In 2002 ExxonMobil announced an investment of $100 million in Stanford University's groundbreaking
Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP). This 10-year project, with total anticipated investments of $225 million, is cosponsored by a prominent group of global companies in addition to ExxonMobil, including GE, Toyota, and Schlumberger.
The project unites scientific and engineering researchers with private industry from around the world in the search for new commercially viable technologies that can substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By combining precommerical basic research with the practical know-how of major corporations, this unprecedented collaboration plans to push the frontiers of energy technology.
GCEP conducts fundamental research on new technologies aimed at:
- Lowering the cost and increasing efficiency of solar photovoltaic devices
- Studying fuel cells and bioelectric conversion of energy Increasing the energy capacity of lithium-ion batteries for applications in vehicles
- Applying thermodynamic principles to design engines that produce higher efficiency and lower emissions
- Producing biodiesel fuel from bacteria to achieve a 20-fold increase in energy yield
- Increasing knowledge of hydrogen bonding to create new strategies for using hydrogen to power vehicles Improving the performance and lowering the cost of carbon capture and storage
Due to the nature of the challenges being addressed by its research, many of the technologies being developed at GCEP are years, perhaps decades, away from widespread adoption.
In the decades ahead, we hope scientists and companies will use GCEP’s findings to develop broad-based, commercial energy systems with significantly lower GHG emissions, especially in the key areas of electric power and transportation.