I'm Dr. Phillip Greenawalt, energy researcher at the University of Oxford.
We all enjoy the benefits we get from energy. Energy is behind most of our modern life, comforts it using electricity for our phones,
our washing machines, gas to heat our homes or fuels to drive or fly.
Energy underpins our modern lifestyles and has become a crucial ingredient for our civilisation.
Here at Oxford, we take a holistic approach to energy.
This is why we have over 180 of our senior researchers devoted to energy,
what is special here at Oxford is that these researchers cover all aspects of the energy challenge,
including the societal challenges, economics, markets and, of course, the politics involved.
This helps us to make sure that the cutting edge fundamental research we undertake in our
laboratories addresses real world problems and helps us to move towards a more sustainable future.
Chemistry is central in this effort. Chemistry helps us to understand how energy gets converted,
where and why we suffer losses of energy and chemistry helps us develop new methods which will do much better in future.
If you think of our fuels today, there's gas, oil, coal, and we always require a chemical process to get the energy out.
Still, the most common way to do that is to set fire, to boil some water and use the steam to do the work.
This is how all our power stations work today, and the best efficiency this process can deliver is barely 50 percent and often much less.
Chemistry helps us to do better to make the conversion more efficient and to reduce pollution and emissions.
But ultimately, we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels altogether.
And here again, chemistry is central.
While our researchers have achieved a great leap to reduce the cost of renewables and they continue to do so, there's one drawback that remains.
The sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow when you need the energy.
This is why storage becomes incredibly important.
And if you want renewables to displace fossil fuels, even with nuclear power stations, you will need storage.
That's why I'm very excited that Oxford chemists are developing catalysts to
convert renewable energy into storable fuels such as hydrogen and other gases,
which can be used for transport, for heating and even to generate electricity.
In these short podcasts,
you have a chance to meet the researchers behind this effort and learn about the ways in which they help us move towards a cleaner,
more affordable energy future for all.