Carbon Cycle 2.0 is a vision for a global low-carbon energy system and an initiative to accelerate discovery and innovation.
Carbon Cycle 2.0 is a vision for a global low-carbon energy system and an initiative to accelerate discovery and innovation.
What will a day in the life of a Californian be like in 40 years? If the state cuts its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 — a target mandated by a state executive order — a person could wake up in a net-zero energy home, commute to work in a battery-powered car, work in an office with smart windows and solar panels, then return home and plug in her car to a carbon-free grid.
Plants are nature’s masters of converting sunlight into useful material. By harnessing the power of plants, we are working to develop scalable, cost-effective ways to convert biomass into liquid fuels.
Trapping and storing CO2 emissions could prevent the carbon cycle disruption caused by fossil fuel combustion. We are developing new materials to capture CO2 and exploring the biogeochemical implications of carbon sequestration.
Although it predates the Industrial Revolution, this old technology could still learn a few new tricks. We are designing clean, ultra-efficient burners and using supercomputers to reveal the detailed dynamics of combustion.
Solar electricity remains one of the most promising alternative energies, but it remains expensive compared to coal. By investigating new materials and innovative device configurations, we hope to change the economics of solar.
The best way to use energy is to use less of it in the first place. Over the past 30 years, we've developed technologies and policies aimed at improving efficiency in buildings, appliances, and other sources of energy waste.
Batteries and other methods of storing energy are essential components of a carbon-free energy system. We are exploring next-generation vehicle battery technologies, as well as innovative grid-scale energy storage.
We are looking to the chemistry of photosynthesis for inspiration on how to convert sunlight into stored energy using earth-abundant, inexpensive materials--a potentially game-changing energy source for humanity.
Our energy analysis expertise coupled with our world-class basic energy research capability accelerates the speed and accuracy with which our discoveries become practical solutions for the world’s energy needs.
Using some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to simulate Earth’s climate enables us to better understand how disruption of the natural carbon cycle will change the world in which we live.
Our efforts at creating technology solutions of the future will only truly make a difference in balancing Earth’s carbon cycle when those solutions are also available to and adapted for people in developing economies.
A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Operated by the University of California
