Energy Transitions
Safe and climate-conscious energy solutions for our generation and the next.
As the world changes, our energy sources and technologies must adapt. Grainger engineers are innovating safer, more efficient, cleaner and more sustainable ways to generate the energy that powers everything we do.
With our experts developing micro nuclear reactors, wide-bandgap semiconductors and hydrogen fuel cells, Grainger Engineering is leading the charge to a more sustainable future in energy and training the emerging clean-energy-focused workforce.
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Featured Research
Midwestern Hydrogen Partnership
The Midwestern Hydrogen Partnership advances and promotes the development and adoption of hydrogen technologies to enable clean, secure and resilient energy sources, and create economic development opportunities throughout the Midwest.
Hydrogen fuel cell technologies are clean technologies that can help combat global warming. Fuel cell-powered cars and buses are now a reality, but new opportunities are also appearing to deploy these technologies in industries like rail, maritime, aviation, steel production and industrial heating.
Microreactors
Nuclear microreactors are small nuclear reactors that utilize a fission chain reaction to generate between one and 20 MW of heat energy, or one third of that as carbon-free electrical energy.
Grainger Engineering is partnering with the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) to construct a research facility, the Micro Modular Reactor (MMR®), on the Urbana-Champaign campus. The MMR will make the University of Illinois the first to demonstrate how microreactor systems can integrate with fossil fuel infrastructure to accelerate the decarbonization of existing power-generation facilities.
Batteries of Tomorrow
Grainger engineers like Christopher Evans, Xiao Su and Paul Braun are focusing their efforts on developing higher-performance batteries to power our future. Self-healing and recyclable batteries could minimize the danger of explosive lithium-ion batteries, and make it easier to withdraw the materials to recycle materials.
With support from DARPA and the U.S. Department of Energy, our researchers are also advancing sold-state batteries, liquid electrolytes, wireless sensor networks and electric vehicles.
Partners
- Argonne National Laboratory is a multidisciplinary science and engineering research center where scientists and engineers work to discover and develop energy innovations.
- The Grainger Center for Electric Machinery and Electromechanics (CEME) explores advances in engineering materials, electronic devices, semiconductor processes, computer simulation and more to improve the design and operation of motors.
- The Fusion Studies Lab focuses on the condensed phases of hydrogen in metals.
- The International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER) is a partnership with Kyushu University that aims to enable research in fuel cells.
- The International Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM) is a partnership with BP, the University of Manchester, the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London that aims to further the understanding and use of advanced materials in the oil and gas industry.
- The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) is a Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub. These hubs aim to advance promising areas of energy science and engineering from the earliest stages of research to the point of commercialization.
- The Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2) is a multistate alliance of public and private entities that have joined together to grow the regional hydrogen value chain.
- The Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems (POETS) Research Center focuses on electronic power conversion, energy storage and batteries, thermal management technologies, and electric motors within overall mobile systems.
- The Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) is our partner in constructing the Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) on campus.
- Xerion is a start-up company started by Paul Braun, professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Xerion develops advanced batteries through nanostructured electrode architecture.
M.Eng. in Energy Systems
This professional, non-thesis degree from The Grainger College of Engineering provides a broad interdisciplinary education in energy systems.