On 28 October, the Antoni Caparrós Auditorium at the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB, Barcelona Science Park) will host the conference Energy Challenges . In this conference, several experts will present the present status of research in the field of renewable energy, with particular reference to the use of hydrogen, fuel batteries and thermoelectric materials. This event is organized by the Centre de Referència en Materials Avançats per a la Energia (CeRMAE) (Reference Centre on Advanced Materials for Energy) of the Generalitat de Catalunya(Regional government).

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With the exhaustion of fossil fuels, such as oil, the increase in the price of these energy sources and the environmental impact they have, renewable energy sources are a focus of the future strategy outlined in the Energy Plan 2006-20015 of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In this regard, the speakers will address new materials, methods and processes for the production, storage and transport of energy.

The conference will begin at 9.30h with opening sessions by the director of Research of the Dept. of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI), Xavier Hernández, and the director of Energy at the Dept. of Employment and Industry, Josep Isern. These sessions will be followed by a presentation by Joan Ramon Morante, director of the CeRMAE and lecturer with the Dept. of Electronics at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, University of Barcelona), who will examine the current status of research in materials and energy.

The conference programme also includes topics such as future energy forecasts and particularly the so-called “economics of hydrogen”, which will be addressed by the researcher Antonio Soria from the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the European Commission. In addition, the use of hydrogen as fuel in urban buses in Barcelona will be addressed by the coordinator of the European project “Clean Urban Transport for Europe” (CUTE), J. Manuel Rodríguez, from Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona. The programme will also include the participation of Peter Devlin, from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, who will present the strategies developed for research and technology transfer in the field of energy in his country.

The CeRMAE comprises seven research groups from the UB, UPC, UAB and CSIC. This priority research lines of this centre are as follows: new materials, methods and processes for energy production, materials for energy storage and transport, materials for the rational use of energy, and materials for the safety, efficiency and reduction of emissions in energy use.