levi Thompson, Richard E. Balzhiser Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering, is the HETL director. "The HETL supports high-risk, multi-disciplinary research to enable the future use of hydrogen as an energy

Artist's rendering of an HETL workspace

carrier," he said. "We are also investigating nearer-term applications including its use in reducing NOx emissions from high efficiency diesel engines. Our work in the HETL will be central to the Institute's overall success."

Hydrogen has the highest energy density of any non-nuclear fuel, and can be produced from a variety of sources thereby providing great flexibility in the selection of energy sources to meet our nation's demands. HETL investigators are investigating materials, processes and systems that improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of hydrogen production from domestic natural resources. This includes the use of solar energy to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen. Researchers are also designing and synthesizing materials to store large amounts of hydrogen conveniently and inexpensively. And there is significant work to improve devices such as fuel cells, which efficiently convert hydrogen into electrical and/or thermal energy.

Thompson, whose own research focuses on microfabricated fuel cells and processing existing fuels, such as gasoline and alcohols, into hydrogen-rich mixtures, said that the University of Michigan is in an "excellent position to become the world leader in all facets of hydrogen energy research. The University is already a leader in hydrogen-production and storage research."

Nuclear Energy

With the country's number one graduate program in nuclear engineering, Michigan Engineering's Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (NERS) will play a major role in the U-M energy initiative. Bill Martin, NERS professor and chair, said that the department "is performing research in several areas related to the use of nuclear energy as a safe, economical, and sustainable source of energy, including the examination of advanced reactor concepts and new materials, proliferation-resistant nuclear fuels, waste-minimum fuel cycles, complex control methods for safer and more economical operation of nuclear power plants, and technology that'll minimize the burden that long-term storage of radioactive waste has on a waste repository, such as Yucca Mountain.

"The most important factor is nuclear reactor safety," Martin said. "It's the subject of ongoing research in NERS as well as the subject of a course, NERS 462, that's offered to seniors and graduate students. We plan to make valuable contributions to the energy initiative, in energy-related research and education."

Solar Energy

There are more than 81 million buildings in the United States and, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, they consume more energy than any other economic category - including transportation and industry - and almost half of it goes into heating and cooling. Engineers have been looking for new ways to make buildings less wasteful and kinder to the environment.

The reasons for using solar power are many and convincing. It's totally silent, the fuel is free and completely renewable, there are no emissions, and the technologies - photovoltaic cells and passive heating, for example - are highly reliable and very low-maintenance.

Active and passive solar power supplements the Dana Building's energy load. There are photovoltaic panels on the roof, and daylight shines into many areas of the building, providing heat and light.

Steve Forrest, in addition to his duties as the University's vice president for research, is developing organic (not biologic) thin films composed of dye molecules that conduct electricity. "We're making a thin film of these organic molecules, which we can then put on any substrate - the exteriors of buildings and windows, for example. The film absorbs sunlight and generates electricity. At the same time, it cuts out 50 percent of the light that builds up excessive heat and moves people to turn on air conditioning, which gobbles up energy."

The Dana Building - a fitting home to the School of Natural Resources and Environment - supplements its energy load in a number of ways. Photovoltaic arrays on its roof convert sunlight directly into electricity. The atrium skylight lets in daylight and supplies heat to much of the building, while shades on the south side of the skylight help to keep the building cool. This passive solar system can decrease or increase the heating and lighting effects of sunlight and, in the process, lower the building's electrical energy requirements.

Hydroelectric Energy

The flow of water around a horizontal beam creates a vortex that generates a vibration or oscillation which moves the beam up and down to produce highly efficient Vortex Induced Vibration Aquatic Clean Energy (VIVACE).

Currently, hydroelectric power generation is the most widely used and efficient form of renewable energy sources, capable of converting 90 percent of available energy into electricity. Hydroelectric dams supply 20 percent of the world's electricity and about 11 percent of U.S. electrical generation. Canada is the leader among the world's nations, producing about 64 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric sources. Lack of new sites, environmental restrictions, and increasing costs are limiting hydroelectric development.

Mike Bernitsas, a professor in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, said there's "plenty of hydroelectric energy in low-pressure, low-speed flows in rivers and oceans, which we cannot harness with conventional technology such as turbines or watermills."

