The 2^nd International Conference on Clean Energy Science (ICCES 2014), co-sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) of UK and Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, was held at the Conference Center of Qingdao Huanghai Hotel on 13^th April.  

More than 300 academic experts, industrial elites and students from 21 countries, participated in the four-day conference where a total of 7 plenary lectures, 24 keynote lectures, 78 oral presentations and over 160 posters were delivered.  

Lecturers covered several topics in the areas of biological and bio-inspired systems for energy conversion, biofuels and biomass conversion, clean coal and fossil fuels, CO₂ capture, storage and utilization, electrochemical energy conversion and storage, hydrogen production and storage, materials and nanotechnology for energy systems, photocatalysis & environmental catalysis, and solar energy conversion.  

Moreover, Dr. Heather Montgomery Deputy, Editor of the RSC pubblication Energy and Environmental Science Journal, hosted a workshop with participants aimed to introduce the academic article writing skills and the journal peer-review criteria. 

On the occasion of the opening ceremony, Stanford University assistant professor Thomas F. Jaramillo was declared winner of the “Energy & Environmental Science Readers’ Choice Lectureship Award” for the year 2014, due to his research efforts in developing the materials for renewable energy technologies. At the closing session, a prize was been assigned to ten of the many authors who prepared a poster for this conference.  

The 2^nd International Conference on Clean Energy Science (ICCES 2014) offered a unique networking opportunity for researchers from all over the world gathered in Qingdao. During these 4 days of lecturers, attendees discussed the latest developments in clean energy and energy storage research, as well as the fundamental issues surrounding the scientific challenges faced ahead.