Hanna Breunig

Hanna Breunig is a Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Deputy of the Sustainable Energy & Environmental Systems Department. She holds a secondary appointment in the Earth Systems and Society Domain within the Climate and Ecosystem Science Division. Her work focuses on validating emerging energy technologies through process design, techno-economic modeling, and market analysis.

• Education: PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley (2015), MSc (2011), and BSc from Cornell University (2010).

Her research spans hydrogen storage, CO2 capture/utilization, brine management, and technoeconomic modeling for systems in data centers, hospitals, mines, aviation, and ports. She co-leads the DOE HyMARC consortium and the systems analysis team for the ARCHES California Hydrogen Hub.

Recent publications highlight advancements in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for hydrogen storage, solar hydrogen production, and high-temperature thermal energy storage. She has received accolades like the 2023 Energy & Environmental Science Lectureship and 2014 Schmidt MacArthur Fellowship.

• Scientific Awards:
  • 2023 Energy & Environmental Science Lectureship
  • 2021 Early Scientific Career Award
  • 2019 CEC Bioenergy Project Leadership
  • 2017 LDRD Early Career Award
  • 2014 Schmidt MacArthur Fellowship

Hanna mentors graduate and undergraduate students and contributes to tools like the BioSiting v2 software for U.S. bioeconomy resource analysis.