Fuels from Sunlight

Stored: Fuels from Sunlight

Fuels from Sunlight

Type	Program
Sponsor Organization	Office of Science
Top Organization	Department of Energy
Creation Legislation	None
Website	Website
Purpose	Fuels from Sunlight crafts solar-driven carbon-neutral fuels from water and CO2, boosting sustainability with scalable tech via DOE research hubs.
Program Start	2010
Initial Funding	$122 million
Duration	Ongoing
Historic	No

The Fuels from Sunlight program, initiated by the Department of Energy in 2010, is a pioneering effort to harness artificial photosynthesis for producing liquid solar fuels, beginning with the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) hub led by Caltech and transitioning in 2020 to the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA) and the Center for Hybrid Approaches in Solar Energy to Liquid Fuels (CHASE) hubs.

JCAP, funded with $122 million over its first five years, developed prototypes 10 times more efficient than plants at converting sunlight into fuels, concluding in 2020 with over 200 researchers contributing breakthroughs like nanostructured catalysts.

LiSA and CHASE, awarded $100 million in 2020, continue this legacy, with LiSA focusing on co-design for efficiency and CHASE advancing hybrid photoelectrodes, collectively supporting DOE’s Energy Earthshots by 2025.

Official Site

Goals

• Produce cost-effective, carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight by 2035.
• Enhance solar fuel efficiency and scalability through artificial photosynthesis innovations.
• Integrate research to accelerate commercialization and decarbonization.

Organization

The Fuels from Sunlight program is sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Science, with JCAP led by Caltech alongside Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and its successors LiSA (Caltech/LBNL) and CHASE (UNC Chapel Hill) guided by Program Managers within Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Funding supports multi-institutional teams, including SLAC, UCI, and others, leveraging BES’s 40+ years of photosynthesis research.

Partners

• California Institute of Technology
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

History

Launched in 2010 with JCAP’s $122 million award, the program emerged from DOE’s Energy Innovation Hubs to mimic natural photosynthesis, producing fuels like hydrogen and hydrocarbons. JCAP’s renewal with $75 million in 2015 advanced prototypes, ending in 2020 when LiSA and CHASE took over with $100 million to refine efficiency and scalability. By 2025, it supports Earthshots like Hydrogen Shot, building on over 60 JCAP publications and ongoing hub research.

Funding

Initial funding of $122 million in 2010 supported JCAP, followed by $75 million in 2015 and $100 million in 2020 for LiSA and CHASE, totaling over $297 million by 2025. Ongoing support via BES budgets funds hubs, with no end date as it aligns with DOE’s decarbonization goals.

Implementation

The program implements research through hub-led projects, from JCAP’s high-throughput material screening to LiSA’s co-design and CHASE’s photoelectrode development, using tools like MFiX and facilities like ARIES. It progresses via hub cycles (e.g., JCAP 2010-2020, LiSA/CHASE 2020-2025), remaining active to meet 2035 Earthshot targets.

Related

• Energy Earthshots
• Hydrogen Shot

External links

• https://www.energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-innovation-hubs
• https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/department-energy-invest-100-million-solar-fuels-research
• wikipedia:Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis

Social media

• https://twitter.com/DOEScience
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/u-s-department-of-energy