The march toward a clean-energy economy is long and winding, but one thing is for certain: we’ll need a whole lot more energy to replace fossil fuels, and with that electricity demand comes the conundrum of how we can generate and store enough energy to meet all of our energy needs.
But how do we do it in a more efficient way? A team of Portland State University students called Regener8 has a plan.
“We are a fuel cell company, so we provide a higher energy density solution than any of the other green energy solutions right now,” said Jacob Brauer, a first-year master’s candidate in mechanical engineering at Portland State University. Regener8 will design and manufacture cutting-edge ethanol-based generators that could scale from industry to the household. “The theoretical high-end efficiency is one hundred percent.”
When we talk about energy, whether it’s electric cars or a stable, renewable electrical grid supply, the clean-energy calculus requires that we factor in an enormous battery capacity to store and distribute electricity where we need it. It is an Achilles heel of the clean-energy transition.
With Regener8, that transition becomes more manageable with ethanol-based energy generation that is almost three times more efficient than internal combustion engines.
“Brazil is the fifth largest economy in the world and all the power there currently gets produced by pure ethanol, internal combustion engines,” Brauer said. “We could go down there and basically right out the gate, double the efficiency of every engine that is working in Brazil.”
“From an economic standpoint, a lot of facilities need to replace their power systems anyway,” said Jacob Palumbo, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in biophysics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. “Hospitals need backup generators and so on and so forth. So they need to replace these systems anyway. We make a cheaper option for them.”
Jacob Brauer is a first-year master’s candidate in mechanical engineering at Portland State University. Jacob Palumbo is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in biophysics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Brauer and Palumbo are accompanied by Karelly Ramirez Gonzalez, a PSU undergraduate in chemistry and physics, Matt Moradi, a PSU sophomore in computer science, Cody Prouty, Regener8’s lead chemist, and Leon Torres.