Bernitsas became fascinated by Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV). "Engineers have made careers out of preventing VIV from damaging structures such as bridges, offshore platforms, marine cables, nuclear fuel rods, and heat exchangers in air/water flows," Bernitsas said. "But I saw a reason to enhance VIV."

Bernitsas' highly unconventional thinking and subsequent research led to the creation of Vortex Induced Vibration Aquatic Clean Energy (VIVACE), a revolutionary technology that harnesses the normally destructive energy of VIV and has become an intriguing part of the U-M energy initiative. He conducted his proof-of-concept experiments in the U-M Low Turbulence Free Surface Channel of the Marine Hydrodynamics Lab.

"The energy that VIVACE gleans from ocean movement is cost-effective and renewable," he said, "and, someday soon, it will satisfy part of the energy needs of coastal communities."

Wind Power

Wei Shyy, Clarence L "Kelly" Johnson Collegiate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, and department chair, said that wind and solar energy are the fastest growing renewable sources, but they contribute less than 0.2 percent of today's total energy. "Wind power has been harnessed for thousands of years, but only in the last decade to generate electricity in reasonably economic ways," he said. "The technology is advancing, but it just isn't there, yet. When it does become sophisticated and efficient enough to deploy on a widespread basis, wind technology will still be only a small part to the total energy solution. But it'll be an important addition because wind energy is emissions-free, renewable and - in certain areas of the country - reliable."

U-M's research will be highly interdisciplinary. "Our work will profit a great deal from a coordinated effort among Mechanical Engineering, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Industrial and Operations Engineering. We'll need researchers with these varied backgrounds to evaluate aerodynamics, noise, vibration, materials, construction and mechanics. I foresee a time when, together, we will have engineered a wind-powered micro-turbine that can power individual houses. Southeast Michigan may not be the ideal location, but in remote areas - in the Rocky Mountains in southern Wyoming, in northern Michigan and in Texas, for example - the idea would work well."

Energy Storage

Michigan Engineering researchers are investigating a range of alternatives for various sources of energy. Ann Marie Sastry, professor of Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, and her team are working on a number of highly innovative technologies that will produce renewable, environmentally-friendly energy sources. "They range from batteries for vehicles and the grid, to batteries for microelectronics that can be implanted in the body," Sastry said. "And all of them - no matter what their application might be - are efficient, compact and low-cost."

Microbatteries can power equally small electronics, such as cochlear implants to restore hearing to the deaf.

In one program, her team is designing carbon particles that are about one-billionth of a meter across and - when stretched to create longer connection lengths, and then packed together properly in clusters - connect electrons but use less mass and distribute charge evenly. (See "Materials Design at the Intersection of Nanotechnology and Energy" on page XX)

"Our overarching objective is to develop a portfolio of technologies that address energy storage issues, which have become critical with increased demand," Sastry said. "These are issues that concern us as a nation, so we also want to speed a widespread adoption of these technologies and to increase awareness of the environmental impact of traditional energy sources."

In comparison to electrical storage, hydrogen is costly to store and transport with current technology, so HETL Director Levi Thompson, for example, is developing micro-fuel cells for incorporation into a fuel storage system.

We're working hard to use our work in storage technologies to help integrate other technologies developed at the University during the energy initiative," Sastry said. "We're each pushing the envelopes of our fields, and our strength is in combining our technologies for a more agile, environmentally-friendly, grid.

Steve Forrest stressed the importance of partnerships in an undertaking as large, complex and lengthy as the energy initiative.

"We want to build bridges between the University's schools, colleges, faculty and labs," he said. "We have centers with ongoing energy-related activities that mesh beautifully with projects in various U-M academic units in Literature, Science, and the Arts, and other units that you might not readily associate with energy research, such as natural resources, environment, medicine, business, environmental sustainability and public policy.

Natural Resources and the Environment

The School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) conducts research to help protect the earth's resources and find ways to build a sustainable society. In concert with the MMPEI, the SNRE will broaden the energy initiative by solving problems associated with the extraction and use of energy resources, the transportation of fuels, and the disposal or recycling of waste products.

Medicine

Because the U-M energy initiative is so expansive, the Medical School has a "wonderful opportunity to contribute," said James Shayman, associate vice president for research in health sciences. "I anticipate that contributions will be made in various ways. For example, the School has core strengths in genetics, microbiology, protein chemistry, and structural biology that are directly applicable to a biological focus on energy problems. Our laboratories will undoubtedly contribute to fundamental questions posed by energy-related challenges."

