VCU news

By Haley Tenore

A federal leader in science and energy visited Virginia Commonwealth University last week, highlighting innovations in clean energy and challenges that are shaping developments in America and around the world.

Harriet Kung, Ph.D., acting director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, delivered a public address in the STEM Building as part of a symposium hosted by VCU’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment.

Kung’s office promotes scientific discovery and tools that can advance U.S. energy, economic and national security, and it is the nation’s largest federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences. Her lecture, “Science for Energy,” touched on emerging technologies that support clean energy, as well as national and global forces that can influence its adoption.

Of note, Kung stressed the importance of economic stability, as the rise of clean energy could impact jobs in the fossil fuels industry.

“We cannot develop these energy technologies while at the expense of lessening our country’s economic or natural structure,” Kung said. “The development of clean energy and a sustainable future go hand in hand.”

Those technologies are promising. Kung cited the potential of hydrogen – the most abundant element in the universe – as a clean source that could power cars, with much faster charging times than today’s electric vehicles. She also noted how lithium-sulfur batteries can significantly outpower ion batteries, as well as how multivalent batteries offer high-capacity energy storage.

And with artificial intelligence, faster advances could come. Kung said that beyond new battery technologies, AI could reveal new methods of energy creation, as pursued by an initiative between the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Microsoft.

“Just imagine we have a periodic table that has all these elements,” she said. In exploring the array of combinations, “that is when artificial intelligence … comes to your aid.”

Kung added that energy isn’t the only realm of the DOE: A collaboration with the National Cancer Institute is researching how AI could predict cancerous formations and detect the disease earlier.

That reflects the ongoing evolution of the DOE, which Kung traced initially to the World War II-era Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission as nuclear energy was being harnessed. In 1977, after the Arab oil embargo, U.S. officials created the DOE to consolidate federal energy programs, with today’s focus turning to finding more clean sources of energy and decreasing reliance on fossil fuels.

Kung noted, though, that while the U.S., Britain and Australia are pivoting toward clean energy sources like nuclear, solar and wind, the growing global powers of China and India are becoming more dependent on fossil fuels like oil, natural gas and coal.

Amid those worldwide variations, Kung stressed that in America, working toward clean energy will impact – and should involve – everyone.

“It’s everybody’s role to help us really secure the nation’s energy-sustainable future,” Kung said. “We cannot do it alone, and we need every single one of your help and your partnership.”