Wale Odukomaiya joined NREL’s Building Energy Science group in 2018 as a director’s fellow. His research focuses on innovating heat transfer and energy storage in ways that improve building efficiencies and support low-carbon buildings. This research applies fundamental heat transfer and thermodynamics to advanced energy technologies and building components, with an emphasis on thermal and electromechanical energy storage technologies; heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC); and advanced manufacturing of related components.

Prior to joining NREL, Dr. Odukomaiya was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he worked on the development of energy storage and magnetocaloric refrigeration technologies. His research background includes developing advanced energy technologies and building components, energy policy and economics, and thermal and electro-mechanical energy storage.

Research Interests

Thermal energy storage materials and systems

Electro-mechanical energy storage

Thermal and moisture control in buildings

HVAC

Advanced materials and manufacturing for building components

Education

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Featured Work

Materials research and development needs to enable efficient and electrified buildings, MRS Bulletin (2022).

Addressing energy storage needs at lower cost via on-site thermal energy storage in buildings, Energy and Environmental Science (2021).

Rate capability and Ragone plots for phase change thermal energy storage, Nature Energy (2021).

Evaluation of phase change plaster/paste composites for building envelopes, Energy and Buildings (2021).

Experimental and analytical evaluation of a hydro-pneumatic compressed-air Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES) system, Applied Energy (2018).

An economic analysis of residential photovoltaic systems with lithium ion battery storage in the United States, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2018).

Thermal analysis of near-isothermal compressed gas energy storage system, Applied Energy (2016).