November 08, 2011 –
Samuelsen also serves on the advisory board of CALIT2’s new CalPlug Center, which seeks to improve energy efficiency in plug load devices.
UC Irvine engineering professor and CALIT2 academic affiliate Scott Samuelsen was recognized by the White House last week as a Champion of Change. The weekly initiative honors individuals and businesses making an impact in their communities and working to help the United States meet oncoming challenges.
Fifteen champions nationwide were honored in the “Make it in America” category, which recognizes their efforts in helping to build and create high-quality jobs in the United States.
Samuelsen is a professor of mechanical, aerospace and environmental engineering who also directs the university’s Advanced Power and Energy Program and National Fuel Cell Research Center. He traveled to Washington, D.C. to discuss the importance of fuel cell technology with White House officials on Nov. 3.
Under Samuelsen’s leadership, the NFCRC opened a hydrogen refueling station on campus a few years ago and more recently, helped launch a fuel cell and hydrogen energy station in Fountain Valley. That effort employs a fuel cell generator that converts gas from sewage waste into hydrogen fuel, offering the equivalent of 70 miles per gallon, with no emissions. At the same time, the process efficiently converts wastewater into clean electricity and heat.
Samuelsen contributed an entry to the Champions of Change blog on the White House’s official Web site. In “Leading the Next Generation Clean Energy Revolution,” he commended the Administration for recognizing NFCRC’s contributions to clean energy generation and underscored the importance of fuel cells in those efforts.
“Fuel cells represent a key, growing sector of the next generation of energy technologies,” he wrote. “They produce clean, efficient, quiet, and reliable electric power 24/7….”
The technology, he said, also plays a key role in “creating of thousands of jobs in manufacturing, installation, operation, and servicing throughout the United States and around the world.”
