Johns Hopkins University plans to establish a lab on the second floor of the R. House food hall in Remington that will work on creating the infrastructure necessary for people to adopt renewable energy.

R. House

While people dine on Egyptian food or pastries at the food hall below, a team of Hopkins scientists with the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) will work in the same building to create better car batteries and other renewable energy technologies in the lab upstairs. Benjamin Link, the institute’s managing director, hopes the $7.5 million renovation to the 12,000-square-foot space will be completed late next year.

The institute is already located at R House, but the space is a basic office without the equipment necessary to conduct more in-depth research. The project, supported by a $1.25 million grant from the Maryland Department of Commerce Build Our Future grant program, will make sure the lab can better mimic commercial manufacturing processes and test larger batteries. The new lab will be designed by architecture firm Michael Graves.

“With this $7.5 million build-out, we will become the seed of a larger growth in Remington of energy tech, with spinouts and student opportunities,” Link said.

This is an excerpt from an article that was written by Matt Hooke and originally appeared in the Baltimore Business Journal. Everyone with an active JHED ID (including staff members) can access the Baltimore Business Journal by following these steps:

  • Create a free JHU Account here
  • Use your JHU email address to sign up, and create a password.
  • Fill in the form and click on Start My Membership.
  • The Group Subscriptions window will appear. Check the box next to “JHU Subscription” and Continue.
  • After you create an account, log out and log back in.
  • You will get a confirmation email about your account.