What's Current in

Energy Efficiency

Generating new findings for a brighter future. We’re exploring how to improve energy production, storage, distribution and consumption that leads to efficient and effective energy use. 

Concrete pours onto the ground on a construction site.
Photo Credit
Chaiyaporn1144 vis iStock
Cement production is an overlooked source of carbon emissions in public discourse.

Basalt could be the key to greener and cheaper cement

Read Article

Roark Chao in lab
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Doctoral student Roark Chao researches microLEDs at UC Santa Barbara

Hair-width LEDs could replace lasers — and a UCSB doctoral student is helping make it happen
A coronal mass ejection shoots off from the sun.
Photo Credit
NASA

UCSB scientists bottle the sun with liquid battery
molecules in blue
Photo Credit
Anusorn Nakdee/iStock

Designing better catalysts for cleaner, more efficient chemistry
woman in suit
Photo Credit
Jeff Liang
UCSB's Grace Han’s research centers on solar fuels that capture sunlight and convert it into usable heat.

Chemist Grace Han named Moore Inventor Fellow
Rare earth element names with suffix “ium.”
Photo Credit
Matt Perko

A simple filter for rare earth elements will ensure a clean domestic supply of these crucial metals
cargo ships queueing at Los Angeles and Long Beach port during COVID pandemic
Cargo vessel congestion at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex during the COVID pandemic

A cheap and easy potential solution for lowering carbon emissions in maritime shipping
The open back of a smartphone shows lithium-ion batteries inside
Photo Credit
Tyler Lastovich / Unsplash
Lithium-ion batteries power everything from cell phones to laptops

Lithium shows its metal, paving the way for better batteries
artist rendering of #D semiconductor architectures using 2D materials
Photo Credit
Brian Long/UCSB

Next-gen 3D transistors transform energy-efficient electronics
One person ascending outdoor stairs of a modern building with a sunburst overhead
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
The Interactive Learning Pavilion, opened in 2023, is UCSB’s first all electric facility.

Reaching net zero for emissions will bring major cost savings to campus
Bright colors and different shapes meant to illustrate a photonic array
Photo Credit
Brian Long
Artist's concept illustration of a photonic memory array

A new optical memory platform for super fast calculations
image of lab instrument
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
The scanning ultrafast electron microscope in the Bolin Liao lab

Researchers create the first ever visualization of photoexcited charges traveling across the interface of two semiconductor materials
concept illustration of brain-inspired computing hardware

Researchers propose the next platform for brain-inspired computing
Subscribe to Energy Efficiency