The Royal Academy of Engineering awards £39 million to the first ever Green Future Fellows. Pioneering engineers awarded landmark funding for high-impact climate innovations
13 engineering innovators receive £3 million each to develop solutions that tackle multiple causes of the climate crisis, and mitigate and adapt to its impacts. Awardee solutions include storing renewable energy in ammonia, nanoengineered lightweight batteries to power electric planes and a new type of computer memory that doesn’t generate heat. New technologies to store renewable energy, power data centres and computers more efficiently and multiply the power of batteries four-fold are among the advanced engineering solutions.
The way we store renewable energy for long-term future use is the focus of Professor Laura Torrente’s work at the University of Cambridge. She is using renewable electricity, water and nitrogen from air to produce ammonia cleanly and safely. In this way, clean energy is stored in the chemical bonds of the carbon-free ammonia which can be used as a fuel and as a backup for renewable power generation (producing only water and nitrogen when burnt). Her work also focuses on safe ammonia storage so it can be easily transported to parts of the country where more energy capacity is required.
“The climate crisis is the challenge of our generation. We need era-defining solutions that address the enormity of the challenge. Many of these solutions exist, but need the dual investment of money and time to make them a success.The Green Future Fellowships support innovators who are pushing engineering boundaries, building bold solutions to climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience. The inaugural Green Future Fellows are pioneering truly advanced technologies and engineering solutions to protect the world we live in.”
Baroness Brown of Cambridge DBE FREng FRS FMedSci, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chair of the Green Future Fellowship Steering Group
Dr Akshay Deshmukh (University of Cambridge) | Membrane Cascades for Efficient Critical Metals Extraction and Purification from Brines and Leachates | This project develops clean, energy-efficient ways to extract critical metals important for batteries, magnets, solar panels, and fuel cells, without the harmful chemicals and waste of traditional methods. It uses membrane systems, like filters and electrically driven separators, to pull metals out of salty water and recycled materials while saving water, energy, and chemicals. By combining real-time monitoring and smart models, the approach could make metal extraction safer, scalable, and more sustainable, helping secure the metals needed for a green, Net Zero future.