Shayman, who also is a professor of pharmacology and a professor of internal medicine, said that ties already exist between the Medical School, Biomedical Engineering, the School of Public Health, the Institute for Social Research, and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. "The energy initiative will only strengthen these ties more and catalyze the formation of new relationships," he said.

Business

The Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute encourages multidisciplinary research and education in areas such as energy, freshwater production, biodiversity and the environment, to name just a few.

According to Robert J. Dolan, Stephen M. Ross Professor of Business, and dean of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, the MMPEI and the Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise will interact in important ways on energy issues.

In its role in the U-M energy initiative, the Erb Institute - a partnership between the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business - will support the transition to sustainable energy sources and balance the growing population's energy requirements with the need to protect the environment.

Environmental Sustainability

In November 2005, the Graham Foundation and U-M created the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute, which searches for ways to seed new research related to environmentally friendly energy and to encourage graduate students to move into the environmental sustainability field. The Institute will work hand-in-hand with the MMPEI, leveraging U-M assets to solve problems related to developing sustainable energy without harming the environment.

Public Policy

Faculty in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy already address concerns that overlap the technical issues which the energy initiative deals with: how to regulate price and pollution effectively; the interrelationship of energy conservation and the economy; and the ways in which public attitudes toward energy issues might shape legislative and policy change.

Rebecca Blank is Joan & Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy, Henry Carter Adams Collegiate Professor of Public Policy, and a professor of economics. She expects that the Ford School and the MMPEI will become close partners, over time. "I've talked with Steve Forrest about the Ford School's involvement in the energy initiative," she said, "and am excited about the opportunities for collaboration."

The Legacy of the U-M Energy Initiative

MMPEI Director Gary Was emphasized that the Institute would "develop, coordinate and promote energy research and education - we intend to chart the way to a clean, affordable and sustainable energy future. The Institute's leadership in energy research and education will support the development of regional and state economies. What we accomplish, now, will affect future generations in ways we can't imagine."

Steven Ceccio, associate vice president for research, and a professor in the departments of Mechanical Engineering, and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, added that the MMPEI "builds on the tradition of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project, our living memorial to those at U-M who lost their lives during World War II. Leaders at U-M recognized the critical role that nuclear energy would play in the immediate aftermath of the war, and the Phoenix Project supported decades of successful education and research. Our energy challenges are even greater today, and the MMPEI will help us develop new research programs that will address the most critical issues of energy science, technology and policy in the years ahead."

The Light Side of Energy

Early sodium-vapor lighting was highly inefficient. That changed with the development of nano-alpha alumina, seen via electron microscopy, (at left, below), which can be used to make tough transparent ceramics that make this lighting 30 percent brighter.

In its 100-year lifespan, the incandescent light bulb hasn't changed much - it was and is basically a heater that gives off light as a by-product. Its inefficiency is symptomatic of most lighting, which uses about 20 percent of all electricity in the United States. In response, Michigan Engineering researchers are working on a number of projects to improve the efficiency of lighting. Some investigators are looking into the potential use of the inorganic semiconductor Gallium nitride in light-emitting diode (LED) displays; still others are researching organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Improvements in LEDs and OLEDs could help cut that 20-percent figure in half.

Sodium-vapor lamps, such as streetlights, are another good example of an opportunity to make a marked improvement in energy efficiency. In these lamps, an electric arc passes through sodium vapor in a translucent vacuum envelope made of aluminum oxide (Al2O3, also known as alpha alumina or sapphire), which maintains its structural properties despite the intense reaction of the sodium-vapor light source. The currently-used translucent material reduces the emission of light. However, if this material were replaced with nanostructured-alpha alumina, which is composed of particles about 100 nanometers in diameter - 10 thousand times smaller than those in the current envelope - engineers could make a transparent envelope.

Richard Laine, a professor in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, and director of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, has developed a process - the first of its kind - that requires only two steps to make nano-alpha alumina cost-effectively. "The transparent vacuum envelopes created with this material would make streetlights 30 percent brighter," Laine said. "That could save billions of kilowatt-hours and nearly a billion dollars a year, and prevent millions of tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere." Therein lies yet another example of Michigan Engineering energy research that can make a difference in the world.

A Sampling of Energy Research Throughout the University of Michigan