How Can We Deploy Solar Fuels in a Decarbonized Society?

Despite both federal and local efforts to develop market-viable solar fuel technology, solar fuel technologies are largely absent from key policy digests on the energy transition to renewables. Similarly, while reviews of solar fuel technologies do exist in the scientific literature, a thorough technoeconomic analysis of solar fuel technology highlighting performance objectives does not.
 
This study identifies barriers to solar fuel commercialization, proposes feasible solutions, and suggests specific policy outcomes.
 
Further, the success of solar fuel technology is interconnected with other key components in a green energy ecosystem including a hydrogen economy, carbon capture, energy equity, and electricity markets. This study also investigates the consequences of successful deployment of solar fuel technology on each component. 

Karen Goldberg

Vagelos Professor of Energy Research

Karen Goldberg is the Vagelos Professor of Energy Research and is the director of the Vagelos Institute of Energy Science and Technology (VIEST).

Walter Johnsen

Student Advisory Council Member

Walter Johnsen is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of chemistry and he was the 2022 Kleinman Philadelphia Energy Authority Fellow. He is also a member of the Kleinman Center’s Student Advisory Council.

Thomas Mallouk

Vagelos Professor in Energy Research

Thomas E. Mallouk is a Vagelos Professor in Energy Research and a Professor of Chemistry in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

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