Lehigh Energy Resource Center News

Using laser-based technology developed by the Energy Research Company (ERCo) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) proprietary algorithms developed by Lehigh University, a team composed of Lehigh’s Energy Research Center (ERC), ERCo, SpG (a consulting firm in the WTE, or waste-to-energy, space), the University of Toledo and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) worked on developing a Machine Learning (ML)-enhanced Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for real-time characterization of RDF as it is

The Energy Research Center (ERC) is building a gasification facility at Lehigh University’s Mountaintop campus. As part of this facility, a pilot-scale gasifier was commissioned in early July 2026. “The unit processes 100 kilowatts of thermal energy and can generate 40 kilowatts of electricity,” says Carlos Romero, Director of the ERC, co-Associate Director of Lehigh’s Institute for Cyber Physical Infrastructure and Energy (I-CPIE), and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Lehigh.

At Lehigh’s Energy Research Center, researchers are pursuing many paths—making traditional energy cleaner and more efficient while advancing new technologies for a sustainable future

Lehigh Startup Energy Storage Technologies (EST) Signs Express License to Commercialize Thermal Battery Technology

Lehigh’s Center for Advancing Community Electrification Solutions (ACES) is addressing the energy needs of AI data centers.

The core members of a proposed university research center, the Center for Advancing Community Electrification Solutions (ACES), organized a workshop on the campus of Lehigh University.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has been incentivizing researchers to identify alternative fuel sources. DOE Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) recently awarded six research groups a total of $9.3 million to develop clean hydrogen technologies, including a Lehigh University team led by Carlos Romero.

Energy Research Center (ERC) graduate student Gabriel Bonsall ’23, who is pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, won the Best Student Poster and Excellence in Research and Development award at the 2024 FECM/NETL Spring R&D Project Review Meeting.

Recovering valuable resources from utility waste: Multidisciplinary team of researchers receive $2.5M DOE grant to identify REEs & EOIs in wastewater and solid waste streams, and to develop tech to extract those elements

Under funding from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance (PITA) and Blaschak Anthracite Corp. (Blaschak), the Energy Research Center (ERC) worked on the development of a promising anthracite-base electrode material for high-performing supercapacitor applications.