Technion Scientists are looking ahead to Israel's energy security and independence. "If you have energy, you have everything -- food, water, heating, defense," side Professor Dario Dekel, director of the Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program ((GTEP)at the Techneon. "Energy is critical for the future."  The GTEP has already made impressive breakthroughs in alternative and sustainable technologies, including fuel cells and batteries, green hydrogen and electroanalyzers, water energy, renewable energy, and more.  But the war with Hamas has made Israel's need for energy security more crutial, even with the discovery of natural gas in the Mediterranean.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                "Given the political situationin Israel, you cannot depend on getting energy from others, and you cannot rely on a single source," Prof Dekel said.  That's why one of his priorities for GTEP is to develop technologies for distributed energy generation systems that would create various forms of energy at numerious sites, factories, or homes.  "Having  just a handful of power generation sites concentrated in a few places makes Israel vulnerable to targeted attacks that could potentially impair the nations electricity needs."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         GTEP was established by the Technion in 2007 and then named for ATS supporters Nancy and the late Stephen Grand in 2010.  It's projects span many areas, but developing sustainable, safe, green hydrogen fuel calls and electrolyzers to store energy to store energy is the Holy Grail.  Hydrogen is the world's most abundant element, delivers same energy punch as gasoline and can be stored easily.  Once produced, these highly efficient devices, called fuel cells, generate green electrical power, emitting only water and vapor. But currently, most hydrogen fuel is still produced by burning polluting fossal fuels.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Technion Professors Gideon Grader and Avner Rothchild invented a water-splitting method for producing green hydrogen that is significantly more efficient, safe, and cost-competitive than fossel fuel hydrogen. To produce the energy at scale, their team launched startup H2PRO, which has earned numerous accolades and is collaborating with Morocco's Gaia Energy to co-develop a gigawatt-scale energy project.  In other Technion-born startups aimed at developing hydrogen fuel, Professor Lilac Amirav launched QD-SOL, which produces affordable green hydrogen inside a solar panel. And Prof. Dekel is developing a novel membrane technology that allows for the replacement of precious catalysts in hydrogen fuel cells and water  eletrolyzers with more abundant inexpensive metals sch as iron, nickel, and cobalt.